Marketing Research Project

Report
On
Factors Affecting Viewership
Of
Indian Premier League
Introduction
Indian Premier League, or as it is widely recognized as IPL, is a
professional T20 Cricket championship in India. Initiated by Board of
Cricket Control in India in the year 2008, IPL has not only changed the way
cricket is played in India but also the way cricket was perceived in the
country. In a cricket crazy nation such as India, IPL is not limited only as a
sporting event but it has brought an entertainment revolution across the
nation surpassing all records of viewership on ground and on media.
Advertising revenue and ticket sales exceeded all expectations, turning
IPL into a highly profitable event for the organizers, broadcasters and
team owners.

The IPL was well received by the people of India and in a cricketing nation
such as India, the advent of IPL was yet another reason for the people to
be happy. It was a newer format of the game, less played by the national
team but made popular by the Indias win in the first ever T20 World Cup.
The stage was all set and IPL arrived with a great pomp and show. IPL
converged the two very popular streams of entertainment in India,
Bollywood and cricketers, and hence generating even more attraction for
the general public.

From its inception, IPL has come a long way and in its ninth edition it has
generated a humongous amount of viewership across all media. As per
BARC India data, IPL in its seven weeks of play generated a total of 981.88
million impressions and the male female viewership ratio was
approximately 59:41.

With the advent of digital age, the viewership pattern has seen a steady
shift towards digital media such as online live streaming, YouTube etc. IPL
was aired on Star Indias digital platform HotStar and it already crossed 80
million viewership in this IPL.

With a massive fan following and ardent viewership for a cricketing event,
we decided to dig deep and analyse the prime factors that are driving the
enormous liking for the IPL. Is it only the love of cricket or there are other
human behavioural characteristics also in play that is fuelling the massive
viewership of IPL. And to identify the factors that are directly related to IPL
viewership, we have decided to undertake a market research.
Literature Review
In order to understand the factors that are driving the IPL viewership, we
need to first analyse the viewers. Viewers of sports events are
heterogeneous and their motive for watching a sporting event vary
considerably from individual to individual. Some might be genuinely
interested in watching good quality sport while others may see it as a
source of entertainment or a social event to break away from the daily
chores of life.

Wann, Melnick, Russel, & Pease (2001) highlighted the difference between
sports fans and sports consumers. They defined sports fans as individuals
who are interested in following a sport, team or athlete, and sports
consumers as those who actively witness a sporting event in person or
through some form of media, such as television, radio, etc.

Kenyon (1969) and McPherson (1975) distinguish between direct sport

consumers and indirect sport consumers. Direct sport consumption
involves personal attendance at a sporting event. Indirect sport
consumption involves exposure to sport through some form of mass
media, such as television, radio or the Internet.

Hocking (1982) and Eastman and Land (1997) examined how people
watch sports, whether they watch alone, in groups, or at the stadium.
Location mattered. Those who gathered at sports bars to watch sports
sought the social interaction and sense of community those settings
provided. In addition to letting them participate in comfortable rituals (and
drinking), shared viewership at bars legitimized their fanship and
established them as real, serious fans.

Wann (1995) proposed and validated a set of motivations that drives

viewership. It primarily consisted of eight motivation sets such as fan
eustress (i.e., positive arousal), self-esteem,escape, entertainment,
economic, aesthetic, group affiliation, and family needs. A follow-up study
found that fans who preferred sports in which individuals compete alone
reported higher levels of aesthetic motivation, whereas those with a
preference for team sports had higher scores on the eustress and self-
esteem subscales (Wann, Schrader, & Wilson, 1999). Lines (2000)
suggested a motivation framework composed of personal, social, and
emotional dimensions.

Gender makes an important differentiator in sports viewing. Gantz and

Wenner (1991) found that, compared to women, more men responded like
fans, even controlling initial levels of interest in sports. Men were more
strongly motivated to watch televised sports and indeed spent more time
watching those programs.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

Cricket in India is like a religion in India and IPL being based upon cricket
shares a humongous popularity. With more than 500 million viewers
across the globe we understood that people who follow IPL can easily
share their views on the major factors which drive their fondness towards
IPL. Additionally there is nothing sensitive about IPL and people love to
discuss about the game in their respective groups. Based upon these pre-
thinking we choose to conduct FGD (Focused Group Discussion) to get
deep insights on the factors that drive IPL viewership. Additionally we also
used Netnography as there is a lot of information/research available on
the digital platform.

