The 11th season of the Indian Super League (ISL), India’s top footballing tournament begins todays. ISL League winners Mohun Bagan take on ISL Shield winners Mumbai City FC in the inaugural match tonight. While Kolkata will be buzzing with excitement, I doubt most people in Mumbai would even know about this match.
This brings me to a crucial point – Indian Football is stuck in a rut with seemingly no improvement in quality and lower marketing budgets. This is coupled with the Indian team’s miserable performances in the AFC Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers.
I recently came across data, which I am yet to verify.
Indian Super League viewership over the years:
2014 – 42.9 cr
2015 – 21.6 cr
2016 – 21.6 cr
2017 – 31.7 cr
2018 – 26.1 cr
2019 – 16.8 cr
2020 – 18.1 cr
2021 – 13 cr
2022 – 10 cr
2023 – 8.1 cr
The huge viewership in the first season is due to the presence of marquee players which resulted in viewers watching matches for their favorite stars than to support the team. Since then, ISL teams have gradually done away with marquee players, focusing instead on sustainable growth (lol).
While one might argue that the quality of the league has dipped since the glory days of 2013 to 2017, I would like to add that the league is finally moving towards sustainability. However, the sense of stagnation is palpable among fans.
While 8.1 cr or 80 million viewers is not a bad number, clubs are struggling to monetize them. As a result, every single team in Indian Football is suffering losses in multiple crores. The league is also struggling to find viewers due to competition from EPL and European Leagues as well as other sports like Kabaddi and Cricket.
Low marketing budgets, inferior production value, and poor technical skills of footballers ensure that the sport will see no respite for the next few years. But the league does not have the luxury to take its own time. How can this be done? That is for another post.
