IPL 2012- Low TRP again! Why?

IPL 2012 is in its middle stages now and the viewership reports suggest that this time around TV viewership has been worse than last year. Last year IPL began just after India's World Cup victory. India had been playing cricket continuously and low viewership was attributed to the cricket overdose. But this time around there was no World Cup, neither did the Indian team gift its fans a flurry of victories. So why even this year the IPL is staring at low TRP's?

The problem of Loyalty- I think one of the main reasons for people's dwindling interests in IPL is due to the lack of loyalty to a particular team. People do not follow their city team as intensely as they do with the Indian cricket team. Unlike the football's English Premier League where team loyalties are rampant, there are nos such loyalties in the IPL. I am a Delhi boy but it does n't matter to me whether Delhi wins or loses. Infact I would rather love to see Dada's Pune or Dravid's Rajasthan taking the title. Even people around me don't bother about their city's performance. I don't fight with my Mumbai friend over our IPL teams even though some of my mates do fight over the performances of the Premier League football teams. Also apart from the first season players are seldom seen in their regional teams. Punjabi boys Harbhajan and Yuvraj play for teams from the South while Delhi lads Kohli and Gambhir too are turning out for different teams. Bengali Hero Ganguly plays for Pune while Bangalorean Dravid plays for Rajasthan. So how can one expect the fans to stick to their regional teams? What I mean is that India has still not found its loyalties for different cities.

Too many days of non-stop cricket- IPL goes on for about 55 days with matches on each day including a double header every alternate day. Is n't that too much? I mean holding even an ardent cricket lover for 55 days is tough let alone capturing non-cricket watcher's market. To be honest the IPL has now become the living room's last option when nothing else watchable is being telecast on the TV. People nowadays only check out the scores or start watching the match in its last stages when the match is heading towards an exciting finish. But apart from that nobody in their busy lives have got the time to catch 2 back to back cricket matches everyday. The stadiums might look full and the atmosphere "electric" but thats due to the fact that cricket matches do not come very often in one's city which compels fans to throng the stadiums to enjoy themselves.

The Brand IPL is definitely going down and something needs to be done to keep it going. Afterall the IPL has had some good effects too. The IPL has put India firmly on the Global cricketing map. Those English and Aussie players who did n't like to come to India are now dying to play in the cash rich league. Youngsters are getting opportunities and exciting young players are coming up every year who can serve the nation. And then an Indian feels proud when he sees his country as the center of attraction for the right reasons.