The IPL season’s cricket fever seems to have caught on to Tamil regional television as well. The Nadigar Sangam (South Indian Film Artistes Association) hosted a fundraiser cricketing event ‘Natchathira’ on Sunday April 17th, with eight participating teams led by stars.
The cricketing event attended by Tamil superstars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan, was telecast live on Sun TV, and enthralled a TV audience of 45 Million viewers through the day. Owing to the success of this show, Sun TV - the dominant channel across the Tamil genre - experienced a further 26.4% rise in its viewership, as compared to the previous Sunday.
Despite being an all day show from 10 AM to 10 PM, Natchathira received a high and consistent viewership throughout the day. The 8 PM - 9 PM* slot for the final match witnessed the highest viewership of 17 Million, with Chennai Singams, lead by famous actor Suriya, emerging as the winner.
The event hosted by the Tamil film and television industry enjoyed a high viewership among local Tamil TV audiences, with Tamil Nadu claiming a gargantuan 90% share of the national viewership.
The show's performance seems to re-establish that bringing together sports and celebrities is a definite TV success formula.