29m viewers for gala CWG opening-Oct 5, 2010,

29m viewers for gala CWG opening

Himanshi Dhawan, TNN, Oct 5, 2010, 02.18am IST



NEW DELHI: Despite drawing complaints for its deferred live and ad-interrupted telecast, Doordarshan garnered a record breaking viewership pegged at 29 million in India for the opening show of the Delhi Commonwealth Games on Sunday evening.

With virtually no other news or event competiting for attention the colorful show with its much discussed helium balloon, lasers and thousands of school children going through their paces with aplomb held living rooms across the country rivetted.

According to viewership rating generated by overnight audience measurement agency, aMap, 29 million people across the country tuned in to watch the show. And this beats Indian viewership for both the Beijing Olympics and the FIFA World Cup 2010. If the ill-starred Games needed a break, the opening ceremony was the perfect launching pad.

In comparison, TRP for the Beijing Olympics (2008) was 2.14 with 17 million people watching the opening ceremony. While the FIFA World Cup 2010 opening gala had attracted an audience of 1.9 million.

But even as the show got rave reviews in foreign press, which has otherwise concentrated on the mess ahead of the CWG, the OC has recieved a steady stream of complaints over the delayed live broadcast, resulting in the telecast dragging on.

Sources said the issue was raised by OC officials with cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar. "There have been several complaints that the broadcast was delayed and continued an hour after the actual performance got over. There were commercial breaks after every 10-15 minutes dragging the broadcast," a source said.

Sources added that DD -- as the exclusive host broadcaster for the sporting event -- was expected to carry the feed live.

However DD director general Aruna Sharma disagreed that the broadcast was deferred. "The telecast was only a few minutes later than the live show. Deferred live means when the telecast is more than two hours late. We had to generate revenue, and all rights holding broadcasters are very happy with the production," she explained.

With the Games lacking sufficient sponsorship, though revenue making was a high priority, it did not go down too well with viewers.