MUMBAI: It has been just a month since its inaugural season, but organisers of the Wave World Kabaddi League (WKL) have claimed that it has achieved better television ratings than the Hockey India League.

A month since its launch, the League has attained an all-India rating of 0.05 average rating points, as compared to 0.03 for HIL's last edition and 0.028 for Indian Badminton League’ s last edition.

In a statement  WKL organisers said, "After four weeks and 16 matches as of last weekend, the Wave WKL has already begun competing favourably with the ratings achieved by the Indian Badminton League and the Hockey India League and is emerging as second only to cricket."

The ratings in the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM) are also quite similar with the international league managing to grab greater attention of the TV viewers. In the Punjab-Haryana-Chandigarh-Himachal market, where Kabaddi is most popular, the margin of difference is greater with WKL managing a rating of 0.07 as compared to 0.03 of HIL and IBL.

In an interview with indiantelevison.com,  Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan had said that the League would be  popular in the northern belt of India especially in UP and Punjab where the circular styled format of the game is more prevalent. The League is being broadcast on Sony Six.

"In terms of sheer viewership numbers, Wave WKL has managed to get to approximately 16.3 million viewers and of these 11.4 million are in Hindi speaking markets and almost 2.6 million in the Punjab-Haryana-Chandigarh-Himachal market," the organisers stated.

The WKL follows a travelling format similar to Formula 1 and is being played at 15 international venues with 86 matches over a four month long period.