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS

We formed two group of 8 members each for the discussion. While

forming the group we ensured that homogeneity is maintained across the
group. The 1st group comprised of die-hard fans of cricket who regularly
follow IPL, while other group comprised of people who do not follow IPL
regularly. We tried to get various insights by conducting discussions on
different set of question as below:

1. What is IPL -a game of cricket or a source of entertainment

2. Which team do you support
3. What are the different forces that drive them to watch IPL

After taking note of all the points raised in the discussion we came with a
list of factors that impact the viewership of IPL. Based upon these listings
we defined our list of independent variables, which we used in our
questionnaire for further research.

NETNOGRAPHY

Indian Premier League (IPL), which is one cricketing tournament which is a

perfect mix of sports and glamour, has altered the way cricket was
perceived in the country. With cricket being a male-dominant sport, IPL
with its T20 format, made cricket appealing for women as well. So much,
that IPL's male, female viewership ratio is now 59:41. Over the 9 seasons
it has gained popularity with each passing season, generating 1200 crore
ad revenue in the latest edition. As per Broadcast Audience Research
Council, BARC India, the seven weeks of IPL 2016 garnered a total of
981.88 million impressions.

As per the latest report from BARC, 1.02 billion viewers watched the latest
(9th) edition of IPL. The final was the most viewed match with 44.68
million impressions, followed by the playoff match that garnered 27.21
million impressions. As per the week-wise performance of the tournament,
the numbers stood at 147.23 million impressions in week 15 (the launch
week of IPL when seven matches were played), which then increased
marginally to garner 147.73 million impressions in week 16 (nine
matches).

As per the data shared by Sony, about 121 million people tuned in to
watch the finals, which was a 55 per cent jump over the events collective
reach average. IPL season 9 established itself as the leader in prime time
with an average of 819 million impressions, which is 108% more than the
no. 2 channel at 394 gross million impressions at an all-India level. This
has been one of the most viewed events with 54% of Indias total
television audience remaining glued to it on pay television. The top
performing markets for IPL 2016 were Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata,
Hyderabad, Maharashtra/Goa, Gujarat, and Karnataka.

INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES

Dependent Variable

Viewership of IPL and its Popularity

In this research, an individuals intent to view IPL serves as the dependent
variable and the viewership depends upon various variables and
fluctuates as the variables change. This will serve our as alternate
hypothesis (Ha) which we want to prove.
Ref: Brand Personality (Aaker 1997)

Independent Variable:
Gender:
Game Involvement: The edge IPL has over other cricketing events is
its short duration games and it makes viewers more involved with IPL.
We want to verify that the level of involvement generated has a
significant impact on the overall viewership of event.
Ref: Mittal, B. (1989). A Theoretical Analysis of Two Recent Measures of
Involvement. Advances In Consumer Research

Glamour Factor: IPL is a perfect blend of glamour and sports. The

celebrity presence in IPL is more than any other sporting event in India.
The celebrities either own or endorse IPL teams. Celebrities plays a
vital role in emotionally connecting a brand to its consumer and hence
we want to verify that the glamour factor has a considerable influence
in viewership of IPL.
Ref: Erdogan, B. Z. (1999). Celebrity Endorsement: A Literature Review.
Journal Of Marketing Management

Team Profile: The league format of IPL includes different teams based
out of a particular location. Spectators feels emotionally attached to
their local teams and hence a profile of team as a brand is quite
significant in the world of IPL. It generates the trustworthiness and
attractiveness towards the team and hence we need to verify its
importance in generating viewership.
Ref: Roobina Ohanian. (1990). Construction and Validation of a Scale to Measure Celebrity
Endorsers' Perceived Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Attractiveness

Player Profile: India as a cricket frenzy nation has a very huge cricket
following. Every cricketer has a celebrity status and people connect
with them emotionally. Watching their favourite cricketer play is a
visual treat and thus we wanted to measure the contribution of player
profile in IPL viewership.
Ref: Roobina Ohanian. (1990). Construction and Validation of a Scale to Measure Celebrity
Endorsers' Perceived Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Attractiveness

Negative Publicity: The game of cricket has always been susceptible

to the malpractice such as match fixing and unfair means. IPL too
couldnt avoid the brunt of controversies and made headlines due to
wrong reasons. The attitude towards the brand IPL has hampered
considerably due to the negative publicity it has generated. We wanted
to measure the impact of negative publicity on IPLs viewership
Ref: Spears, N., & Singh, S. N. (2004). Measuring Attitude Toward the Brand
and Purchase Intentions. Journal Of Current Issues & Research In Advertising

