MUMBAI: The poor performance of the Men in Blue and the end of the Australian Open 2020 impacted the viewership pattern of sports channels. According to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) week five shows a slump of 20.5 per cent in viewership pattern as compared to week four.

Dominating the viewership chart, Star India’s sports channels Star Sports 1 Hindi bagged the number one position out of the top five channels in the sports section. However, the viewership of the channel dropped by 18.5 per cent to 308715 weekly impressions as compared to week 4 of BARC.

Following Star Sports 1 Hindi, DD Sports has retained its second position on the list. However, the viewership of the government-owned channel has also dropped by 28.6 per cent to 73671 weekly impressions in week 5 as against 103110 weekly impressions in week 4.

One of the reasons the viewership of Star Sports 1 Hindi and DD Sports fell marginally because of the Virat and co’s sluggish performance in all the three one day international matches against New Zealand. The fifth T20 and first ODI match between two teams were played in week 5 (1-7 February) of BARC. The victory in the fifth T20 match didn’t impact much because India had already won the series.

Star Sports First, which was ranked third in the list last week, maintained its position but fell by 14.3 per cent to 67311 weekly impressions in week 5 as against 78546 impressions in week 4.

Star Sports 3 has thrown out Sony Pictures Sports Network’s channel Sony Ten 1 from the fourth position. However, the weekly impression of Sony Ten 1 has dropped by nearly 1 per cent to 48033 weekly impressions in week 5 as compared to 48439 impressions in week 4.

Sony Ten 1, featured on the last position of the list, declined by 42.4 per cent to 36202 weekly impressions in week 5 as against 62824 in week 4. One of the reasons the viewership declined was that the first grand slam of the year – Australian Open - broadcast on the channel, concluded earlier in the week.