India may not be playing in the biggest football tournament in the world, but Indians are are sure watching it.

According to Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), which holds the media rights for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, around 47.3 million viewers watched the tournament in the first 48 hours on its network in India.

The broadcaster added that the mega football broke all official viewership records for football properties in India in the first two days of the tournament.

Of the total, around 41 million caught the action on the TV channels SONY TEN2, SONY TEN3, and SONY ESPN. Around 6 million viewers logged into the SonyLIV website to watch the matches live.

According to data released by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup had 2.1 million impressions. In the June 11-June 17 week, football alone accounted for around 66 percent of all sports viewership.

Not surprisingly, Kerala, Assam and the other Northeast states, and West Bengal are the top contributing markets in terms of viewership for the World Cup.

Nearly 30 percent of the viewership came from Kerala, while 28 percent and 20 percent, respectively, came from the Northeast (mainly Assam), and West Bengal. Interestingly, 45 percent of all viewers were women.

"The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia has made an incredible impression in its opening and has established its position as the top football tournament in India. This is a significant moment for football fans in the country as we see a tournament with no Indian representation, break viewership records," said Rajesh Kaul, President, Distribution and Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India.

"It is truly exciting to be a part of the transformation that this beautiful game is going through in India. Our efforts into ensuring expansive reach through the regional language feeds has yielded excellent results. We are going to keep the momentum going as the tournament picks up pace," Kaul added.