Viewership for Pro Kabaddi League rises 61% in the first 26 matches

NEW DELHI: The second season of the Pro Kabaddi League has seen its television viewership rise by 61 per cent in its first 26 matches, according to data from TAM Sports. The rating in the first 26 matches this year was 1.24 compared to 0.77 in the same period last year.

The tournament opener on July 18 between defending champions Jaipur Pink Panthers and last year’s finalists U Mumba was rated 7.2, which was 45 per cent higher than the opening game of last season.

PKL’s broadcasting partner is Star which is also a partner in the league. The league is telecast on eight channels of the Star network currently which includes Hindi channel Star Gold, sports channels Star Sports 2, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD2, Star Sports HD3, and regional channels such as Maa Movies, Plus Suvarna and Star Pravah.

The kabaddi league in which Charu Sharma and Anand Mahindra owned Mashal Sports has 26% stake and Star which has the rest 74% has managed to get eight associate sponsors that include Coca Cola with its Thums Up brand, Bajaj Electricals, TVS Motors Co, VIP, Flipkart, Mahindra & Mahindra and Department of Atomic Energy, State Bank of India. Britannia has signed up as the referee partner. Star has retained the title sponsorship for the league.

Season two has also seen time spend by viewers watching PKL increase. In the first 26 matches, the average time spent per viewer has risen from 15.77 minutes last year to 19.91 minutes per match this year.