Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta and Palembang is watched by 68 million people on television in India.
The 18th Asian Games between August 18 and September 2 were broadcast in India by Sony Pictures India Network on Sony ESPN, Sony Ten 1, Sony Ten 2 and Sony Ten 3 SD and HD screens as well as Prasar Bharti-owned national broadcaster’s sports platform DD Sports.
The Games have registered 84.7 million impressions in the first week, exchange4media has reported quoting Broadcast Audience Research Council television ratings data. The games are watched more in rural India. BARC data also suggests that the rural audience have contributed 56% of the total eyeballs.
The Asian Games television audience trend also reveals an unprecedented rise in the content consumption of non-cricket disciplines. India’s absolute domination at the league stages of hockey competition has accounted for a 6-time jump in TV audience for the sport. Wrestling, that landed India two golds and a bronze, registered 10-time more viewership. In other sports badminton (12x), basketball (70x), kabaddi (101x) and tennis (102x) too registered major escalation in viewership. The viewership for sports like gymnastic, swimming, shooting, archery, weightlifting among others had increased by 259 times.
The Indian athletes in Jakarta and Palembang put up their best ever show in the history of the Games with medals in overall 68 disciplines. These podium finishes for India included 15 fold, 24 silver and 29 bronze medals. Including the team games where each player is provided with a medal for the team’s achievement, a total of 184 Indian athletes have returned with the precious metal artefacts from Indonesia.
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