Indian Super League was watched by 429 million on TV according to TAM data

NEW DELHI: An aggregate of 429 million viewers (TAM data CS4+ extrapolated to the universe using a standard conversion factor) watched the inaugural Hero Indian Super League football tournament live on their TV screens, making it the second most-watched sport in the country after cricket.

The league cut across demographic boundaries and captured the imagination of a diverse fan base, with women and children accounting for 57 percent of the 429 million viewers.

The final played between Atletico de Kolkata and Kerala Blasters, on December 20, was watched by 57 million viewers, culminating the over two months long league.

The final, with an average TVT of 1418 among M 15+ ABC, registered as the highest rated match of the tournament, 11 percent higher than the opening match of the tournament.

Talking about the league’s success, Nita Ambani, Chairperson, IMG-Reliance said,”The success of Hero ISL is a realisation of a dream- the dream of a billion plus Indians to experience and embrace the beauty of football. ‘The Beautiful Game’ has successfully captured the imagination of people of India and we have experienced the joy of watching the birth of a footballing nation.”

The popularity of the Hero ISL has also been evident across social media platforms. It has dominated trends online with fans extremely vocal in their enthusiasm. Globally, Hero ISL has created 2.2 million conversations on social media with more than 275,000 unique authors (twice as many unique authors as 2014 FIFA World Cup in India) generating 11 billion potential impressions.