The reason behind IPL suspension is even more: 14% drop in TRP, also failed to entertain the country struggling with Corona; There was also a possibility of reducing income from advertisements

The BCCI suspended IPL 2021 citing the health and safety of the players, but there were many reasons behind this apart from Corona. This year, due to Corona, the league's TRP fell drastically. Official figures from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) show that IPL viewership fell by 14% this year. Meaning that people troubled by Corona had turned their back on the league.

In such a situation, if the IPL continues, then due to the lower TRP, there could be pressure to renegotiate the rate of the advertisements shown during the match. Continuing the season could have caused more losses. However, now the entire season is postponed, due to this, all the estimates of this year's advertising revenue of the broadcaster Star Network will go awry. According to market sources, the loss for Star Network could be around 2500 crores.

There was also a protest due to Corona

Due to the uncontrolled situation of Corona in the country, there was a lot of opposition to the IPL anyway. It was eventually postponed after more than half a dozen players became Covid positive, but BARC's ratings prove that even if it was not suspended, the viewership of IPL-14 was falling.

According to the data, in 2020 viewership per match was 8.34 minutes (billion) while the cumulative reach (minutes) was 116, but this year total viewership was 6.62 minutes (billion), while the cumulative reach (minutes) was 105, out of 17 matches.

A BARC official said that all was well in the first week. However, as the corona form of corona emerged in the country, the IPL's TRP started to be affected from the second week onwards.

People turned away from IPL

Paritosh Joshi, Principal, and Advisor in Advocate Advisory explain that if we are not sensitive to the society we are part of, then we will be considered to be just about money. TRP is telling that people are not in the mood for IPL, but in this entire episode, BCCI, IPL players, and franchisees are completely harsh.

According to Paritosh, this was an occasion when the world's richest sport and its organization would come forward to help the people. Before this, sensitivity has been shown in sports abroad, but not in our players. He says that in such a crisis that only the IPL cares, such an institution needs to be churned.

He said that there is a quandary in the country, but the BCCI remained in its bio-bubble. He has shown that he does not mean anything to the country. But he could not keep his players safe even in his bio-bubble. In such a situation, falling TRP is obvious.

Big loss to Star India due to cancellation of the season

According to sources associated with advertising, Star India hoped that more people would watch IPL this time than in the previous season. Advertising rates were also raised accordingly. Last year, 11–12 lakh rupees for ten-second slots were fixed. This time, this rate was increased to Rs 13 lakh.

Sources reveal that these are only rates, but the actual payment depends on the amount of time the ad was able to run. These rates are also renegotiated in the event of a lower TRP. Being less than this, the pressure was started to reduce the advertising rate. Now maybe this season will start again, even then these rates can be negotiated again.

Pressure on subscriber too

The double whammy for the Star Network will be that some of its subscribers may also miss. A large number of people subscribe to Hotstar only to watch IPL. Increased viewership from the IPL also sees other shows and movies from Hotstar and later subscribes to a lot of subscriptions. There is a possibility that those who subscribe to Star's sports channels will also fall significantly.

Big events don't get postponed for just one reason

Media expert Vanita Kohli Khandekar told Bhaskar that most of the league's ad contracts are signed several months in advance. Nevertheless, there is always a close to change something at the last moment. The decision to cancel a big event like IPL is not taken at all and there is no single reason behind it. All the big advertisers want to be connected with big events like IPL all the time. So now this season will start again or it will be a new season, then this time the deficit will be calculated and removed by calculating the loss.