Singapore, September 15, 2005- The recently concluded Ashes cricket series on ESPN STAR Sports attracted record viewers throughout the entire test series. ‘Ashes 2005’ grew in popularity among consumers and advertisers alike as the series progressed, attracting a record 30.4 million cable and satellite individuals. Comparing to the Ashes in 02/03 across 6 metros, this is an increase of 52 per cent.
ESPN STAR Sports telecast, of approximately 100 hours of ‘Live’ Ashes 2005 content was able to attract 41 % of the total cable and satellite audiences across the six Indian metros.
‘Ashes 2005’ started with a certainty of an Australian victory. However, the series extended plenty of on field and off field excitement to keep the series in reckoning. The unfolding of the highly improbable end result of the English winning the Ashes, kept viewers glued to their television sets.
Highlighting the importance of teams and players making a series interesting, Huw Bevan, ESPN STAR Sports’ Vice President of Production said, “The Australian and the English teams today account for some of the biggest cricketing stars. In context with the Ashes 2005, Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Shane Warne and Glen McGrath displayed undeniable character and talent, adding further reason for the captivated TV audiences’.
Ashes 2005’s featured special moments such as Andrew Flintoff consoling Brett Lee after the Edgbaston test while England’s two run victory also made the series special. These moments replayed by news channels endlessly and printed by newspapers made for great publicity in bringing viewers and keeping them glued for the third test and so on” he added. In TV ratings, Ashes 2005 registered never before seen highs for both the traditional and non-traditional Non-India cricket markets. The metros considered traditional non-India cricket markets, generated highs of 3.5 in Mumbai, 2.9 in Calcutta, 2.4 in Delhi & 2.3 in Hyderabad.However the ratings in the non traditional smaller centres have been even more encouraging with rating highs of 3.6 in Guj (1Mn+), 4.0 in PHCHP (1Mn+), 6.1 in Kerala (0.1-1Mn), 3.3 in Maharashtra (1Mn+), 5.3 in Rajasthan (1 Mn+) & in 5.6 UP (1Mn+).
(All Ratings for Males,15+,SEC ABC, C&S basis TAM Media Research data)
ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world’s leading cable and satellite broadcasters, ESPN Inc. and STAR. We are Asia’s complete sports provider reaching over 134 million households for ESPN and over 59 million households for STAR Sports (as of July 2005). We have 13 networks – ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN Singapore, ESPN Hong Kong, Xing Kong Sports, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports Singapore, STAR Sports S.E.A and STAR Sports Hong Kong. We bring the world’s premier live sports and leading regional events to viewers 24 hours a day. On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia, including the Asian X Games and the San Miguel Asian 9Ball Tour. On-line, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. This multilingual, online platform which is closely integrated with ESPN and STAR Sports on air networks, has established the sites as the number one on-line sports destination in their respective markets.
Stephenie Vasko, ESPN STAR Sports tel: (65) 6488 6126 or email: <davids@espnstar.com> vaskos@espnstar.com
Himanshu Verma, ESPN STAR Sports tel: (65) 64886 181 or email : vermah@espnstar.com
Cheryl Sim, ESPN STAR Sports tel: (65) 6488 6134 or email: simc@espnstar.com