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Tag: ESPN

  • Sony ropes in Tendulkar as it rebrands sports portfolio, adds two HD channels

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Network is all set to rebrand its sports portfolio, including ESPN. SPNI’s bouquet of sports channels includes TEN 1, TEN 2, TEN 3 and Sony 6, which are set to see significant changes.

    SPNI has also roped in Sachin Tendulkar as its brand ambassador for sports. Sony has grouped its sports brands under the business vertical — Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN).

    With the addition of two HD channels, Sony TEN 2 HD and Sony TEN 3 HD, 11 channels dedicated to bringing the best domestic and international sporting action to viewers, Sony reinforces its position as one of the largest broadcasters of sports in the Indian sub-continent.

    Programming break-up of 11 channels comprising five SD and six HD channels:

    Sony 6 and Sony 6 HD —– Cricket

    Sony TEN 1 & Sony TEN 1 HD: Wrestling entertainment

    Sony TEN 2 & Sony TEN 2 HD: Football

    Sony TEN 3 & Sony TEN 3 HD: Sporting events in Hindi

    Sony ESPN & Sony ESPN HD — International sports

    Sony TEN Golf HD —— Non-stop golf action

    Also Read:

    ITW bags ad rights from Sony, India series sponsor & partners’ announcement shortly

    Sports channels ratings dive in week 26

    FIFA U-17 draw: Hosts India to take on U.S. in Delhi

    U-20 & U-17 FIFA ’19 bidding for host launched, Sony to telecast U-17 in seven countries

  • ESPN viewership plummets, rising costs result in mass lay-off

    MUMBAI: Trimming around 10 per cent of writers and on-air talent, plans to lay off around 100 ESPN employees is under way, including Len Elmore, Trent Dilfer and Danny Kanell, former athletes who worked as broadcasters — the aim being switching to a digital strategy.

    While longtime NFL reporter Ed Werder was among the first to state that he had been laid off, Kanell is among the newest wave of layoffs. In October 2015, ESPN, which employs 8,000, laid off around 300.

    The pruning, an ESPN decision as it recasts itself for the future and not a mandate from the parent — Disney, will affect “front-facing” employees. But, the people who have contracts will see those deals fully honoured.

    ESPN head John Skipper announced that it was beginning its next round of layoffs, a long-apprehended move. Skipper had said that it wanted to provide continuous distinctive content on multiple screens, with more personality-oriented ‘SportsCenter’ broadcasts.

    ESPN, which has a tie-up with Sony Pictures in India, is into its 36th year but it has been troubled by escalating fees to broadcast live events at the same time millions of cord-cutting television viewers who have been canceling their ESPN subscriptions. Over the past five years, the network lost around 12 million subscribers as the viewers sought cheaper entertainment avenues. At the same time, the money ESPN has paid to the professional sports leagues to acquire their live events steadily climbed.

    ESPN used to be in around 100 million houses, and now it’s in less than 87 million, according to Nielsen. And, ESPN commands around 7 per subscriber per month, so that loss ends up being a lot of money.

    Last year, the network’s new nine-year agreement with the NBA to telecast pro-basketball games cost around US$1.5 billion per year, a significant increase over the previous deal. The network also had paid NFL US$1.9 billion (annual), NCAA conferences and the College Football Playoff (well over US$1 billion), and Major League Baseball ($700 million). Some of those deals would be up for renewal in the near future.

    Dynamic change demands an increased focus on versatility and value, and as a result, we have been engaged in the challenging process of determining the talent necessary to meet those demands, Skipper said.

    ESPN’s corporate parent, the Walt Disney Co., in February 2017, blamed the network for an 11 per cent drop in operating income in its cable TV division during the final quarter of 2016.

    Also Read

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    Sony Pix & ESPN to telecast Global Powerboat Racing live from 3-5 March

    Biswas new ESPN head – southeast Asia; Cooke expands role

    Pro-wrestling: SonyLiv, Max & ESPN to beam live from 2-19 Jan

  • IPL Impression: Sony Six & ESPN double, Ten1 & 2 halve

    MUMBAI: Sony ESPN climbed from the fourth to the second spot in BARC week 15 primarily owing to the telecast of Vivo IPL 10 matches. IPL 10 recently catapulted Sony Max to the second place across television genres according to BARC week 14 ratings.

    While Sony Six retained its leadership position riding pillion on the top-ranking Sunrisers Hyderabad-Mumbai Indians and other matches, Ten1 and Ten2 dropped to the third and fourth positions, respectively.

    The Indian Premier League has helped Sony Pictures Network India channels rake in the ratings during each of the seasons that that the network has purchased rights to beam the cricketing bonanza event to Indian homes for.

