MUMBAI: Cricket has for a long time been labelled a man’s game. But, recently, eves have been wielding the willow with equal ease, smashing the ball in all parts of the ground, and out of it – drawing even the most die-hard chauvinists to switch on their TVs and flock to the stadiums.
As a result, the sport has been gaining prominence in terms of audience reach and advertisers’ interest. Being a popular game that unites the nation, cricket is now performing one lofty duty, the duty of transcending gender boundaries!
Cricket-hungry Indians are by now known for their alacrity in lapping up sports events in various formats. The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 which is being held Down Under has been covered by 16 broadcasters worldwide.
In India, fans had the opportunity of watching the matches live either on TV or on digital platforms such as Hotstar, thanks to Star Sports, which is the global broadcast partner of the ICC. Star’s live coverage is available to the rest of the sub-continent including Sri Lanka, and in languages such as Hindi, English, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil.
A crowd of 13,432 watched the opening game between India and Australia at Sydney Showground Stadium on 24 February, the highest for a women’s international cricket match in Australia. That was three times the 4,131 who thronged to watch the Women’s Ashes T20I at Manuka Oval, Canberra in 2017. TV viewership syrocketed five times for the opener in 2020 as against that reported in 2018 when the last T20 World Cup was held. (source: BARC, TVR M15+ ABU).
It was money and time well spent by them: top-order batswomen, the in-form 16-year-old Shafali Varma, scored aggressively to give the Indian team a fighting chance in the game, even as the more experienced players did not do well with the bat. Despite a relatively low score to defend, it was leggie Poonam Yadav who struck four Aussie batswomen out to seal the match for India.
The Indian team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, has been winning hearts and matches, courtesy great bowling performances. And it appears to be the favourite to bring home the trophy. Expectations are high and the excitement has been building up and, at the time of writing, more than 50,000 tickets had been sold for the final which is to be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground scheduled on 8 March, Women’s Day.
Though brand associations and sponsorships are a fraction of men’s tournaments, it won’t be too long when women’s cricket will assume the same status as men’s cricket. The T20 women’s World Cup has found Nissan, Oppo and Booking.com as its main backers. And a slew of other brands which believe in its ability to deliver. Sportswear brand Puma has a lot of campaigns lined up with women cricket players. Coca-Cola India’s #PowerHasNoGender is an ode to women cricket players who sweat it out across the country to make it big.
Going by the popularity that women’s cricket matches have generated, media planners and advertisers are certain that the T20 Women’s World Cup is going to make history. They vouch for the ability of the game in bringing gender parity and creating interesting conversational points for brands.
Says Lodestar CEO Nandini Dias: “I am delighted that India has reached the semi-finals. We had the last winner, Australia, in our group. As soon as we won against them the interest has heightened. Tourism Australia has been actively promoting the final at the MCG, to be played under lights on Sunday, 8 March 2020, which presents a ground-breaking opportunity to set a new world record for attendance at a women's sporting fixture. Women stalwarts like Indra Nooyi have tweeted about it. I would be surprised if Star Sports would not get record viewing.”
She feels that brands, which claim to be promoting gender equality, should look beyond just creating emotional films but should participate and help grow the sport.
According to Madison Sigma CEO Vanita Keswani, the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup has showcased equality through sport on the global stage. “With the recent Indian cricket team wins, the buzz has certainly increased. Furthermore, the Final match this time being scheduled on International Women's Day gives a great topical opportunity for brands to celebrate and amplify women empowerment and success,” she said.
Brands too have similar confidence in women’s cricket and the fact that it will only grow. “We see the fabric of Indian sport changing in the next 20 years and various sporting fields, including women’s cricket will become mainstream in this country,” Puma India managing director Abhishekh Ganguly was quoted as saying to a publication. “I do believe the next few years will see a colossal transformation in the dynamics around women’s cricket and brand associations…cricket is a game that’s owned by passion.”
May the passion only increase!
