TV viewing of IPL shoots up 23% in pandemic time

The recently concluded IPL, played in UAE amid the coronavirus pandemic, witnessed a 23 per cent jump in television viewership at 400 billion minutes.The BARC, which collates data on television viewing, said 405 million viewers watched the tournament for 400 billion minutes as against the 326 billion viewing minutes in the year-ago’s edition. The cricket tournament, which is generally played during the summers and had to be staged in the UAE because of social distancing restrictions domestically, was seen as a big succour for the sports, which had been struggling with a lack of action since the onset of the pandemic in March.