Saturation Factor: In cricketing world, India plays a vital role. IPL is

an international event and players from various countries participate in
the event. However, the concerns of excessive cricketing are growing
rapidly and it may affect the viewership adversely. Hence we wanted to
verify its impact on IPL.
Ref: Change Seeking Index: CSI (Steenkamp and Baumgartner 1994) -
A Handbook of Marketing Scales Pg 216-217
Ease of Watching: With the advent of digital age, digital media such
as online live streaming, YouTube etc. has contributed significantly
towards any events viewership. IPL was aired on Star Indias digital
platform HotStar and it already crossed 80 million viewership in last
IPL. So we wanted to measure whether the ease of watching has
contributed positively towards the IPLs viewership
Latent need of Excitement:
HYPOTHESIS:
H1: There is a positive relation between an individuals involvement in the
game and the intent to view.
H2: There is a positive relation between the glamour quotient and intent
to view.
H3: There is a positive relation between the team profile and intent to
view.
H4: There is a positive relation between the player profile and intent to
view.
H5: There is a negative relation between the negative
publicity/controversies and intent to view.
H6: There is a negative relation between the game saturation and intent
to view.
H7: There is a negative relation between the gender and intent to view.
H8: There is a positive relation between ease of watching and intent view.
H9: There is a positive relation between latent need for excitement and
intent view.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

A survey method was adopted to collect the responses through a

questionnaire. The questionnaire was on a five point Likert scale with
lowest as 1 (representing strong disagreement) and highest preference
being 5 (representing strong agreement). The data collected were initially
subjected to reliability test.
Reliability Test is done statistically using the Cronbach alpha. Cronbach
alpha is a measure of internal consistency and it is most commonly used
when there are multiple Likert scale questions in a survey. It helps us to
determine the reliability of the scale. The Cronbach alpha for all the
question were above the desired level of 0.6 and some of the questions
that failed to pass the reliability test were omitted to achieve the desired
value of Cronbach alpha.

Construct Cronbach Alpha

Involvement 0.874

Glamour 0.618
 Team Profile 0.867

Player Profile 0.666

Negative Publicity 0.643

Saturation 0.661
Furthermore, to make the data even more reliable, we conducted a
correlation check on the variables. Correlation check helps us to identify
the degree of relationship among different variables and it helps to
eliminate any error in the analysis of data.

Correlations

Tea Play Negati Ease Latent

m er ve Of need of
Gend Involvem Glamo Profi Profi Publici Saturati Watchi Excitem
er ent ur le le ty on ng ent
Gender Pearson 1 .186* .166 . .197* -.060 -.073 .161 .082
Correlati 328**
on
Sig. (2- .034 .059 .000 .025 .499 .407 .066 .352
tailed)
N 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130
Involvem Pearson .186* 1 .592** . . -.603** -.471** .497** .386**
ent Correlati 677** 528**
on
Sig. (2- .034 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130
Glamour Pearson .166 .592** 1 . . -.429** -.277** .375** .253**
Correlati 547** 390**
on
Sig. (2- .059 .000 .000 .000 .000 .001 .000 .004
tailed)
N 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130
Team Pearson .328** .677** .547** 1 . -.424** -.394** .395** .324**
Profile Correlati 622**
on
Sig. (2- .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130
Player Pearson .197* .528** .390** . 1 -.200* -.204* .345** .717**
Profile Correlati 622**
on
Sig. (2- .025 .000 .000 .000 .022 .020 .000 .000
tailed)
N 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130
Negative Pearson -.060 -.603** -.429** -.42 -.20 1 .546** -.354** -.098
Publicity Correlati 4** 0*
on
Sig. (2- .499 .000 .000 .000 .022 .000 .000 .266
tailed)
N 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130
Saturatio Pearson -.073 -.471** -.277** -.39 -.20 .546** 1 -.184* -.131
n Correlati 4** 4*
on
Sig. (2- .407 .000 .001 .000 .020 .000 .036 .137
tailed)
 N 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130
Ease Of Pearson .161 .497** .375** . . -.354** -.184* 1 .295**
Watching Correlati 395** 345**
on
Sig. (2- .066 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .036 .001
tailed)
N 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130
Latent Pearson .082 .386** .253** . . -.098 -.131 .295** 1
need of Correlati 324** 717**
Exciteme on
nt Sig. (2- .352 .000 .004 .000 .000 .266 .137 .001
tailed)
N 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130