    In BARC week 15, Sony Six maintained its reign with 458932 Impressions (000s) as compared to last BARC week’s 222752 Impressions followed by Sony ESPN with 114119 Impressions (000s) (as compared to 42632 Impressions). Ten1 and Ten2 slipped with 71663 Impressions (000s) as compared to last week’s 146639 Impressions and 24766 Impressions (000s) as compared to last week 53495 Impressions, respectively.

    With no main sporting event currently being aired on the channel, Star Sports 3 survived at the bottom of the table with 22125 Impressions (000s) as compared to last BARC week’s 34195 Impressions.

    The mega cricketing event has also pushed Sony Max to the pole position in the Hindi Movies, Hindi Movies Rural and Hindi Movies Urban genres.

    Three channels from Network 18 (Viacom 18), two each from SPN, the Sun Network and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and one channel from Star India made it to the top 10 most watched channels across genres list for week 14.

    Also Read:

    IPL 2017: The Piracy Conundrum

    Most advertised brands on television in first quarter of 2017

     

  • Network18’s Vinit Jain calls it a day

    MUMBAI: After a stint of more than three years, Network18 media and investment group head commercial Vinit Jain has resigned from the company.

    A source close to the development informed www.indiantelevision.com that Jain has already served his notice period and last day at work.

    Jain joined Network18 in August 2013 as the group head – commercial where he was responsible for strategic financial planning, budgeting and management reporting, business and transaction restructuring and integration and new set-ups and business support.

    Prior to this, he worked as the chief financial officer at Indiacast Media and Distribution, a joint venture with Viacom 18 and  TV18 broadcast for more than two years.

    Jain also worked with Zee Learn as the chief financial officer for six months. Earlier, for more than 12 years, he worked as the director fo ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd.

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  • Sony Pix & ESPN to telecast Global Powerboat Racing live from 3-5 March

    MUMBAI: Nexa P1 Powerboat, Indian Grand Prix of the Seas, will be telecast live globally and promises to deliver the most comprehensive coverage in the history of powerboating. Seeding a global sport from India, the Nexa P1 Powerboat, Indian Grand Prix of the Seas, will set a global benchmark for the telecast of the sport and the entertainment around it.

    Procam International is creating history of sorts by launching the global powerboat racing series in Mumbai from 3-5 March and Nexa is title sponsor for inaugural Grand Prix of the Seas series.

    Nexa P1 Powerboat, India Grand Prix of the Seas, is the first of the UIM recognized Grand Prix of the Seas. The 5-tier hierarchal structure will consist of a World Cup at the apex (to be held biennially starting in 2020) the Grand Prix of the Seas series, which will define a World Champion, inter-continental series, national series and regional series in orders of level of competition.

    The telecast repertoire includes nine hours of live programming on Sony ESPN and Sony Pix over the race weekend, content that will be produced by Initium Productions and Emmy Award recognized British director, Westbury Gillet. The production will also be the result of synergies between global, hi-tech crew and equipment flown in from 3 continents. Another global first for the sport is the introduction of the ‘second screen’, a gamified graphics interface to be followed live on an internet-connected device for real-time access to gamified positions, telemetric race data & analytics in addition to the television broadcast.

    Torchbearers of the distance running revolution in the country, anchored by the Mumbai marathon, the sixth largest distance running event race globally, Procam International is now extending their dominion from land to the maritime world by launching the Nexa P1 Powerboat, Indian Grand Prix of the Seas. With the hum and throttle of engines along the shorelines of Mumbai’s natural amphitheater – Marine Drive – through the weekend of 3rd March 2017, this new sporting paradigm will redefine India’s maritime landscape and spearhead a powerful movement for marine sustainability.

    The Nexa P1 Powerboat, Indian Grand Prix of the Seas, which will be conducted on the first-ever course on water, comparable to a race track, challenges status quo and combines the best in innovative technology and bespoke maritime strategy.

    The Grand Prix of the Seas is the brainchild of P1 Global, the world’s leading maritime motor sports brand in partnership with Procam International and the coming together of Indian and global institutions, partners, federations, governments, agencies and sponsors, reinforced by the endorsement of the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), the global governing federation to create a truly unique experience that will infuse within the ecosystem a joy of water.

    The Government of Maharashtra, the Mumbai Port Trust, and the Indian Navy, the fifth-largest navy in the world supports this initiative. The event is being conducted under the auspices of the Maharashtra Tourism and Development Corporation (MTDC) and implemented under the aegis of the Yachting Association of India (YAI), while being sanctioned by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM). The Government of India and the Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs have also extended their full support..

