MUMBAI: The air seems to have gone out of the 50-over one-day cricket

format, barring the India-Pakistan skirmish. As per Tam data, the first week viewership of the ongoing Champions Trophy has remained abysmal with the average rating for the first six matches standing at a 1.6 TVR.

This is because the West Indies versus Australia match garnered a mere 0.26 TVR while three matches of the first six failed to reach even a TVR of 1.

The only relief was the India-Pakistan match on 26 September that kept fans remain glued to their television sets to help fetch a 6.2 TVR.

Comparing the Champions Trophy ratings with the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the 20-20 over format had performed much better, giving an average rating of 4.2 TVR across 59 matches.

Even the T20 World Cup had fared better than the Champions Trophy though India got knocked out early there too. The event had pocketed an average TVR of 2.89.

Meanwhile, talking about the media-metrix of the T-20 format, media buyers believe that while the T-20 format is more popular, it is also more expensive. The format also has the disadvantage of fewer inventories and therefore, not many advertisers join board.

However, some media buyers believe that though the Twenty20 format is getting more popular there is value in the ODI format as well.