MUMBAI: The football crazy city of Kolkata gave ESPN excellent ratings. The broadcaster has stated that its live telecast of the final between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan in the Chlor-mint IFA Shield on 28 September registered a TVR of 12 in Kolkata. The TG was males, 15 plus, SEC A, B & C, C&S homes.
An official release informs that ratings across all TV households in Kolkata also registered a high TVR of 9. The broadcaster claims that its coverage of the ‘Chlor-mint IFA Shield’ reached a gross of 1.3 million viewers in the city of Kolkata and 4.29 million viewers nationally. The two semi-finals achieved an average of 4.5 TVRs.
Speaking on this ESS MD RC Venkateish said, "We have had a great start to the soccer season on our channels with some great EPL matches and re-acquisition of rights to showcase the UEFA and Spanish Primera Liga. Simultaneous to showcasing the best international soccer on our networks, we became the first cable & satellite network to telecast domestic soccer LIVE and exclusive on ESPN."
At the time of the Chlormint IFA Shield final, ESPN had a 50.5 per cent share of all male, 15 plus, SEC A, B & C TV viewers in Kolkata. This was five times the share of the nearest competition. Considering all C&S TV viewers in Kolkata, ESPN still commanded a channel share of 42.3 per cent, which is over thrice the share of the nearest competition.
The release adds that preparations were made to ensure that the coverage of the Chlormint IFA Shield was at par with the broadcasters coverage of international soccer. Special camera locations were identified; devices like the electronic video storage (EVS), to allow action replays from eight angles, were used.
Hi-tech graphics customised for the match were used to cover the ‘Chlormint IFA Shield’ as had never been done before in domestic soccer. Special guests, erstwhile soccer players and sports celebrities also featured in the ESPN STAR Sports studio. They provided in-depth analysis and interesting discussions during the tournament.