    Procam International MD Anil Singh said, “Procam created a national movement in running, and now we are aiming to create a global movement on water. With the Nexa P1 Powerboat, Indian Grand Prix of the Seas, sports fans will experience the joy of watching the fastest men and women on sea competing on the world’s first-ever course on water..”

    UIM Off-Shore Commission president Jean Marie Van Lancker said, “The global spotlight will be on Mumbai as it makes history by launching the debut race of the world championship series. The sheer enormity of this race and its many firsts will make it a worldwide phenomenon and re-define the parameters of powerboat racing.The UIM extends its full support to Procam International and all its partners to make this edition a resounding success.”

    Global Partners to the event, P1 Global chairman, Asif Rangoonwala said, “ Powerboat P1 in partnership with Procam International are delighted to announce the launch of the Nexa P1 Powerboat, Indian Grand Prix of the Seas. This debut race is the culmination of six years of dedicated work in developing a new series that delivers a clear and logical structure, which celebrates the best powerboat racers in the world and redefines sport in the maritime ecosystem. Having reached the launch stage, it was vitally important to secure a race venue befitting the scale of this achievement and we believe that Mumbai, a world-class city in so many ways, is the ideal base for the start of this new journey. I have always marveled at the splendour of Marine Drive and am glad that this natural amphitheater will be brought to life with our P1 powerboats racing centre-stage for millions of fans of this sport.”

    The race weekend for the Indian Grand Prix of the Seas will have seven teams competing, with every team comprising of two P1 Panther powerboats, each manned by a pilot and navigator competing in identical boats along a 5.2 km defined race track, the first ever on water. The podium teams will be decided by the combined best times of both boats based on the skills of the team’s pilots and navigators post two races on March 4, Saturday, and one Grand Final on Sunday, March 5th. With the best pilots and navigators from the world participating in this event, the race weekend will also be witness to the first-ever sport in India that has male and female as equal participants, with skill and strategy deciding the winner.

    A 28-foot powerboat powered by a 250 HP engine, reaches a maximum speed of 120 km/hr on water, an equivalent of 240 km/hr on land. With a low centre of gravity providing greater stability and improved handling, the P1 Panther is also designed to race in just 6 feet of water resulting in a fan-friendly, close-to-shore racing experience.

    The P1 Panther has been specially designed to make this a truly green racing event. With low emissions, it is unbeatable on clean and quiet performance and has been given the Clean Air Excellence Award by the EPA. The boat has been certified under EU standards and has a 3-STAR CARB rating which means 65% fewer emissions than 1-STAR engines. It emits less noise and no smoke, uses less fuel and requires no oil changes thanks to the advanced fuel and oil injection system

    An event of this magnitude is not possible without the unstinted support from its partners and sponsors who have extended their faith in the sport. Partners include the Maruti Suzuki’ new premium sales channel, NEXA, as the Title Sponsor. Maruti Suzuki executive director marketing & sales R S Kalsi said, “At Nexa, we are committed to offer hospitality that pampers and technology that’s innovative for our consumers. NEXA is at the forefront of bringing innovation & delivering outstanding experiences which are new and exciting, just like P1 Powerboat Racing which builds experiences based on high adrenaline action and superior technology”.

    Other partners include: Trident Hotel as Hospitality Partner that offers panoramic views of Marine Drive & the Queen’s Necklace; India’s largest English daily, The Times of India as Print Partner; Radio Mirchi as Radio Partner; The world’s largest container shipping company, Maersk, as Shipping Partner; The Patient and Family Centric, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital, as Medical Partner; Nautica, the water inspired global lifestyle brand, as Style Partner; Mahindra Marine as Boat Building Partner; Sony ESPN as the Broadcast Partner.

    The Joy Of Water Foundation (which is being set up in India) is set-up with the aim of safeguarding and restoring the marine and coastal environment by raising awareness through education and effective partnerships with a mission to deliver inspiring programs that engage understanding of the value of marine life together with increased personal responsibility, particularly amongst young people.

    The high-octane action on water will be complemented by a Race Village from March 3-5, at the Wilson Gymkhana Grounds on Marine Drive. The Race Village, a BCCL initiative, promises an exciting experience, complete with games, celebrity events and elite hospitality. The weekend will also be interspersed with various exhilarating attractions, including a Naval display and performances by Zapata & Jet Ski World Champions.

