By Shoubhik Mukhopadhyay
I-League Media Team
NEW DELHI: Gone are those days when Indians would tune into English Premier League or La Liga to soak in the thrilling actions of football. The holy grail of Indian football, Hero I-League is the newest sensation for them. Here lies the enigma of Hero I-League.
The top-tier competition of Indian football has set a new trend in the entire nation and Gen- Y applauds the Sony Nordes and Eugeneson Lyngdohs ahead of Costas and Rooneys, which could have never happened unless there had been a successful television campaign throughout the last season.
It was the first edition of I-League after Hero inked a three-year title sponsorship deal which witnessed a firm rise in the television rating right from January 17th, 2015, while the Hero I-League kicked off. On comparison with season 2013-14, Television Viewership in Thousands (TVT) of Hero I-League 2014-15 surged up by almost 13% in last edition, increasing to 79,000 from 70,000. Another measurement tool TVR (in %) i.e. Television Viewer Rating also reflects a steady positive slope of 11% raise.
“It has been the best I-league so far in terms of quality, reach as well as visibility. It is great to see the improvement in Television rating”, an elated Kushal Das, General Secretary, AIFF commented on the positive trend set by the recently concluded edition of Hero I-league. Most of the prime time matches were telecast at 7 PM during the weekends, which grabbed most number of eyeballs across the country.
All expectations were overshot while McDowell Mohun Bagan locked their horns with Bengaluru FC, defending champions of I-League 2013-14 on the final day. As the pulsating relegation battle wrapped up, onus was on the final frontier of Hero I-League which turned out to a title decider, almost a cup final. Kanteerava Stadium was flooded by home fans as well as travelling fans who flew from every corner of the country. Nevertheless, whoever could not afford to be present at Kanteerava, which turned to an amphitheater, stayed glued to their television set right from 7 PM.
The epic encounter between McDowell Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC even trended first on Twitter for quite a considerable period, a humongous feat to attain and a delightful anecdote to spur.
TAM ratings quantified the vociferous enthusiasm of Indians which clearly notifies that the Avg. Television Viewership in Thousands (TVT) surged to 378 from 30 last year.
The quality of the ball game rose considerably which made the Gen-Y turn towards Hero I-League. Two years back, it was a distant dream that youngsters switching to Hero I-League instead of English Premier League but the scenario took an U-turn this season. “Unarguably it has the best edition of I-League where two teams were fighting for the title till the last minute; it has been a tremendous advertisement from the league point of view. Avg. Television Viewership Rating has gone up by 10 times and the Reach has increased by four times, it is incredible. But we must keep on doing the best job possible to let Hero I-League reach to as many football fanatics as possible”, Mr. Sunando Dhar, CEO, I-League was referring that reach of the final match of Hero I-League pulled up to 1.2 million this season which was tottering at 0.3 million the season before, a fascinating figure to boast of.
Hero I-League 2014-15 showed a lot of promise, on-field as well as off-field. While the newbie Royal Wahingdoh FC went on basking in the glory of clinching the third spot in maiden Hero I-League season and McDowell Mohun Bagan ended a trophy drought of thirteen years, the broadcasters carried off the job with absolute aptness, eventually the Hero I-League 2014-15 season concluded on a higher note having put a unyielding footprint in the future which could only fructify the Indian football. “Way to go for Hero I-League. Surely we’ll move forward and come up more strongly next season. Both I-League and ISL are here to stay and complement each other for betterment of Indian football, which is the sole target to hit, solitary goal to accomplish”, Mr. Kushal Das, pretty optimistic and buoyant, signed off with a positive vision.
