The recently concluded IPL, played in UAE amid the coronavirus pandemic, witnessed a 23 per cent jump in television viewership at 400 billion minutes.
The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), which collates data on television viewing, said 405 million viewers watched the tournament for 400 billion minutes as against the 326 billion viewing minutes in the year-ago's edition.
The cricket tournament, which is generally played during the summers and had to be staged in the UAE because of social distancing restrictions domestically, was seen as a big succour for the sports, which had been struggling with a lack of action since the onset of the pandemic in March.
BARC said that with 400 billion minutes of viewing, the latest edition of the Indian Premier League surpassed the previous record held by the Cricket World Cup 2019, which had garnered 356 billion minutes of viewing.
Because of the pandemic, authorities have been requesting people to stay indoors and step out only when essential.
Data shared by BARC shows that the IPL viewership has been increasing in every edition but the percentage rise at 23 per cent is the strongest growth.
The previous edition witnessed an 8 per cent growth in viewing to 326 billion minutes, while it was a strong 19 per cent growth in the year ago's 11th edition, BARC said.