  • LG, Sony to stop making 3D TV sets

    LG, Sony to stop making 3D TV sets

    MUMBAI: At one stage it was touted as the future of television. Thanks to the stupendous success that James Cameron’s 3D version of Avatar achieved at the box office with its spectacular 3D graphics and colors. A rash of manufacturers rushed in rolling out 3D TV sets which could be watched with either wearables or with a screen to make the images jump out at viewers. 3D channels by DirectTV, Sky, ESPN, Comcast, Sony and other players in different parts of the world were launched.

    But 2017 will be the year when 3D TV was given a quite burial or cremation if you so like. The world’s largest manufacturers of TVs – LG, Sony – informed CNET last week that they were going to stop integrating 3D capabilities into the TV sets they manufacture from 2017.

    The reason: the technology required viewers to sit stationary and view the programming from a specific angle. Which consumers did not buy into at all.

    The channels that were launched were shuttered quickly but 3D TV capabilities continued to be offered by manufacturers. Until this year, that is.

    “3D capability was never really universally embraced in the industry for home use, and it’s just not a key buying factor when selecting a new TV,” said LG’s director of new product development Tim Alessi, to CNET. “Purchase process research showed it’s not a top buying consideration, and anecdotal information indicated that actual usage was not high. We decided to drop 3D support for 2017.”

    Manufacturers will now be focusing on 4K, UHD, HDR and smart TV features going forward.

  • LG, Sony to stop making 3D TV sets

    LG, Sony to stop making 3D TV sets

    MUMBAI: At one stage it was touted as the future of television. Thanks to the stupendous success that James Cameron’s 3D version of Avatar achieved at the box office with its spectacular 3D graphics and colors. A rash of manufacturers rushed in rolling out 3D TV sets which could be watched with either wearables or with a screen to make the images jump out at viewers. 3D channels by DirectTV, Sky, ESPN, Comcast, Sony and other players in different parts of the world were launched.

    But 2017 will be the year when 3D TV was given a quite burial or cremation if you so like. The world’s largest manufacturers of TVs – LG, Sony – informed CNET last week that they were going to stop integrating 3D capabilities into the TV sets they manufacture from 2017.

    The reason: the technology required viewers to sit stationary and view the programming from a specific angle. Which consumers did not buy into at all.

    The channels that were launched were shuttered quickly but 3D TV capabilities continued to be offered by manufacturers. Until this year, that is.

    “3D capability was never really universally embraced in the industry for home use, and it’s just not a key buying factor when selecting a new TV,” said LG’s director of new product development Tim Alessi, to CNET. “Purchase process research showed it’s not a top buying consideration, and anecdotal information indicated that actual usage was not high. We decided to drop 3D support for 2017.”

    Manufacturers will now be focusing on 4K, UHD, HDR and smart TV features going forward.

  • Sports TV 2016: Digital explosion, player consolidation & confusion

    Sports TV 2016: Digital explosion, player consolidation & confusion

    2016 was a roller-coaster for Indian sports in the truest sense. It was akin to a Bollywood pot-boiler of the country’s sportspersons bringing cheer and applause in various disciplines, including Rio Olympics, to melodrama and suspense of wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s doping issue and whether he or Sushil would represent India to superb action on and off the field (off the field ones involving mostly our politician-administrators and their disdain for rules of the games) to romance to multiple climaxes in a game-changing year that could well herald Indian sports broadcasting becoming a two-horse show with digital media piggy-back riding sports in general.

    The year began on a strong note with Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) joining hands with majority Walt Disney-owned ESPN to launch two new English channels, Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD. The channels started broadcasting on 17 January 2016 with the Australian Open and going on to telecast several high profile and popular sporting events, both Indian and international, throughout the year. The co-branded Sony-ESPN channels replaced Sony KIX.

    Sony’s bouquet of sports channels (Sony Six, Sony Six HD, Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD) also broadcast the Euro Cup, one of the hottest sporting properties and the second most followed event in the football fraternity after the World Cup. The numbers were good with a league phase match between Italy and Spain garnering as much as 1.7 million impressions on BARC ratings. A quarter-final match between Poland and Portugal, the eventual winners, managed 290,000 impressions. The whole tournament totted up a cumulative TV audience of 62.7 million viewers . The final between Portugal and France witnessed 12.4 million Indian viewers, reaching a peak between 1:00 AM to 1:30 AM on 11 July 2016 with 7.4 million viewers. Kolkata notched up the highest percentage (19.3 per cent) of total viewership followed by Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Aizwal.

    For SPNI, which promoted the event extensively and started selling ad inventory six months before the tournament began at a fairly high rate (Rs 250,000 for a 10-second spot) , it was a positive sign for the future of football broadcasts in the Indian market as such rates were unheard of three to four years ago. That Sony was building up to a climax became clear later in the year.

