IPL: 100% Recycled Material, Dispose Without Guilt

by Devanshu Mehta

Tariq Engineer reports for Cricinfo:

[A] cumulative total of 146.4 million viewers have watched all the games so far, a number that exceeds the 143.7 million that saw the entire 2010 season (60 games). This suggests that while the IPL continues to attract new fans, they are watching each game for shorter periods.

Two reasons come to mind:

  1. If you train your audience to respond only to the thrills, and not the sport, then sooner or later they will only tune in for the thrills. The IPL becomes one of the many programs to channel-surf through, between musical reality show #31 and political shouting match #33.
  2. Even in this short, thrilling format, most games are one-sided and decided early.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that audiences are just suffering from cricket or IPL fatigue.
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