Sports viewership on television in India has risen to 46 billion impressions in 2018, according to research carried out by data collection firm BARC India.
The Television Post website, citing BARC India data, reported that the figure is accurate for week 46 of 2018. The figure represents an increase on 2017, when there were 43 billion impressions.
Football is becoming increasingly popular with Indian consumers, attracting three billion impressions in 2018 compared to last year’s two billion.
Other sports to experience growth include cricket and wrestling, although kabaddi suffered a drop-off in impressions.
Television Post noted that cricket’s share of the sports viewership market has increased from 65 per cent in 2016 to 72 per cent in 2018.
Football’s viewership share has increased from three per cent to seven per cent. The English Premier League is the most popular competition for younger audiences, with 51 per cent of viewers under the age of 30. This figure was 43 per cent for the summer’s Fifa World Cup in Russia.