Reports: Asian Games leapfrogs FIFA World Cup and Wimbledon 2018 in TV viewership

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Recently concluded Asian Games has reportedly recorded a viewership of 112 million over two weeks at an average viewership of eight million per day as per official broadcaster Sony. While FIFA World Cup matches racked up 110 million viewers, Wimbledon recorded 19 million viewers this year.

The 2018 Asian Games came to an end this week and was deemed as a global success across all platforms on the social media. The 18th Asiad, which was organized in the cities of Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia, saw India secure their best medal tally till date with a total of 69 medals compared to 57 and 65 in 2014 (Incheon) and 2010 (Guangzhou), respectively.

In accordance with the emergence of the non-cricketing sports in India, the Asian fiesta attracted a whopping viewership of 112 million over two weeks, as reported by Hindustan Times, with an average per day viewership of eight million as per data shared by the official telecaster to Indian audiences - Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd.

The numbers, which were made public by TV viewership measurement agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc), displayed statistics of viewers across rural and urban India above two years of age ranging over nine channels that included Sony Ten 1, Sony Ten 2, Sony Ten 3, Sony ESPN and state broadcaster DD Sports.

As per reports of HT, previous viewership of Asian Games were significantly lower at 40.9 million and 32.6 million in 2014 and 2010, respectively. Also. the daily viewership for the quadrennial showpiece increased threefold since 2014 from 2.6 million to 8 million. In comparison to the viewership of 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 Gold Coast CWG held earlier this year, the Asian Games fell somewhere in the middle. Some of the most viewed events at the Asian Games included athletics, badminton, and wrestling at 38.1 million, 29.2 million and 27.4 million, respectively. 

“Asian Games have a different kind of importance in the sporting landscape. Since national pride is involved, it has different kind of emotions attached that makes it stand out.

“The sports market in India is evolving, the overall audience taste for sports properties has changed phenomenally over the last couple of years. Five to seven years back we were a completely cricket dominated country now it is clearly moving towards a multi-sport viewing culture,” said Rajesh Kaul, head for the sports business and chief revenue officer (distribution) at Sony Pictures Networks India, to HT.

The Jakarta Games have left behind the overall viewership of both the FIFA World Cup and Wimbledon, that were held earlier this year. The live broadcast of FIFA World Cup matches garnered 110 million viewers while Wimbledon recorded 19 million viewers. The Indian Premier League is in a league of its own, with a total of 530 million over 51 days.

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