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Category: Sports

  • U cypher scores 26 mn views, 2.3 mn engagegemnts & 9.2 lakh fans in season one

    U cypher scores 26 mn views, 2.3 mn engagegemnts & 9.2 lakh fans in season one

    MUMBAI: The Indian E-Sports scenario just had a boost with season one of U Cypher with MTV, India’s first Multi-Game Multi-Platform E-Sports Championship, that premiered on MTV earlier this year. Backed by Ronnie Screwvala along with Supratik Sen, the first season of India’s premier E-Sports championship saw over 2.3 million engagements and built over 9.2 lakh fans on social media over the course of the campaign, a strong force to the aim of having E-Sports recognized a mainstream discipline called E-Sport.

    Being the first E-Sports series in India, packaged for serious gamers as well as casual gamers, the course of the campaign included various marketing pieces which received tremendous response across the country. The U Cypher with MTV campaign received a total of 26.3 million video views. They also created a first of its kind E-Sports music video ‘Hum Gamer Hain’ which garnered 10 million views as well as international e-sports fame. Apart from this, they even looped in popular social media influencer, Jose, to curate a video which garnered over 133k views.

    Aside from creating a positive perception amongst the target group through television, the digital episodes have skyrocketed with the first episode garnering 119k views till date. 80% of the audiences for season one was between 10-24 age group which came from cities across India including cities like Srinagar, Guwahati and Dehradun. This goes to show how the sport has its roots across India and has got a tremendous boost, thanks to this platform.

    Commenting on the success, U Sports, Founder, Ronnie Screwvala said, “The first season of U Cypher was an absolute delight for gamers in India. The campaign, primarily digital, succeeded in building perception in the minds of the audiences that E-Sports and U Cypher are the next big phenomenon to hit India. We already received over 1600 quality player’s participation requests for the next series. We have opened doors for talented players and are only moving in a positive direction to making many, many careers.”

    U Sports, CEO & Co-Founder, Supratik Sen added, “The overall project and campaign did phenomenally well to garner such fantastic response for a first of its kind televised E-Sports experience. The strategy was a tough ask to capture not only the heavy gamer, but also the casual gamers towards the series. Our plan was strategized keeping all audiences in mind, from metro cities to tier 2 markets and the response only reinforces the fact that we are in the right direction! The next instalment in U Cypher will be announced soon, which will be bigger and will have lots more to watch out for!” 

    In its first season, U Cypher had 6 teams, with 14 members in each team. Each episode included two teams face off across titles like DOTA 2 and CS: GO on PC, Real Cricket on mobile and Tekken 7 on PS4 with a prize pool of a whooping INR 51 Lakhs. All U Cypher episodes and gameplay are digitally available on usports.in, Voot, YouTube, YouTube Gaming and Twitch.

  • Bidding takes BCCI home matches’ media rights to a new high

    Bidding takes BCCI home matches’ media rights to a new high

    MUMBAI: The race is on to capture the five year media rights to the Indian cricket team’s home matches (102 matches in India from June 2018 to March 2023)

    On offer are the television and rest of the world digital rights (GTVRD), Indian subcontinent digital rights (ID), and the global consolidated rights (GCR). And by end of yesterday (3 April), only three bidders – Reliance, Star India and Sony- were left in the fray in the e-auction for the GCR. The reason: the other bidders like Google and Facebook were disqualified as they did not have both a TV and digital presence.

    The BCCI on its Twitter handle, through the day, announced which way the price graph was headed. Star India, which had the rights from 2012 to 2018, had breasted the tape by quoting Rs 3851 crore for a total of 96 matches across formats and included internet as well as mobile rights.

    But according to BCCI’s Twitter handle, the e-auction bidding commenced with a price of Rs 43 crore per match and an annual payout of Rs 774 crore (in 2018-19); Rs 40 crore per match with an annual payout of Rs 1040 crore in 2019-20, Rs 40 crore and Rs 580 crore in 2020-21, Rs 40 crore per match and Rs 920 crore for 2021-22, Rs 42 crore per match and Rs 882 crore annually giving a total GCR bid of Rs 4176 crore.

