The STAR Sports Pro Kabaddi League - an eight city franchise based league that portrays action packed ‘Live’ Kabaddi content in an uber-cool format has received an incredible start with over 22 million television viewers tuned in on the opening night. This is 10 times higher than that witnessed in India during the opening match between Brazil and Croatia of the recently concluded FIFA World Cup which reached 2.1 million viewers. The buzz and impact of Kabaddi league's opening night showcases the bond the sport shares with the people of the land where it has its roots.

 

Within 12 hours into the league, it had received approximately 140 million impressions on social networking sites, with the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Sachin and others tweeting their experiences and the activation of the Twitter mirror ‘signature selfies’ at the game. Even the Amul girl could not resist the charms of Kabaddi with the iconic, mirror of our times campaign headline ‘Kha-buddy…’ Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India mentions, “We are very excited about Kabaddi but these are early days. At Star we believe in building content on a long term basis and our positions and moods don't swing based on day one ratings! We strongly believe in the potential of Kabaddi and that is the reason we are working so hard to build it.”

 

Matches scheduled on the first 4 days of the league were played at the NSCI, Mumbai and witnessed numerous celebrities in the stadium including Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan. Being played in a caravan style, the matches will be played for 4 days each across 8 host cities culminating with a finale in August end.

 

- Dharmishtha Dagia