    Setting rest to speculations, Sony Pictures Networks announced on 31 August 2016 that it had entered into definitive agreement with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) to acquire the Ten Sports network in a deal worth $385 million. Owned by Taj Television, the distribution arm of ZEEL,TEN Sports operated five channels— TEN 1, TEN 2, TEN 3, TEN Golf HD and TEN 1 HD.

    As and when the acquisition is completed— it is subject to regulatory approvals — SPNI’s bouquet of sports channels will be the biggest in India, heralding not only consolidation in a fragmented sports market, but also making the Indian sports broadcast realm a two-horse race (Star India on one side and Sony-ESPN combine on the other) as Nimbus Sports with two channels and few premier events rights (French Open for one) remains a comparatively small player.

    The other big gun in the sports arena, Star India added more channels to its sports-channel stable with the mid-July launch of Star Sports Select HD 1 and Select HD 2. The channels will not only widen the Star Sports bouquet, but would also add marketing fire-power to Star India as the new channels were launched to exclusively offer Premier League, Bundesliga, Tennis Grand Slams and Formula 1. What makes the sports scene exciting is that Star India has sunk not only billions of dollars in acquiring strong sporting properties, including rights of Indian cricket, but is also building new properties like India Soccer League and Pro-Kabaddi for both men and women.

    But cricket ruled the Indian hearts of Indian fans keeping them on tenterhooks for on and off the field activities. The most successful Indian league, the Indian Premier League or IPL, despite criticism revolving around it becoming stale, continued to rule the waves with addition of two new teams and Vivo coming on board as the title sponsor in a deal estimated to be worth Rs. 2 billion or Rs. 200 crore, marking a 25 per cent increase in what PepsiCo paid earlier for a five-year deal.

    According to a few media reports, IPL earned close to Rs 2,500 crore or Rs. 250 billion in revenues, which included TV and digital rights, teams’ sponsorships, ticket sales and merchandising. On social media too, IPL made just the right amount of noise, but it lagged behind last season’s buzz, according to media firm Maxus’ MESH report on the IPL. Overall, IPL2016 generated 3.1 million mentions throughout the tournament in 2016. While IPL 2016 lagged behind in mentions throughout the tournament as against IPL2015, the final week of this season saw a jump of 74 per cent in conversations.

    On the TV platform, IPL continued setting new trends. 54 per cent of the total Indian audience remained glued to the event on pay television. Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad were the best markets in terms of TV viewing, cumulatively reaching 361 million people. The final, played between Sunsrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore, was the most viewed match of the season; getting about 44.68 million impressions. Summed across the five channels over five weeks, the total viewership stood at 1.02 billion BARC impressions, one of the highest-ever in Indian television history.

    Year 2016 also saw the rise of `other alternative’ sports or those disciplines that can be kept in a tray where non-cricket and non-tennis games are kept. Pro-Kabaddi League came up with two editions this year. The first edition of the league saw a rise of 36 percent in terms of TV viewership compared to last year. The event was beamed on five channels – Star Gold, Star Sports 2 and 3, Plus Suvarna and Maa Movies, apart from the digital platform of Hotstar, which also saw a 33 percent growth in terms of ‘total minutes viewed’ over the first 11 days of Season 3.

    The fourth season of the Pro-Kabaddi League or PKL also happened in 2016. The ratings showed a growth pattern, making PKL one of the prime sporting properties in the Indian market. Star Sports said that the league had seen a cumulative growth of 51 per cent, regularly posting 10 million average impressions that were about 2.3 times higher than last year, turning a rural sport into a cult hit. Time for Bharat to take a bow!

    A fairly good show by the likes of pro boxing matches featuring India’s Vijender Singh, Indian Badminton League, ISL and Pro Wrestling League convinced sportspersons, event managers and advertisers that if properly packaged non-cricket sports too can attract viewership, audiences in stadia and generate revenues for all stakeholders.

    The year also witnessed the rise of the digital platform, in general, and marketing tactics by them to further increase penetration riding on the craze for popular sports in India. For example, Hotstar bought the digital rights of IPL last year to push its boundaries. While 35 million people had watched the IPL play-offs in the 2015 season, the numbers swelled remarkably in 2016 reaching 80 million. It would be quite safe to predict that there were a billion views on the digital platform this season for sporting events.

    Throughout the year, Hotstar’s premium services saw a huge drive to add new members. The registration was kept fairly simple and all major football leagues in Europe and Germany were broadcast on the digital platform. Cricket ODI matches and Tests on Star Sports were broadcast with an average delay of about five minutes, which garnered a lot of traction and spurred downloads of the app.