    That bid was bettered soon with an offer of Rs 4201.20 crore. Another offer of Rs 4244 crore came in according to the BCCI Twitter account.

    Reports at the end of the day stated that the bidding went further northward with offers of Rs 4303 crore, Rs 4328.25 crore and Rs 4442 crore being the final quote just as the e-auction for day one ended. BCCI is being assisted by MJunction Services, Deloitte Haskins & Sells and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas to ensure transparency and compliance.

    The online auction will now resume today, 4 April at 11 am from the same stage.

    Experts opine the BCCI media rights figure could climb rapidly tomorrow and expectations are that bidders could up the rates to between $800 million to $1billion

    The BCCI would surely approve.

  • Star india signs superstar prosenjit as official ambassador for broadcast of vivo ipl in bengali on jalsha movies

    Star india signs superstar prosenjit as official ambassador for broadcast of vivo ipl in bengali on jalsha movies

    MUMBAI: Unparalleled in sports broadcasting in India, Star India is all set to reimagine the broadcast of the VIVO Indian Premier League 2018 by making India’s greatest sporting spectacle a never before experience for cricket fans across the country.  For the first time ever, Star India will broadcast live matches of the league in 6 languages – Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Bengali. The VIVO IPL will also be beamed LIVE in these 6 languages on Hotstar.

    With fans at the heart of the experience and to leverage the power of localisation, Star India has announced Jalsha Movies as the destination for the Bengali language broadcast of VIVO IPL 2018. Star India celebrates this announcement by launching a TVC featuring Bangla superstar and a big VIVO IPL fan, Prosenjit Chatterjee.

    The film opens with Prosenjit in his living room, looking for something. As he strolls about, he excitedly starts talking about possible match scenarios. As the film progresses, the viewer realizes that it’s his TV remote that Prosenjit is looking for, following which he reveals that VIVO IPL 2018 will be more special this year as the Bengali cricket fans will get to catch the Best vs Best action in their mother tongue, Bangla! The driving thought behind the initiative is that the pride of watching your favorite sporting spectacle in your own language is an experience like never before.

    Mr. Prosenjit Chatterjee, while commenting on his association said, “I’ve always been a cricket enthusiast and VIVO IPL has been one of the tournaments I look forward to every year. I’m excited about my association with Star India for VIVO IPL 2018 and looking forward to enjoying the best of cricketing action in my mother tongue.”

    West Bengal is a unique market with high affinity to language content and very distinctive viewing habits. Star India’s strong presence in the state has helped the broadcaster understand the pulse of the Bangla cricketing fans. The film with Mr Prosenjit Chatterjee is an extension of Star India’s belief to give the Bangla sports fan more personalised content and further enhance the universal appeal of VIVO IPL by reaching out to their viewers in their own language.

    The 11th edition of VIVO IPL starts on Saturday, April 07, 2018 with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Chennai Super Kings.

  • LaLiga returns with Messi and Castro goals vital at top and bottom

    LaLiga returns with Messi and Castro goals vital at top and bottom

    MUMBAI: LaLiga’s return from the international break saw Lionel Messi once again the hero as Barcelona remained on course for the 2017/18 title, while Chory Castro’s penalty gave Malaga some hope of an unlikely escape from relegation.

    Barca were 2-0 down at Sevilla, thanks to goals from the home side’s South Americans Franco Vazquez and Luis Muriel, and in deep trouble when Messi entered as a substitute on 57 minutes. The comeback first saw Luis Suarez hook acrobatically to the net, then the Blaugrana talisman home from outside the area in the 89th minute to save Barca’s unbeaten LaLiga record.

    Atletico Madrid did however cut the gap at the top to nine points, with Kevin Gameiro’s first half penalty enough for a victory at home to Deportivo La Coruna, although the Galicians had chances to gain more from a first ever visit to the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.

    Third placed Real Madrid were always in control against 18th placed Las Palmas on Saturday afternoon. Gareth Bale opened the scoring with a typical burst clear and emphatic finish, with penalties from captain for the day Karim Benzema and Welsh galactico Bale again bringing a 3-0 result.

