The Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) has made its mark. Its annual viewership is growing exponentially. It is collecting substantial gate revenue as well.
As per figures received by RevSportz, the CCL has an annual viewership of 15 crores across platforms. Its gate revenue per game is Rs 25 lakh. The CCL is in elite company.
Popularity-wise, it is one of the top leagues in the country. Of course, the IPL is in a league of its own. In terms of per-match value (Rs 104 crore approximately for the IPL), it is the second-most valuable sports league in the world, ahead of the English Premier League and the NBA, and only second to the NFL.
Figures show that the IPL has an annual viewership of 60 crores. It is followed by the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), that has a viewership of 20 crores. The Women’s Premier League (WPL) is viewed by 18 crore people. The CCL and the ISL have annual viewerships of 15 crores and 12.5 crores respectively. The CCL is among the top five.
The IPL’s average gate receipts per game is around Rs 6 crores. The other leagues are obviously way behind, with the PKL getting Rs 20 lakh, the WPL collecting Rs 30 lakh, and the CCL and the ISL getting Rs 25 lakh and Rs 18 lakh respectively.
As regards to growth, the CCL has been doing brilliantly. In fact, it has a post-pandemic Year-over-Year (YoY) growth rate higher than the IPL. While the IPL’s post-pandemic YoY growth rate is 18 per cent, the CCL has grown by 50 per cent, dwarfing the PKL (12 per cent), WPL (35 per cent) and the ISL (8 per cent). To put things in perspective, sports business in India is growing at 13 per cent YoY.
The CCL is an amateur men’s cricket league that has eight teams from eight film industries in Indian cinema. Bollywood actor Salman Khan is the brand ambassador of the tournament. The inaugural edition was held in 2011 and, so far, the league has been played in three different formats – T20, T10 and 20-over Test.
Earlier this year, the Jisshu Sengupta-led Bengal Tigers won their maiden CCL title, beating Karnataka Bulldozers, captained by Kiccha Sudeep, in the final at Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. The CCL as a tournament has captured the fans’ imagination, and an annual advertising revenue of Rs 50 crore attests to that. It’s looking at a bright future.