Mumbai: Set Max seems to have started this match on a firm wicket. All the marketing hype surrounding the DLF Indian Premier League has translated into eyeballs for the official broadcaster.
In the first two days at least, IPL has pulled viewers in the six metro markets with average ratings of 4 and 5 over the weekend and hitting 8.2 for the opening match at Bangalore, according to TAM.
But will this momentum sustain over the next 40 days? "The kind of performance we are seeing it will not be tough to sustain the viewership,” says IPL CEO, Sundar Raman
Television viewership aside, the 8 franshisees will tap into ticket sales to boost revenues. Considering 3 out of the 5 matches played so far have resulted in home teams losing, their first priority is to build fan loyalty to get crowds in.
" It is very important for the home team to win,” says CEO, Royal Challengers, Charu Sharma.
Judging by the initial crowd response at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, it’s clear that the marketing efforts by the team owners has been able to pull in crowds.
But the real test would lie in sustaining the ticket sales and increasing the fan loyalty.
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