    Valencia kept close to Real and Atletico after Spain international Rodrigo Moreno’s 13th LaLiga goal of 2017/18 – a well struck low 25 yarder – brought a 1-0 win at Leganes on Sunday afternoon.

    In Saturday lunchtime’s 1-1 draw at Montilivi. Alex Granell’s long range curler was the first LaLiga goal of the Girona captain’s career, but Jose Luis Morales’ well taken equaliser means 17th placed Levante are now four LaLiga games unbeaten.

    Athletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at San Mames on Saturday afternoon – with Athletic defender Unai Nunez and Celta substitute Brais Mendez both also netting for the first time in LaLiga.

    Sunday lunchtime’s hard-fought Basque derby ended goalless, with Real Sociedad’s new coach Imanol Alguacil starting out with a well earned point at neighbours Eibar. Goalkeepers Pau Lopez and Fernando Pacheco were the stars as it finished Espanyol 0-0 Alaves later that day.

    Bottom side Malaga gained some Easter Sunday hope of a revival with a 1-0 victory over Villarreal at La Roselada. Uruguay international Castro’s coolly converted penalty brought a first win in 14 LaLiga outings for Los Boquerones, whose fate remains in their own hands with eight games still to play.

  • DSPORT to Broadcast Augusta Masters 2018 featuring Indian Golf Prodigy Shubhankar Sharma

    DSPORT to Broadcast Augusta Masters 2018 featuring Indian Golf Prodigy Shubhankar Sharma

    MUMBAI: DSPORT, a premium sports TV channel by Discovery Communications, is all set to broadcast the prestigious Augusta Masters  2018, for  Indian viewers. The tournament, taking place at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, USA from 6th April to 9th April, 2018 will be aired starting 12:30am ( IST)for the Indian audience.

    This year’s Master’s will be a special one for Indian viewers as the young Golf sensation from India, Shubhankar Sharma has received a special invitation to compete in the Masters. Shubhankar, the 21 year old prodigy from India has been invited during a breakthrough season, which includes two wins over four months and a top-10 finish in his first PGA Tour event. He became the youngest player from India to win on the European Tour at the Joburg Open in December. He earned his second win at the Maybank Championship in February and thenmade his PGA Tour debut at the WGC-Mexico Championship and finished T-9 after holding the lead after 36 and 54 holes. This will be Shubhankar’s first Masters appearance.

    Won in the past by the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia & Vijay Singh, the Masters is the biggest and the most prestigious tournament in Golf. Over 4 days, champions will compete against each other over the course of 72 holes for a chance to win the coveted Green Jacket & to get their names etched in The Master’s history. This April, DSPORT brings a chance for Indian golf enthusiasts to take a journey down the Magnolia lane and explore the iconic traditions, moments and history of the Masters Tournament like never before.

  • BCCI strengthens IPL ACU, appoints Ajit Singh as head

    BCCI strengthens IPL ACU, appoints Ajit Singh as head

    MUMBAI: In a bid to further beef up anti-corruption initiatives during IPL, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed retired top cop Ajit Singh as head of its Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). A 1982 Rajasthan cadre officer, Singh retired as director-general of police, Rajasthan in November 2017.

    Singh will take charge ahead of 2018 season of IPL and will be based out of BCCI headquarters at Cricket Centre, Mumbai. The ACU would look to strengthen its hold on the game to protect its image from getting tarnished further.

    IPL has been rocked by controversies from time to time, including allegations of match-fixing, spot- fixing and other such non-gentlemanly activities. Two teams, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, make a return to IPL’s 2018 edition after a two-year suspension on grounds of irregularities involving individual players and team management.

    IPL apart, the game of cricket was recently rocked by the ball tampering affair in the ongoing Australia-South Africa series where several Aussie players were accused of tampering with the ball in the last test match, throwing not only cricket in general but also cricket Australia into crisis.

