Indian Cricket League delivers good ratings

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
The full house at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad and also the warm reception at Hyderabad, Panchkula and Gurgaon during the 20s Indian Championship must have definitely warmed the hearts of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) officials.

Sources also inform Televisionpoint.com that the controversy involving the tournament's promoters Essel-Zee group and TAM Media over the ratings has been solved amicably between the two parties.

There was further good news for the entity as the latest ratings show that television audiences across the globe have lapped up the 20s Indian Championship. As per the latest ratings released by TAM Media and aMap, India's television audience measurement agencies, the ICL had registered impressive viewership of 2.13 (as per TAM) and 1.80 (as per aMap) for the 20s Indian Championship.

Apart from the impressive rating in the Indian market, ICL also achieved stupendous viewership patronage in the overseas market. Pakistan registered 3.6 for the first semifinals, 2.3 for the second semifinals, 5.7 for Final 1 and 5.1 for Final 2, according to Medialogic. In United Kingdom, the ICL matches registered a rating of 1.4 among the Asian population, according to BARB.

Himanshu Mody, business head, ICL, said, "The ratings validate our belief in creating a popular and commercially viable sports product with the ICL. As a pioneering product still in its growth stage, ICL has today earned viewership patronage comparable to any other cricket product televised in India at the same period of time. This exemplifies the emergence of ICL as an important sporting event in the annual calendar of the Indian sports scenario."

The Indian Championship first finals also registered a phenomenal peak ratings with Kolkata registering a peak TVR of 9.45, Mumbai 8.28, Gujarat (.1 to 1 MN) 9.08, PHCHP (.1 to 1 MN) 6.04, Rajasthan (1MN +) 6.65, Hyderabad 4.73 respectively.

The month-long high octane tournament, which was lapped up by packed 50,000 capacity stadium at Ahmedabad, saw the ratings ascend steeply in popularity and television viewership as the tournament progressed.

The ICL has also announced its team composition for the Word Series that kick started from November 23, and features four teams take on each other, followed by a final between the two top standing teams.

Inzaman-ul-Haq will lead the ICL Pakistani team, while Chris Harris will be representing ICL World team, Habibul Bashar will lead the ICL Bangladesh team and R Sathish will lead the young ICL India team. This tournament features players from a talent pool of over 150 domestic and international players, in the recently concluded 20s Indian championship.