    With Sony LIV giving good competition with El Clasico and other events, it seems popular sports can actually drive the growth of digital platforms, especially subscription-based OTT services. The total watch time on OTT platforms in 2016 went up by 60 percent, driven also by the fact newcomer Reliance Jio started giving away the Hotstar app free to its subscribers.

    Proliferation of HD services too (mostly separately and differently priced for consumers), like OTT platforms, joined the gravy train trying to entice viewers through sporting events. For example, Indian fans of the English Premier League were in for a surprise when Star Sports announced that Indians will not be able to watch the matches beyond 31 October 2016; they would have to perforce sign up for the Star Sports HD channel package, which included Star Sports Select HD1 and HD2.

    With the arrival of Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as players with huge fan-bases and forever-at-loggerheads managers Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, Star knew the Indian following would not diminish — and they were not disappointed. If a consumer subscribed to all the sports channels in HD on a DTH platform, the package would cost approximately Rs. 700 per month. Many ardent non-cricket fans chose the high ticket option, while the remaining moved over to the digital platform as a significant number of live sports events were watched on Hotstar where the premium service cost Rs199 per month.

    However, one of the many climaxes, which added to the roller-coaster ride of sports broadcasting in India, involved the sports administrators. BCCI’s continuing face-off with the Supreme Court-mandated Lodha Committee recommendations on proposed clean-up of cricket — buffeted by allegations of match-fixing, conflicts of interests and brazen politicking — could pose a question mark on cricket matches organised by BCCI and their eventual telecasts.

    A shadow has even been cast over the 10th edition of IPL too. If the BCCI and Supreme Court don’t come to an amicable solution on former’s defiance and the latter’s hardening of stance, IPL future could be hazy having cascading effects on issues like broadcast rights and on some stakeholders like SPNI, Star India and team franchises who all have sunk in billions of Indian rupees in the juggernaut called IPL and India cricket.

    The year may have come to an end, but sports promises to continue providing more excitement. As they say, the match ain’t over till it is over.

  • Sports TV 2016: Digital explosion, player consolidation & confusion

    Sports TV 2016: Digital explosion, player consolidation & confusion

    2016 was a roller-coaster for Indian sports in the truest sense. It was akin to a Bollywood pot-boiler of the country’s sportspersons bringing cheer and applause in various disciplines, including Rio Olympics, to melodrama and suspense of wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s doping issue and whether he or Sushil would represent India to superb action on and off the field (off the field ones involving mostly our politician-administrators and their disdain for rules of the games) to romance to multiple climaxes in a game-changing year that could well herald Indian sports broadcasting becoming a two-horse show with digital media piggy-back riding sports in general.

    The year began on a strong note with Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) joining hands with majority Walt Disney-owned ESPN to launch two new English channels, Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD. The channels started broadcasting on 17 January 2016 with the Australian Open and going on to telecast several high profile and popular sporting events, both Indian and international, throughout the year. The co-branded Sony-ESPN channels replaced Sony KIX.

    Sony’s bouquet of sports channels (Sony Six, Sony Six HD, Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD) also broadcast the Euro Cup, one of the hottest sporting properties and the second most followed event in the football fraternity after the World Cup. The numbers were good with a league phase match between Italy and Spain garnering as much as 1.7 million impressions on BARC ratings. A quarter-final match between Poland and Portugal, the eventual winners, managed 290,000 impressions. The whole tournament totted up a cumulative TV audience of 62.7 million viewers . The final between Portugal and France witnessed 12.4 million Indian viewers, reaching a peak between 1:00 AM to 1:30 AM on 11 July 2016 with 7.4 million viewers. Kolkata notched up the highest percentage (19.3 per cent) of total viewership followed by Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Aizwal.

    For SPNI, which promoted the event extensively and started selling ad inventory six months before the tournament began at a fairly high rate (Rs 250,000 for a 10-second spot) , it was a positive sign for the future of football broadcasts in the Indian market as such rates were unheard of three to four years ago. That Sony was building up to a climax became clear later in the year.

    Setting rest to speculations, Sony Pictures Networks announced on 31 August 2016 that it had entered into definitive agreement with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) to acquire the Ten Sports network in a deal worth $385 million. Owned by Taj Television, the distribution arm of ZEEL,TEN Sports operated five channels— TEN 1, TEN 2, TEN 3, TEN Golf HD and TEN 1 HD.

