Star India garners 38 mn viewers for Women’s Kabaddi over first 2 matches

The Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League’s success has woken up the nation to acknowledge Kabaddi and its local heroes. Close on its heels, elevating the potential of women’s sport in India, the Women’s Kabaddi Challenge has just made history with its viewership ratings.

A record breaking 38 million viewers at an all India CS 4+ level (Source: BARC panel) watched the two matches that saw India’s best women players hit the mat on June 28 and 30 in Mumbai and Jaipur, respectively.

The two games delivered an average 7.2 million impressions on TV at an all India CS 4+ level (Source: BARC panel). This is 2.5 times higher than the previous viewership high of 2.9 million impressions (Source: BARC panel) recorded for the ICC World T20 2016 second semi-final game between New Zealand and West Indies, the highest rated women’s game till date.

Star’s internal #CrossTheLine campaign celebrated the changing paradigms and breaking stereotypes by women in all walks of life.The immense support from the fans reinstates Women’s Kabaddi Challenge’s position as a manifestation of this journey, giving a new dimension to both the sport and the players.

“The Women’s Kabaddi Challenge has garnered the highest ever viewership for any women’s sport in this country till date. This is not only a watershed moment for women’s sport in this country, but also shows how Kabaddi continues to grow from strength to strength,” remarked Nitin Kukreja, CEO, Star Sports. He further said, “Pro Kabaddi began with a vision, and four seasons down the line, we have witnessed phenomenal success that no one expected. Certainly India loves Kabaddi!”

The Women’s Kabaddi Challenge, an initiative by the AKFI in close association with Mashal Sports commenced on June 28, 2016, with the finals taking place on July 31. In the history of Kabaddi, it is for the first time that women Kabaddi teams will clash at the same court as men, that is, 13 by 10 square metres in a 30 minute clash. The challenge will reveal three teams – Fire Birds captained by Mamtha Poojari, Ice Divas captained by Abhilasha Mhatre and Storm Queens captained by Tejeswini Bai.

Scheduled across multiple cities – Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Jaipur and Pune – the Women’s Kabaddi Challenge will be televised live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD 2 in English, Star Sports 3 and Star Sports HD 3 in Hindi, Maa Movies in Telugu; on Star Gold in Hindi and Suvarna Plus in Kannada and on Star’s digital platform Hotstar from 9.00 pm onwards.