The 18th Asian Games breaks several viewership records

The 18th Asian Games was viewed by 11.2 crore people in India. The 14-day long tournament received approximately 80 lakh views each day. The TV viewership measurement agency- Broadcasting Audience Research Council (BARC) stated in a report that Asian Games viewership in India surpassed the viewership of FIFA World Cup and the Wimbledon Championship.

Earlier this year, the FIFA World Cup in Russia in the months of May-June had garnered the attention of 11 crore viewers, on the other hand, the Wimbledon Tennis Championship was viewed by 1.9 crore viewers. However, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is the leader in this aspect. This year, the Indian Premier League, in its 11th season, was a 51-days long affair and had 53 crore viewers glued to the television screens.

The Asian Games viewers included all those above the age of 2 years. The Games were broadcasted across 5 television channels.

The Jakarta Games (2018) went past the Incheon Games (2014) mainly because of the daily viewership trends. The former received 3 times more daily viewers than Incheon Games had received in 2014. The Incheon Games had received an approximate 26 lakhs viewers in India per day, while the Jakarta Games had 80 lakh viewers per day-a testimony to the growth in viewership of these Games.

While the Incheon Games of 2014 had a total viewership of 4.09 crores, the Guangzhou Games of 2010 were viewed by 3.26 crore viewers.

To put into perspective, the Asian Games viewership this year, was less than that of the Rio Olympics, but more than the Gold-coast Commonwealth Games. While the Olympics had 20.1 crore Indian viewers, the Commonwealth Games had 8.84 crore people watching in India.

Contrary to the perception of Athletics in India, it was the most viewed sport. In fact, Athletics, Badminton and Wrestling were the pioneer disciplines in terms of viewership stats. India got 19 medals in athletics, 2 in Badminton and 3 in Wrestling. Overall, India finished 8th -with 15 Golds, 24 silver and 30 bronze medals- a total of 69 medals.