The season finale of the Indian Super League turned out to be a grand sporting event with over 54,000 people thronging the stadium in Kochi and 41 million fans tuning in on television for the nail biting clash between Atletico de Kolkata and Kerala Blasters FC.
The total number of viewers reached was up 41 per cent as compared to the 2015 final, with viewership in impressions shattering all previous TV and digital records of the league.
Numbers soared across the nation with Kerala fans leading the way in making ISL the most viewed televised sport event of the year. The season finale overshadowed viewership figures of major sporting events in Kerala, including the India-West Indies 2016 T20 World Cup semifinal, EURO 2016 final and FIFA World Cup 2014 final. Similarly, the viewership in West Bengal beat even the IPL 9 final.
The ISL received tremendous response across its third edition with a total viewership of 216 million as compared to around 207 million last year. One of the highlights of the season was the sharp increase in rural India viewership registering a cumulative figure of 101 million, indicating the widespread appeal of the sport.
Furthermore, key metro markets such as Mumbai and Chennai emerged as one of the top performers this season recording a surge of more than 50 per cent over last year along with a cumulative 20 per cent spike in viewership in Tamil Nadu. This demonstrates the growth of the sport beyond the traditional bastions of football. This, combined with the numbers of the rural region, is indicative of the growing penetration of Hero ISL across all belts in India.
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