This Indian T20 League team becomes the biggest franchise in India: Reports
Indian T20 League (Image source- BCCI/IPL)
Cricket is worshipped in India, and is considered a religion. The Indian T20 League has a major contribution to cricket being the most loved sport in the country. And now, a franchise from the tournament has become the biggest franchise in India across sports and tournaments.
One of the most successful teams in the tournament, Chennai, has become the biggest franchise in India as per a survey conducted by the media consulting firm Ormax Media. As per the report, Chennai has a fanbase of 22.5 million people, which is almost the same as the entire fan base of the sport of Football in India. According to the survey, a real fan is someone who feels emotionally attached to the team and its outcomes, and participates in online or offline talks about the team and its players.
“Viewership numbers, especially from television, are not an accurate representation of the fanbase of any sport, as India is predominantly a single-TV nation where a lot of sports viewing is passive in nature. Through this report, we aim to fill in the need gap for reliable data on the size and the profile of the ‘real’ sports fans, who are actively watching and engaged with the sport. The report can provide useful material to sports leagues, teams and broadcasters for their brand and communication strategy initiatives,” Shailesh Kapoor, Founder and CEO of Ormax Media, said.
Other findings of the report
Cricket has the most fans in India, at 124.2 million. With 23-28 million fans apiece, Kabaddi, Wrestling (including WWE), and Football are in a close race for second place.
The report also analyses the different Football leagues and their fan bases. FC Barcelona, which happens to be Lionel Messi’s former team, leads the list with 3.9 million fans. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are among the top ten most popular athletes in India. In addition to the two football superstars, the list includes seven cricketers, as well as the Badminton star PV Sindhu.
The report examines the TV vs digital consumption of sports in the section on viewing behaviour. While 44 per cent of Indian sports enthusiasts watch live sports only on TV, a sizable 36 per cent watch live sports on both conventional and digital media, with the remaining 20 per cent watching purely on digital.
