Chat

Sanjeeb Mukherjea

Associate editor, Cricket, CNN-IBN

Closed

Decline in viewer interest a dangerous trend for cricket?

16 questions answered

This chat is over. Thanks for joining.

IPL has exposed the myth of many players like tendulkar who are available for each and every game of IPL despite having lot of exposure to international cricket but are not able to get time for domestic and even test cricket and skip out of these games on one pretext or the other which means they are more close to industrialist like Neeta Ambani and have less to do with national side. They also appear to be more competitive and give their best in IPL rather than playing for India. Asked by: shailesh
you seem to have answered the question yourself mate :)
Entertainment needs rejuvenation.lalit Modi had marketing skills.If you need TRP rating,gate collection,TV ad revenue,sponsporship continous innovation in keeping the game interesting is the main requirement. BCCI will look into this.They no the value of money. Meanwhile the game itself has changed a lot becuase of which it is still evoking interests. what further modifications are on the anvil ? Asked by: sundar1950in
cricket australia is experimenting a bit, with the split innings format and pink balls, but the ind cricket board hasn't yet opened up to such ideas ... but just modifications wont get viewership
IPL has hyped on the millions that cricketers earn as these matches are played in tailor made Indian tracks in front of many new and inexperienced players who are playing for the first time against some big players plus that most of the money comes from ill gotten industrialist purse who want to avoid their ill gotten wealth and taxes so many players who earn big can't be compared with big football players and of other sports who compete in a different environment and at competitive level Asked by: Manav
plz check the topic for chat
Will legalising betting and allowing bookies to operate get the enhanced Viewership? Wild suggestion? No if the country can allow Race horsing and betting on that why not for Cricket or the other sports which is very much legal in many developed countries. We also need to develop / Asked by: sundar1950in
legalising betting doesn't mean allowing bookies to operate - where did you get that. Taking recourse to betting means getting people in to watch and bet - rather not have it that way
What is adding to the worry that former and contemporary players like Gavaskar, Ganguly instead of teaching importance of one day and test cricket also get involved for monetary reasons so it sends wrong message to the youngsters that you can have more opportunity by being involved with IPL rather than working hard with technicalities of the game Asked by: Rij
how is that relevant to the chat topic today?
Why is it that football with EPL and various leagues was able to gain more credibility and became popular but cricket is becoming a den for industrialist, bollywood film stars and affluent corporate executives where common man has nothing to gain entertainment or substance other than tamasha Asked by: shailesh
EPL and IPL are as different as could be ... and the influx of stars and corporate bigshots till now, is limited only to the ipl
What is the reason that despite not being big in sports internationally Indian sports keep on producing administrators like Kalmadi and Lalit Modi who rather than solving the problems of sports complicates them further first by making big promises and later running with all money and further degrading the sports Asked by: Manav
gues its the system that is at fault ... and like it or not, india's lack of a real sporting culture is to blame perhaps...
Yes..The decline in viewer interest is dangerous ...The BCCI should think about this aspect. Too much of cricket is being played now. Now with the absence of the senior players ,the tour to WI is not watched by most of the followers of the game.The telecast time being another factor too.But i hope the next few series against england and australia will be interesting and the viewer interest just builds up.. Asked by: sandeep
absolutely ... the world cup win was a seminal moment for every cricket lover, and as you saw, the sub-standard ipl failed to even cut ice much... But surely, once the senior players are back for the England series, there is a lot to look forward to
sanjeeb, in the glorious days of doordarshan, people used to wait for CHITRAHAAR or movies on sunday anxiously and eagerly, am sure same was with cricket....people would wait for months to see or know about a test match or one day......in this era of 24X7 media and, it is not easy to maintain such excitement. Yes, too much cricket is to be blamed, and why are you putting the word dangerous.......there is no danger to the game or the viewer.......................the danger is to BCCI and the advertiser........................of loosing the revenue. We al lindians love cricket, but definetely not live for it. Asked by: s eshwar
