BCCI Indirectly Pins Blame On ICC For IPL's Poor Viewership

BCCI puts blame on ICC for IPL's poor viewership [Source: AFP]

There is no denying that the IPL is the greatest T20 league in the world, and no other league comes close in terms of popularity and quality of cricket. However, it cannot be denied that over the last few years, the tournament standards have fallen, and the viewership has also decreased.

The announcement of the IPL schedule is celebrated like a festival in India as fans look forward to the marquee T20 league, with all the big names participating. But just like a coin has two sides, the IPL also has the same.

A two-month-long IPL tournament is a bit of a stretch for the Indian cricket fans, and the fatigue level and frustration have increased as many have demanded that the governing body either reduce the number of games or complete the tournament early.

IPL viewership goes down as fatigue increases

As the data suggests, in the last two IPL seasons, the viewership has decreased significantly, and not even RCB (a popular franchise) winning the IPL title could save the blushes. The IPL audience tends to enjoy the first few weeks, but as the tournament progresses, the interest level goes down as fatigue level increases due to the duration of the tournament (two months long).

The 2026 IPL witnessed a considerable slowdown in the TV viewership as ratings dropped 18.8% year-on-year to 3.71 from 4.57 in 2025. Average viewership also declined 26%, slipping to 7.84 million viewers from 10.6 million last year.

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The IPL 2025 TV viewership was also down from the 2024 campaign, and this has become a worrying sign as interest has gone down with each passing year.

BCCI blames ICC for IPL's poor viewership

A BCCI source had a lengthy discussion with PTI, and the source stated that while the BCCI plans to increase the number of IPL matches from 74 to 94, viewer fatigue also has to be kept in mind when designing the schedule.

The source pinned the blame on the ICC, stating that, unlike the Football World Cup, the ICC event takes place every year, and it kills the interest of the cricket fans as fatigue increases by the time IPL arrives.

“We can't play 94 games in the current window as the monsoon starts after May. Either we split into two halves or we do it from March first week and have it till May 15. That would be the best window when 94 matches are played.

“The viewer fatigue has to be kept in mind too. The world looks forward to the football World Cup as it comes after every four years. We are having ICC events every year,” the BCCI source said, as quoted by PTI.

How ICC events killed IPL's interest amongst casual viewers

The Football World Cup is organised every four years, but the ICC follows a different path as each year, cricket fans get to witness a World event, and thus, the excitement of watching your favourite team compete at a world level goes down.

Barring 2020, we have witnessed an ICC event every year (since the start or the decade). The T20 World Cups took place in 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2026. Meanwhile, the 50-overs World Cup took place in 2023, and the Champions Trophy was hosted in 2025.

Moreover, the Champions Trophy in 2025 and the T20 World Cup 2026 were hosted before the IPL seasons, and by the time the IPL campaign arrived, fans were drained out watching the ICC events.

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