    As and when the acquisition is completed— it is subject to regulatory approvals — SPNI’s bouquet of sports channels will be the biggest in India, heralding not only consolidation in a fragmented sports market, but also making the Indian sports broadcast realm a two-horse race (Star India on one side and Sony-ESPN combine on the other) as Nimbus Sports with two channels and few premier events rights (French Open for one) remains a comparatively small player.

    The other big gun in the sports arena, Star India added more channels to its sports-channel stable with the mid-July launch of Star Sports Select HD 1 and Select HD 2. The channels will not only widen the Star Sports bouquet, but would also add marketing fire-power to Star India as the new channels were launched to exclusively offer Premier League, Bundesliga, Tennis Grand Slams and Formula 1. What makes the sports scene exciting is that Star India has sunk not only billions of dollars in acquiring strong sporting properties, including rights of Indian cricket, but is also building new properties like India Soccer League and Pro-Kabaddi for both men and women.

    But cricket ruled the Indian hearts of Indian fans keeping them on tenterhooks for on and off the field activities. The most successful Indian league, the Indian Premier League or IPL, despite criticism revolving around it becoming stale, continued to rule the waves with addition of two new teams and Vivo coming on board as the title sponsor in a deal estimated to be worth Rs. 2 billion or Rs. 200 crore, marking a 25 per cent increase in what PepsiCo paid earlier for a five-year deal.

    According to a few media reports, IPL earned close to Rs 2,500 crore or Rs. 250 billion in revenues, which included TV and digital rights, teams’ sponsorships, ticket sales and merchandising. On social media too, IPL made just the right amount of noise, but it lagged behind last season’s buzz, according to media firm Maxus’ MESH report on the IPL. Overall, IPL2016 generated 3.1 million mentions throughout the tournament in 2016. While IPL 2016 lagged behind in mentions throughout the tournament as against IPL2015, the final week of this season saw a jump of 74 per cent in conversations.

    On the TV platform, IPL continued setting new trends. 54 per cent of the total Indian audience remained glued to the event on pay television. Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad were the best markets in terms of TV viewing, cumulatively reaching 361 million people. The final, played between Sunsrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore, was the most viewed match of the season; getting about 44.68 million impressions. Summed across the five channels over five weeks, the total viewership stood at 1.02 billion BARC impressions, one of the highest-ever in Indian television history.

    Year 2016 also saw the rise of `other alternative’ sports or those disciplines that can be kept in a tray where non-cricket and non-tennis games are kept. Pro-Kabaddi League came up with two editions this year. The first edition of the league saw a rise of 36 percent in terms of TV viewership compared to last year. The event was beamed on five channels – Star Gold, Star Sports 2 and 3, Plus Suvarna and Maa Movies, apart from the digital platform of Hotstar, which also saw a 33 percent growth in terms of ‘total minutes viewed’ over the first 11 days of Season 3.

    The fourth season of the Pro-Kabaddi League or PKL also happened in 2016. The ratings showed a growth pattern, making PKL one of the prime sporting properties in the Indian market. Star Sports said that the league had seen a cumulative growth of 51 per cent, regularly posting 10 million average impressions that were about 2.3 times higher than last year, turning a rural sport into a cult hit. Time for Bharat to take a bow!

    A fairly good show by the likes of pro boxing matches featuring India’s Vijender Singh, Indian Badminton League, ISL and Pro Wrestling League convinced sportspersons, event managers and advertisers that if properly packaged non-cricket sports too can attract viewership, audiences in stadia and generate revenues for all stakeholders.

    The year also witnessed the rise of the digital platform, in general, and marketing tactics by them to further increase penetration riding on the craze for popular sports in India. For example, Hotstar bought the digital rights of IPL last year to push its boundaries. While 35 million people had watched the IPL play-offs in the 2015 season, the numbers swelled remarkably in 2016 reaching 80 million. It would be quite safe to predict that there were a billion views on the digital platform this season for sporting events.

    Throughout the year, Hotstar’s premium services saw a huge drive to add new members. The registration was kept fairly simple and all major football leagues in Europe and Germany were broadcast on the digital platform. Cricket ODI matches and Tests on Star Sports were broadcast with an average delay of about five minutes, which garnered a lot of traction and spurred downloads of the app.

    With Sony LIV giving good competition with El Clasico and other events, it seems popular sports can actually drive the growth of digital platforms, especially subscription-based OTT services. The total watch time on OTT platforms in 2016 went up by 60 percent, driven also by the fact newcomer Reliance Jio started giving away the Hotstar app free to its subscribers.

