Kabaddi seems poised to turn out to be Indias favourite second sport with an astounding 218 million viewers tuning into Star Sports Pro-Kabaddi Leagues opening video games, unprecedented for a sport apart from cricket. As per TAM knowledge for week 31, Star Sports Pro-Kabaddi attain for the first 8 days now stands at 72.5 million viewers. This when extrapolated to All India Universe, as per commonplace business conversions, signifies that over 218 million Indians have watched the match.
The video games resurrection as a mainstream sport via the League noticed it trounce viewership numbers for soccer, hockey and others to turn out to be second solely to cricket. Data exhibits complete households, together with ladies, youngsters and youth, tracked Star Sports Pro-Kabaddi League, an initiative thats half of Stars bigger effort to spawn a multi-sport tradition in India. In all, 32% of all viewers have been ladies and 22% youngsters. The technique of making the sport interesting to youth has paid off with 25% of all viewers in the 15-24 age phase.
In its glory days, the sport loved a wealthy heritage the place it was practiced throughout festivals and after harvest as a matter of celebration. Star endeavors to revive that festive air round Kabaddi and set it in todays context (Read: world-class manufacturing, trendy indoor stadiums, mat floor courts, jazzy music & gentle and superstar engagement) to make it extra interesting to the youth.
“Kabaddi has every ingredient, including skill, strategy and speed, to emerge as a serious sport and win a fan following. The opening week response is especially encouraging given that it is a true blue Indian sport,” Star India CEO Uday Shankar stated.
“To Charu and me, the popularity of Kabaddi was never in question. However we have been genuinely overwhelmed by the support the game has received from all quarters, be it the media, film fraternity, sportspersons or the government. The viewership data further reinforces that Pro Kabaddi could be Indias sports revolution in the making”, stated, Anand Mahindra, Co-promoter, Mashal Sports.
The technique of sampling via Star Gold has paid off with a 37% development in Star Gold’s prime-time slot. This first-of-its-kind Star Sports Pro-Kabaddi league, since inaugural, has turn out to be one of the most talked-about occasions on social media. The on-line buzz and conversations continues to construct with 910 million impressions on-line, in the first 8 days of the match, in itself a file for a comeback sport. The video games proceed to witness excessive superstar turnout – attracting icons from movie, tv and political leaders to observe the revamp of this historical sport.
The broadcast of STAR Sports Pro Kabaddi is on STAR Sports channels, STAR Gold and www.starsports.com
