Mumbai, May 26 : Hansa Research Group, through its IPLomania study tracking audience behaviour during the first six weeks of IPL 2026, has revealed emerging trends across viewership, consumer engagement, brand visibility, and fandom patterns. The findings highlight how the IPL is steadily evolving into a multi-platform entertainment ecosystem, driven by dual-screen consumption, digital-first engagement, and growing interaction with short-format content and highlights.
The study reveals that IPL consumption in 2026 is being driven by extremely high engagement intensity among core fans, with audiences increasingly treating the tournament as a daily entertainment habit rather than an occasional sporting event. Over 41.18% viewers reported watching 7+ IPL matches weekly, while another 29.78% viewers watched 6–7 matches every week. The average IPL viewer consumed 6.12 matches weekly during the tournament period, indicating sustained and habitual engagement across the season.
The IPLomania study further reveals that audiences are increasingly shifting how they consume the tournament, with multi-platform and digital-first viewing behaviour continuing to strengthen during IPL 2026. Nearly 70% viewers now consume IPL across both television and OTT platforms, making dual-screen viewing the dominant mode of tournament consumption.
While only 18.98% viewers now watch IPL exclusively on television, 38.26% viewers mainly consume IPL on TV while simultaneously engaging through OTT platforms, and another 31.16% viewers primarily consume through OTT while continuing partial TV viewing. According to Hansa Research’s IPLomania trends, exclusive linear TV viewership has declined from nearly 27% earlier to 18.98% in IPL 2026, indicating a clear migration toward connected TVs, mobile streaming, and digital-first viewing habits.
The findings also highlight the rapid rise of short-format and catch-up IPL consumption beyond live broadcasts. Around 13.64% viewers actively consume IPL through social media highlights and reels, while another 8.40% audiences engage with match highlights on YouTube. Among engagement-led formats, “Super Sixes” emerged as the most consumed content category at 36.33%, followed by “Moment of the Day” at 33.66%, “Fall of Wicket” clips at 32.99%, “Winning Moments” at 32.14%, and “Action Replay” content at 28.38%.
On the advertising front, CEAT emerged as the most recalled brand during IPL 2026 with a recall score of 59.61, followed by RuPay at 56.45, Amul at 54.99, and TATA AIG at 54.00. Other strongly recalled brands included Groww, Rajshree Pan Masala, Mutual Fund Sahi Hai, Asian Paints, Google Gemini, and Angel One.
The IPLomania study also evaluated the strongest sponsorship properties for brand visibility during IPL broadcasts. Player jerseys emerged as the highest-performing branding asset, with 55.06% viewers recalling brands displayed on jerseys. This was followed by on-ground and pitch branding at 49.48%, boundary rope branding at 47.36%, commentator and presentation backdrops at 44.75%, helmet branding at 40.27%, player pants branding at 38.20%, and perimeter LCD branding at 36.45%.
The research further captured a major shift in IPL fandom during the 2026 season. Royal Challengers Bangalore emerged as the most supported IPL franchise this year with 20.25% support share, overtaking Chennai Super Kings (19.35%) and Mumbai Indians (17.83%), both of which witnessed declines compared to the previous season. Rajasthan Royals also recorded notable fan growth, increasing from 5% support in 2025 to 7.28% in 2026.
Among emerging players, Vaibhav Suryavanshi emerged as the biggest breakout player of IPL 2026 with 18.56% audience preference, establishing a significant lead over all other emerging cricketers tracked in the study. Ayush Mhatre followed at 5.09%, while Noor Ahmad, Priyansh Arya, Sameer Rizvi, Jacob Bethell, and Tristan Stubbs also emerged among the key young players attracting audience interest this season.
Commenting on the findings, Pramod Pawar, Quantitative Research – Vice President, Hansa Research Group said,
“The way audiences are interacting with IPL is becoming far more fragmented and continuous than before. Fans today are not just following full matches, but are actively engaging with key moments, highlights, replays, and cricket conversations throughout the day across multiple platforms. This evolution is creating a far more dynamic engagement environment for broadcasters, teams, sponsors, and digital platforms, where audience attention is increasingly distributed across formats, screens, and content moments rather than concentrated only around live television viewing.”