    Proliferation of HD services too (mostly separately and differently priced for consumers), like OTT platforms, joined the gravy train trying to entice viewers through sporting events. For example, Indian fans of the English Premier League were in for a surprise when Star Sports announced that Indians will not be able to watch the matches beyond 31 October 2016; they would have to perforce sign up for the Star Sports HD channel package, which included Star Sports Select HD1 and HD2.

    With the arrival of Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as players with huge fan-bases and forever-at-loggerheads managers Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, Star knew the Indian following would not diminish — and they were not disappointed. If a consumer subscribed to all the sports channels in HD on a DTH platform, the package would cost approximately Rs. 700 per month. Many ardent non-cricket fans chose the high ticket option, while the remaining moved over to the digital platform as a significant number of live sports events were watched on Hotstar where the premium service cost Rs199 per month.

    However, one of the many climaxes, which added to the roller-coaster ride of sports broadcasting in India, involved the sports administrators. BCCI’s continuing face-off with the Supreme Court-mandated Lodha Committee recommendations on proposed clean-up of cricket — buffeted by allegations of match-fixing, conflicts of interests and brazen politicking — could pose a question mark on cricket matches organised by BCCI and their eventual telecasts.

    A shadow has even been cast over the 10th edition of IPL too. If the BCCI and Supreme Court don’t come to an amicable solution on former’s defiance and the latter’s hardening of stance, IPL future could be hazy having cascading effects on issues like broadcast rights and on some stakeholders like SPNI, Star India and team franchises who all have sunk in billions of Indian rupees in the juggernaut called IPL and India cricket.

    The year may have come to an end, but sports promises to continue providing more excitement. As they say, the match ain’t over till it is over.

  • Biswas new ESPN head – southeast Asia; Cooke expands role

    Biswas new ESPN head – southeast Asia; Cooke expands role

    MUMBAI: ESPN has added to and newly aligned its leadership team in the region to manage its expanding position in the region.

    Joyee Biswas has joined the sports media leader as the new head of Southeast Asia. Biswas will be based in ESPN’s offices in Singapore and report to Mike Morrison, vice president and managing director, ESPN APAC, based in Shanghai.

    Prior to joining ESPN, Biswas was managing director, Asia for Eleven Sports Network. He previously headed up sports content for Singtel TV as well as content acquisition and management for Fox International Channels and ESPN Star Sports.

    Additionally, Kelly Cooke will take on the expanded role of general manager, ESPN North Asia. Based n Hong Kong, Cooke will be responsible for helping manage ESPN’s long-term collaboration with Tencent in China, as well as the growth of partnerships, media distribution, ad sales, digital – focusing on China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

    In addition to Biswas and Cooke, ESPN has made additional personnel moves recently to align with its growing business.

    In support of ESPN’s relationship with Tencent, the company produces and delivers both original and adapted content such as video and coverage of sports including the NBA, global football and more. To provide focused oversight and coordination of that, ESPN has tapped Bowen Dou and Michael Huang to take on important new roles.

    Dou takes on the role of coordinating producer, international production. Based in ESPN’s Bristol, CT, USA headquarters and working closely with teams at both ESPN and Tencent. Dou will lead the coordination of all video production supporting the Tencent relationship, including original Chinese-language video such as “ESPN On Court” NBA content, original studio programming and other video production and adaption.

    Huang takes on the expanded role of deputy editor, ESPN Digital & Print Media. He will work in close coordination with ESPN’s worldwide digital and television editorial teams, leading a team focused on the creation and adaption of sports news and information content for the ESPN section on QQ.com, as well as identifying and telling sports stories originating in China that have resonance in other parts of the world.

    Marc Mallett, will now lead ESPN’s advertising efforts across Asia as the new Director of Sponsorship and Ad Sales, ESPN APAC. Based in Singapore, he will be focused on identifying new sales opportunities and clients, as well as the development of compelling advertising solutions for clients and agencies – like its ongoing TCL campaign – which leverage ESPN’s distinct content creation capability.

    ESPN Australia and New Zealand vice president and general manager Haydn Arndt continues to lead ESPN’s dynamic multiplatform business in Australia and New Zealand, as it sets viewership records on television and has established a digital leadership position.
    ESPN India and South Asia head and vice president Ramesh Kumar continues to manage and grow ESPN’s business in India and the subcontinent, including the Sony ESPN collaboration, as well as leading the ESPNcricinfo business globally.

    “These moves ensure that we have an outstanding and innovative ESPN leadership team in place to continue our growth in the APAC region,” said Morrison. “It’s an exciting time for ESPN in the region, with ground-breaking collaborations in China and India, a thriving multimedia business in Australia and New Zealand, further expansion and localization of the world’s leading digital sports business and continued exploration of new business opportunities in Southeast and North Asia.”