very true, very well said sir... if we eat our favourite dish everyday, slowly, its appeal is lost.. but remember, once revenue dips, it will affect the game too
IPL started at a time when cricket fans were on a World Cup high … also there was too much cricket happening at the same time. Honestly, IPL seems more like a circus to me.. and might eventually lose its glam quotient. Too much cricket with too much controversy could be the reason for the lost in sheen Asked by: nuzhat
true my friend
Hey Sanjeeb. Quite a pertinent point you've raised here. I think the prime reason for the decline in viewer interest in IPL 4 was that it was a season of cricket overkill. With the World Cup over just days before the IPL began, what else could one have expected. The IPL organizers got their timing all wrong. They should've had better sense than to schedule the IPL right after the World Cup. Wasn't it but obvious that the mammoth, momentous World Cup win by Dhoni and the rest of the men in blue would overshadow any cricket tournament coming right on its heels? But the World Cup was not the only reason that viewers lost interest in the IPL. The amount of muck the indigenous cricket league has generated is also to blame for the viewership decline to a very large extent. Once the novelty and the hoo-haa of the never-before bidding for cricketers, the make-it-as-you-like-it teams, the celeb team owners, the unfashionably colourful team colours and the cheergirls with their pompoms wore off, IPL lost its sheen, the coating of gloss that had skillfully hidden its inherently flawed business model, which, plainly, was an inevitable thriving ground for corruption. So, maybe they should clean up their act before they even think of trying to garner back viewers for IPL 5. Asked by: Pooja
nothing works if its doled out in heavy doses everyday...remember the chitrahaar days, or vikram-betaal days, people would wait for fridays and sundays to come ... now its on 24x7
Too much of cricket. More over heroes of cricket like Sachin tendulakar, Dhoni, etc are ther to play IPL cricket as they get lot of money. But tired to go to west indies to play for the country. People are fed up with these type of players. Now we are wondering if they get more money will they go for fixing???? Asked by: prathap
I don't agree that people or rather cricket lovers are "fed up" with the likes of Sachin, Dhoni as you say... yes there is a certain sense of cricket fatigue that has set in. And kindly have some respect for these icons before you throw such suggestions
why football is not losing its shine? Asked by: omkar
what are you talking about? show me anyone who regularly watches, or atleast keeps a tab on indian football... all they watch is the epl and euro leagues
So do you feel the time has come for second rung cricketers to take up more leadership roles and lead the national side? btw, Sanjeeb, you seem to be in a foul mood this fine evening. Why the cryptic answers? Asked by: Swati
second rung players are being given their opportunities, will have to wait and see how they meke the most out of it. And sure, leading the indian team is a dream for every cricketer
The most evident reason that could be spotted out is that people didn’t come out of the world cup hangover and that too after our country winning the largest tournament in World cricket an IPL season didn’t matter to them much. Too many teams could also be the reason. What I feel is that Absence of Lalit Modi could be felt as he had become the Face of IPL in the past three seasons and he evidently had many fan following of his own despite the acquisitions laid on him. May be a gap between the world cup and IPl could have bettered the situation upto some extent but as we know the international calendar does not permit that. There is no need to panic about the decline in the temporary interest in viewership as ours is a cricket hungry nation the craze shall bounce back very soon. Asked by: Tulika
surely, it will do better next year - this was a one-off situation where it came right after an indian world cup triumph... but yes, the standard of cricket in the ipl needs to improve if they are to sustain viewership throughout ... No one is panicking, but this trend could slowly point towards a situation where people choose what they watch, and not just the game
This is a follow up question. Revenue for whom, stinkingly rich BCCI..............if the concern is for the revenues of BCCI, then let this danger go on Asked by: s eshwar
revenue isn't the only concern ... it affects the general health of the game... the last time around when india toured west indies in 2006, everyone watched... there is an obvious dip in the interest levels this time