Multi Screen Media has seen a surge of 20.86% in viewership on the back of the Indian Premier League T20 tournament, according to Urvi Malvania of the Indian BUSINESS STANDARD. The channel's "gross viewership in thousand (GVT)" went from 410,312 in week 16 (April 13-19) to 495,922 in week 17. The IPL kicked off on April 16 and the week under consideration saw nine matches take place. MSM VP Rohit Gupta said, "The viewership and reach, both have been much better than anticipated. The reach for the first 15 matches has gone up from 133 million in 2013 to 140 million in 2014. The television viewership in thousands has also been going good from 8,239 TVT in 2013 to 8,559 TVT this year." Gupta added that the most encouraging bit is that the viewership figures "have held their own among the male target audience." He is "optimistic that with the tournament coming to India, the viewership will see a spike." However, media planners and buyers who are involved with brands advertising on the IPL inform that the ratings "have seen a drop on a year-on-year basis." The change in venue to the UAE and ongoing Lok Sabha elections "are being considered the main reason for the drop in ratings" (BUSINESS STANDARD, 5/3).
