The inaugural edition of the highly successful Lanka Premier League (LPL) reached a cumulative audience of 557 million people through TV, digital-social space and traditional media outlets.
Sponsors enjoyed a media evaluation (visibility) of $54.5m and title sponsor MY11CIRCLE enjoyed a ROI of 9.85x. Winner of the first edition of LPL Jaffna Stallions tops the valuation chart with $3.98mè followed by Galle Gladiators ($3.82m), Dambulla Kings ($3.54m) Colombo Kings ($3.44m) and Kandy Tuskers ($3.19m).
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is confident that the success of the inaugural tournament has given it the ideal platform to conduct the upcoming edition with much vigour. It believes within the next few years, the Lanka Premier League is going to be a highly successful T20 League in the World.
‘With last year’s success, we are expecting a good turnaround of overseas players, enhanced competition between the franchises, increased interest by the sponsors., and most importantly the fan engagement from across the globe to increase further,’ said Mr. Ravin Wickramaratne, Vice President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
Innovative Production Group FZE is the official right holders of Lanka Premier League (LPL) for 2020-2024. The inaugural season was played in a bio-secure bubble at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota from November 26 till December 16, 2020.
CEO of Innovative Production Group FZE, Mr Anil Mohan said: “It is indeed very heart-warming to see people accepting the Lanka Premier League (LPL) with so much of love and affection, and I believe therein lies the huge success that the League has experienced in its very first edition. It is very important from Sri Lankan cricket point of view that LPL goes on to become one of the top T20 leagues in the world and acts as a grooming ground for all upcoming youngsters in the Island Nation, and I think with the love and support of the Sri Lankan Government, Minister of Youth and Sports Honorable Namal Rajapaksa, Officials of the Ministry of Health and the Sri Lanka Army, we will be able to make that happen.”
The matches which were telecast live by Sky Sports, Sony Sports Network, Geo, PTV and Willow TV in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UK, US, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand saw 155 million people tuning in to catch live action. On social media it achieved 218 million reach and LPL found 133478 mentions as the League came alive with each and every match with some scintillating performances on the ground. Print, electronic and online media too played a very key role in making LPL a huge success taking its daily coverage to 184 million readers across the globe.