    Aussie captain and vice captain Steve Smith and David Warner, respectively, have been banned for 12 months from playing any international cricket, while batsman Cameron Bancroft was suspended for nine months. All three players have apologised and accepted responsibility in an emotional press conferences after being kicked off the tour and returning home last week. BCCI on 28 March 2018 banned Smith and Warner from this year’s IPL.

    Meanwhile, former police commissioner of Delhi Neeraj Kumar has been retained as advisor to ACU of IPL till 31 May 2018.

    Also Read:

    BCCI sweetens the pot for bidders of India rights

    The BCCI India rights conundrum

    Dsport not in the running for BCCI’s media rights

  • Hotstar releases Watch’NPlay to engage viewers

    Hotstar releases Watch’NPlay to engage viewers

    MUMBAI: This IPL, Star India’s streaming platform Hotstar will launch Watch’NPlay game, a skill-based game wherein a user gets to test his/her cricket knowledge and expertise with millions of other users tuned into the match.

    WatchN’Play is the feature that connects the Indian cricket enthusiasts’ behaviour of providing running commentary on player performance and strategy, into an actual game where they stand to win big.

    The deep connection that Indians share with cricket is what motivates the brand to keep raising the bar on delivering a fantastic experience for the viewer.

    This can only be achieved by understanding how viewers think and feel throughout the game through their deeper-rooted attitudes towards the sport. By shining a spotlight on what goes through a viewer’s mind at a deeper level, Hotstar has gained insight into the fact that cricket fans watching a match are always thinking about the result of the next ball, whether voluntarily or involuntarily.

    Diving deeper into this somewhat explicit insight uncovered an even more profound thought – that every sports fan would derive greater excitement and joy through participation and testing their cricket acumen as opposed to just watching.

    Hotstar’s new ad film encapsulates this message, bringing it to life through the eyes of its main protagonist – Duggal in the Hindi language film and Swamy in the Tamil and Telugu language film. The protagonist continues to correctly guess the result of the next ball, becoming increasingly popular in the process until one day the people around him realise that they all have been doing it too without knowing how to express themselves. The ad film concludes with everyone along with the protagonist using Hotstar’s Watch’NPlay to choose their expected result of the next delivery.

    Hotstar viewers get to win exciting prizes by doing what they love the most!

  • CricketNext Ranks #2, ahead of major sports players

    CricketNext Ranks #2, ahead of major sports players

    MUMBAI: Even before the onset of the T20 season, News 18 Sports (including CricketNext), has raced ahead to #2 with an all-time high traffic of 10.075 Million across desktop and mobile, according to comScore India, Feb 2018 MMX Multi-Platform, Sports Category.

    CricketNext is renowned for its “news” over “opinion” offering – and is a one-stop-destination for all cricket fans. With one of the fastest score cards in the business, as well as live blogs and in-depth match analysis, the platform is swiftly becoming the preferred destination for all the fans of the sport in country. 

    In addition to dabbling into the key features on CricketNext, visitors also engage in popular features on the portal such as ‘From the Press Box,’ ‘From the Archives’ and ‘Off the Field’ amongst others. The engaging features ensure that the visitors are constantly updated about the happenings in the field, and allows them to keep tabs on their favorite players.

    For the upcoming T20 season, CricketNext has tied up with former cricketer and KKR batsman – Aakash Chopra, in an exclusive digital show “Opening Salvo.”  A respected commentator with an eye for detail, Aakash Chopra will bring to the table some interesting pre-match analysis before every match. With this addition, the platform will be delivering a comprehensively engaging experience to cricket fans, like never before.

    Commenting on the tie up, Aakash Chopra said, “From power play to the death overs…I’m hoping to cover the depth of T20 cricket for CricketNext this IPL.”

    Speaking about the development, News18.com & CricketNext, Business Head, Rajiv Singh said, “This seems like one of the most promising T20 seasons, and we are expecting a traffic of 40 – 50 million unique visitors.”

    The comprehensive experience of CricketNext is also available via the CricketNext app on android and iOS.

  • Kolkata Knight Riders, Nokia reunite after 3 years for IPL

    Kolkata Knight Riders, Nokia reunite after 3 years for IPL

    MUMBAI: Nokia is back after an absence of three seasons at the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has reunited with former partner Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the next two seasons.

