In a recently concluded research by the Bangalore-based media analysis house ZAPR, the viewership for a stellar Olympic final registered a record for the most watched Olympic Game in the country. This, in some way, provides encouragement for the dismal state of marginalised sports in the country. PV Sindhu's singles final against Carolina Marin attracted nearly 66.5 million people, who watched the game to support her.
Compare this to the daily viewership of popular TV soaps, and this figure seems to be a massive figure. Sadly, Olympic glory still managed to attract fewer viewers than finals of major cricketing tournaments.
Also read: PV Sindhu shows her respect for the game by picking up Carolina Marin's racquet after Rio 2016 final
However, PV Sindhu still managed to win a single battle against cricket after her match generated more views than the semi-final of the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup between India and West Indies which was watched by 50.1 million people in the country.
The clash between Nozomi Okuhara and Sindhu registered 25.6 million views on live television. Nearly 57.6% of these viewers were loyal enough to support her during the finals too. The final set saw the viewership rise from 16.4 million to 38 million people watching her live; the figure nearly doubled.
Recently, the 2016 ICC World T20 created record viewership across India after the tournament was calculated to have been watched by 730 million people. England and West Indies reached the finals of the competition where the Windies eventually emerged as victorious. This was a major achievement for the English team who have been quite inconsistent in the recent past. The television broadcast of the final in the UK reached record people too as nearly 2.45 million people watched the game live.
On the other hand, a very encouraging sign from India was that the women's T20 final, which took place simultaneously in 2016 and which was also won by the West Indies women's team, set records for its reach and viewership across the globe. According to statistics released by the ICC, nearly 24.5 million people watched the women's tournament in India.
Also read: ICC World T20 2016: India-Pakistan clash reached 83 million viewers in India
For PV Sindhu, the support never once fluctuated throughout the game except for the sudden rise in the final set. Needless to say, the country waited with bated breath to watch history being created. History was created as Sindhu made more people tune into their television sets than the Indian cricket team did in their knockout game against the champions of the World T20 tournament.
As per the city wise reach calculated during Sindhu's match, Mumbai registered the highest numbers followed by Hyderabad, her hometown. Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai came next.
Although a lot of work remains to be done to make such sports popular and bring them into the limelight, this is certainly an encouraging start.
