Virat Kohli’s back to back centuries set up India’s victory in the One Day International series against the hosts West Indies. But the two classics failed to generate enough eyeballs on television for cricket to edge out Pro Kabaddi League in the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India ratings for the Week 33, between August 10 and 16.

For the third successive week, kabaddi has destroyed cricket’s stature of India’s most-followed and most-watched sport.

Pro Kabaddi League LIVE broadcast on Star Sports 1 Hindi occupies all the Top 5 most-watched sports genre programmes positions in the BARC ratings even as there is a significant fall in the PKL ratings.

The West Indies-India cricket, which figured in the second and the fourth position for T20 Internationals’ ratings last week, is completely wiped out of the top five table. Cricket’s poor performance may be attributed to the ODI matches going well past mid-night and weather-enforced interruptions, but the scenario does not augur well for the sport which only this week has witnessed a 58% surge in Board of Control for Cricket in India’s sponsorship rights value.

It is not normal for sports content consumption on television in India that the screen which broadcasts live cricket featuring the Men in Blue fails to be the most-watched sports genre channel for the week. Star Sports First and Star Sports 1 Hindi have dismissed that notion by occupying the No. 1 and No. 2 positions respectively on the sheer strength of kabaddi.

Also Read: BARC Ratings: Pro Kabaddi outperforms Windies-India cricket series

The Sony Sports cluster channels – Sony Ten 3 and Sony Ten 1, exclusive broadcasters of India’s tour of the West Indies – are in the No. 3 and No. 4 position with DD Sports finding the bottom of the top five table, primarily for the shared LIVE feed of the West Indies-India cricket.

STAR SPORTS FIRST LEADS ON PKL RATINGS Week 33: Top 5 Sports Channels Rank Channel Impressions 1. Star Sports First 11,77,38,000 2. Star Sports 1 Hindi 11,18,99,000 3. Sony Ten 3 10,75,99,000 4. Sony Ten 1 6,80,32,000 5. DD Sports 5,40,78,000 *All India (U+R): NCCS All : 2+ individuals/ratings Period – Aug 10-16, 2019

PKL seems well poised for yet another week of excellence in BARC ratings as Week 34 ratings between August 17 and 23 will have only first two days of the inaugural Test of the two match series between the Kohli & Co and hosts West Indies.

Also Read: BARC Ratings: Star Sports 1 Hindi, PKL dominate sports genre

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