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

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.

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. 

“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.