The sports audience in India "is on the rise," according to INSIDE SPORT. With the data for seven more weeks yet to come, TV audience for sports in India this year has "already registered a surge" of 7% over the '17 gross impressions. As per the Broadcast Audience Research Council India data for All India/2+ market, the total sports viewership on TV has reportedly jumped to 46 billion impressions in '18 after 46 weeks. It represents a "big gain" over the 43 billion gross impressions recorded for sports content in '17. The BARC further revealed that the football viewership during the period "registered an upswing." There is a "healthy" 50% growth from 2 billon to 3 billion even as six weeks of data for the year was yet to be incorporated in the '18 numbers. Cricket, wrestling and football have "seen a growth in viewership" while kabaddi’s "upward swing" for the first two seasons fell. Cricket’s viewership share in the sports genre has gone up from 65% in '16 to 71% in '17 and 72% in '18. Wrestling’s viewership has gone up to 12% from 11% in '17. Football's viewership share, boosted by the FIFA World Cup in Russia, has gone from 3% in '17 to 7% this year. In '16, the viewership share stood at 5% (INSIDE SPORT, 12/5).