As from the results we can see, significant amount of correlation was

observed among the variables. Hence we cannot use the data directly to
perform a regression analysis. To eliminate the correlation among the
variables, we performed a factor analysis on the constructs. The result
thus obtained were as follows:

Total Variance Explained

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

% of % of
Component Total Variance Cumulative % Total Variance Cumulative %
1 3.968 44.089 44.089 3.968 44.089 44.089
2 1.349 14.992 59.081 1.349 14.992 59.081
3 .992 11.019 70.100
4 .780 8.663 78.763
5 .638 7.084 85.848
6 .430 4.773 90.621
7 .395 4.392 95.012
8 .268 2.977 97.989
9 .181 2.011 100.000
The factor analysis of data gave us with two principal component or
Factors which is driving the constructs. Factors were extracted on the
basis of Eigen values of value more than 1. All together the factors were
able to explain approximately 60% of variability.
However, from the component matrix we observed that there was an
uneven loading of variables on the factors. Hence we needed to perform a
factor rotation to achieve the balanced factor loading among the
variables. The factor rotation was done by Varimax method.
Prior to rotation

Component Matrix (Unrotated)

Component
1 2
Gender 0.309 0.175
Involvement 0.871 -0.137
Glamour 0.708 -0.106
Team Profile 0.823 0.039
Player Profile 0.728 0.541
Negative Publicity -0.645 0.574
Saturation -0.552 0.515

Ease Of Watching 0.613 0.032

Latent need of Excitement 0.554 0.631

After Rotation

Rotated Component Matrix

 Component
1 2
Gender .105 .339
Involvement .728 .498
Glamour .588 .409
Team Profile .573 .593

Player Profile .159 .893

Negative Publicity -.864 -.024

Saturation -.755 -.004
Ease Of Watching .425 .443

Latent need of Excitement -.029 .840

The rotated component matrix also gives us two principle

component/Factors but with evenly distributed variable. The constructs
can be re-arranged as following
Principle Component 1:
Involvement
Glamour
Negative Publicity
Saturation
Principle component 2:
Team Profile
Player Profile
Ease of Watching
Latent Need of Excitement
We can now rename the factors as following:
PC1: Brand Image: The brand image factor created by the IPL through
various means such as advertisement, celebrity endorsements, glamour
quotient etc. attracts viewership towards the event. The involvement thus
generated is towards the brand IPL and the brand image factor has a
positive impact on viewership.
PC2: Game Format: The game format factor attracts the viewership
through the format of cricket adapted by IPL. The cricketing mania
generated by the IPL has a strong and positive impact on its viewership.
Furthermore, to verify that the correlation has been eliminated completely
we conduct a correlation check on these two factors. We observed that
there was zero correlation among the two components.
 Correlations
Game
Brand Image format
Brand Image Pearson 1 .000
Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed) 1.000

N 130 130
Game format Pearson .000 1
Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed) 1.000

N 130 130
Now, a multiple regression analysis was conducted on the dependent
variable, Viewership, to understand the amount of variability generated by
the two independent factors. On the basis of obtained principle
components, we re-hypothesized our observations.
H1: There is a positive relation between the brand image factor and
viewership of IPL
H2: There is a positive relation between the game format factor and
viewership of IPL
The regression results are as following:

The ANOVA table shows that the regression is highly significant and the
two predictor variables are able to explain the variation in the dependent
variable (Viewership).

Hence, the regression analysis proves that the both the factors i.e. Brand
Image and Game format factor are highly significant and positively related
to the dependent variable Viewership.
CONCLUSION
References

Mittal, B. (1989). A Theoretical Analysis of Two Recent Measures of

Involvement. Advances In Consumer Research

Erdogan, B. Z. (1999). Celebrity Endorsement: A Literature Review.

Journal Of Marketing Management,

Roobina Ohanian. (1990). Construction and Validation of a Scale to

Measure Celebrity Endorsers' Perceived Expertise, Trustworthiness,
and Attractiveness

Spears, N., & Singh, S. N. (2004). Measuring Attitude Toward the

Brand and Purchase Intentions. Journal Of Current Issues & Research
In Advertising

Change Seeking Index: CSI (Steenkamp and Baumgartner 1994) - A

Handbook of Marketing Scales Pg 216-217

Brand Personality (Aaker 1997)

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https://jgateplus.com/search/

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