The streets were empty and all eyes were glued to the TV. The India-Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup final on Saturday has smashed all previous records for television viewership, according to Audience Measurement and Analytics Ltd (aMap), a viewer-ship rating agency.
The aMap data claim that 67.6 million viewers saw the match for over four hours. In contrast, the 2010 FIFA World Cup final was witnessed by only 1.5 million people in India. In fact, viewership of Saturday's final was more than the combined viewership of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The match got 13.7 television rating points (TVRs), the highest for any event so far. When the winning moment arrived, the ratings peaked, touching a massive 21.44, says aMap in a release.
India beat Sri Lanka in a nail-biting contest to win the World Cup after 28 years.
“Yesterday's viewership broke all records. Every Indian was glued to the TV to see the big win! Sixty-four per cent of C&S (cable and satellite) homes were watching the game. The match was on for an average of four hours in every household. Ratings peaked towards the end of the match when India held the World Cup. Advertisers can celebrate along with Team India,” said Ms Jiniti Shah, Vice-President, aMap. Viewership increased almost fourfold on Saturday. Until the quarterfinals, India's matches had an average rating of 3.7. The quarterfinals saw it increase to five, the semi-finals to 11, and Saturday's big win took it to 13.6.