    Nokia is the principal sponsor of the Shah Rukh Khan-owned KKR in the IPL.The duo unveiled the new official team jersey for the 2018 season sporting the Nokia logo.

    HMD Global VP and country head India Ajey Mehta said, “Nokia brand and KKR have a history together and we are delighted to reunite the two again. KKR is amongst the most successful IPL franchisees and teams on the IPL circuit and like Nokia brand enjoys a pan India appeal.” 

    Nokia was the principal sponsor of KKR from 2008 till 2014.

    Meanwhile, KKR has revealed all nine sponsors and six commercial partners for the IPL 2018 season. In addition to the title sponsors Nokia, it has signed on board Jio Digital Life, LuxCozi, Excide batteries, SRMB TMT, Royal Stag, Greenply, Khadim’s and JBL Harman as official sponsors.

    IPL 2018 commences on 7 April and the first KKR match is scheduled on 8 April with the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Dinesh Karthik will be captaining KKR.

    Also Read:

    IPL 2018: Team sponsorship deals may see an uptick

    Mumbai Indians gets Goibibo as principal sponsor for IPL 2018

    IPL gets 34 major brands on board this season

  • Broadcasters express displeasure over BCCI’s match rates: Report

    Broadcasters express displeasure over BCCI’s match rates: Report

    MUMBAI: With the BCCI rights up for grabs after being postponed to 3 April 2018, Star India and Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN) are expected to slug it out to win the bid. Both broadcasters have, however, written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) making their displeasure known in regards to the upcoming India rights as reported by CricketNext. The main reason, report says, is that the BCCI wants the media rights winner to pay the same amount for matches involving two visiting teams playing on Indian soil.

    Star India, in its letter, which CricketNext claims to have possession of, has written, “The average viewership on Indian matches is significantly higher than on non-India matches (as surveyed during the Asia Cup in 2016). Even an India match with a non-Test playing nation generates more viewership than two major Test nations playing each other. The bidder is expected to attribute the same per match value to any such match without any realistic possibility of recovering such value. Paying the same per-match value for India matches and non-India matches is not commercially viable. We request the BCCI and the CoA to reconsider their position.”

    SPSN has also expressed similar sentiments in its letter, says the report. “These last-minute changes on the bid documentation and the online bid is making it difficult for us to prepare for the bid on 3rd April. As you know, there are a lot of calculations and modelling that goes into a bid preparation and these last minute changes create so much uncertainty. One issue that is particularly of concern is regarding tri-series in India organised by the BCCI. The clarification says all matches will be valued the same. This means an India-Afghanistan-Bangladesh or an India-Bangladesh-Zimbabwe will be valued equally with an India-Australia-South Africa. This quite frankly is illogical. Advertisers and even the viewing public do not value these matches equally and for the BCCI to consider all of them as having the same value does injustice to bidders. We would earnest request BCCI to reconsider,” SPSN’s letter to the BCCI reportedly said.

    Star India paid Rs 3851 crore for the India rights to broadcast the matches from July 2012 to March 2018 leaving behind the closest bid of Rs 3700 crore by Sony Pictures Networks (SPN). SPN also lost out to Star India for the Indian Premier League after televising the cash-rich league from 2008 till 2017. SPN, however, has bolstered its cricket pipeline after bagging the broadcasting rights from Cricket Australian and the English Cricket Board in the subcontinent, taking its tally to seven Test-playing nations.

    “The whole idea was to strengthen our overall leadership position,” Rajesh Kaul, the president of SPN’s Sports and Distribution Business, had said last month. “ECB was a very important and integral part of the strategy. While Australian cricket happens during the winter here, cricket in England is during the summer. There is a very encouraging trend of other sports also getting traction in this part of the world but cricket is still the largest. And to have that dominant leadership position in cricket was very, very critical for us.”

    Also read:

    BCCI sweetens the pot for bidders of India rights

    BCCI invites bids for e-auction of India rights

    BCCI invites brands to acquire third-party rights for IPL