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Tag: Fifa

  • Armani Exchange, Jio World Drive team up for India debut of A|X Press Play

    Armani Exchange, Jio World Drive team up for India debut of A|X Press Play

    Mumbai: Jio World Drive, along with international luxury retail brand Armani Exchange has announced the India debut of A|X Press Play which brings together music and gaming on one platform.

    The two-day weekend fiesta on 5 and 6 March gives people a chance to experience the best of music, game ceaselessly and binge on some mouth watering food and beverages at the same time.

    Starting from 11 a.m onwards, A|X Play has over 30+ games including all-time favourites such as “Pac-Man,” “Contra,” “Mario,” “Mortal Combat,” “Street Fighter,” “Big Hammer,” “Stick Catcher,” “Foosball,” “Air Hockey,” “Nerf Shooting,” and “Basketball.” Gamers can experience the atmosphere of an esports arena with nail biting Fifa tournaments on Playstation 5. 

    The celebration will be heightened with latest techno music by Indian and international DJs like DJ Ana Lilia and DJ Shaan taking over the dance floor. Also lined up are live performances by stand up artists and YouTube sensations.  

  • Eurosport India to broadcast India’s FIFA friendly matches

    Eurosport India to broadcast India’s FIFA friendly matches

    KOLKATA: Eurosport and Eurosport HD India have bagged the broadcasting rights for the upcoming FIFA friendly matches of team India.

    The Indian national team is currently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and will be playing two matches in the upcoming FIFA international friendlies on 25 and 29 March, where they take on Oman and the host country, UAE. The Indian side will be back in action after almost 16 months.

    Eurosport India head & Discovery Inc affiliate sales and product distribution, Asia – India sales & distribution SVP Vijay Rajput said, “We are extremely delighted to have an opportunity to bring the fans close to the Indian national football team as they take on national duty after a long time. The Indian National Football team has been making giant progress and we can surely look forward to two thrilling, action filled matches coming our way.”

    All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das said, “I am happy to announce that we have associated with Eurosport India as the official broadcaster for the upcoming FIFA international friendly matches of Team India. They are one of the most promising broadcasters and we look forward to performing well and giving the audience spectacular matches in the coming days.”

    Schedule:

    India vs Oman – 25 March 2021, Maktoom Bin Rashid Stadium – 19:15 Hrs (7:15 pm) IST on Eurosport HD

    India vs UAE – 29 March 2021, Zabeel Stadium – 21:45 Hrs (9:45 pm) IST on Eurosport and Eurosport HD

  • Sony Pictures Networks opts for on-ground promotion for Australian Open 2020

    Sony Pictures Networks opts for on-ground promotion for Australian Open 2020

    MUMBAI: Massification being the end objective, Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) is planning to go big in promoting the prominent sporting events that will take place this year. Moreover, the broadcaster also revealed the new on-ground campaign initiatives to promote the first grand slam of the year to Indian masses.

    Sony Pictures Networks India head – marketing and on-air promotions for sports channels Neville Bastawalla, speaking exclusively to Indiantelevision.com, said: “Since 2019, we have embarked on the strategy of promoting niche sports in India and to get a larger share of the heart of consumers.”

    Commencing the year with the Australian Open, which is the most-watched tennis event in India and Asia, Sony has planned two on-ground campaigns in association with ‘Social’ – an urban hangout place and Inox – the largest multiplex chain in India.

    Bastwalla, explaining the on-ground campaign, said, “We have partnered with 23-25 outlets of Social across five cities in India to broadcast live matches of the Australian Open with a co-curated menu for Australia-inspired dishes.”

    Adding further he said, “We are also mulling whether to telecast live semis and final or only final at particular theatres, wherein we’ll get four to five Hindi medium school children to experience the match. We will also have chat sessions by known celebrities, who will talk about tennis and make students aware of the game as many of them doesn’t know what tennis is all about.”

    The broadcaster is yet to strategise the campaign for the semis and final. However, it has roped in Lenovo, Australia Tourism, Life Insurance Corporation among others as brands onboard for the grand slam. It is expected that more brands will come onboard as the game progresses towards its final stage.

    For the first time ever, to get more audience traction, the broadcaster will have semi and final matches in Hindi commentary. Last year, the Australian Open had garnered around 41 million viewership compared to 13 million by the following grand slam making up around 30 per cent of overall viewership.

    Meanwhile, 2020 is a power-packed year. The broadcaster is fully loaded with a line-up of international sporting events such as Euro Cup 2020 and Olympics 2020 in Tokyo, UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Championship round of 16, and Wrestle mania – termed as the world cup of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) – among others.

    Meanwhile, to promote the agenda of massification and connect the Indian audiences with niche sports, the broadcaster is also getting Bollywood celebrities to talk about ancillary sports. Last year, SPN had roped actor-director Farhan Akhtar to bat for UEFA Championship in Madrid and actor Varun Dhawan for Ultimate Fighting Championship’s match in Abu Dhabi.

    Bastawalla also said: “Cricket in India is the most-watched sporting event followed by WWE in sports entertainment section. Everything else is at a similar level barring marquee properties like FIFA and Euro Cup which have both mass and class – mass in terms of reach and it’s a very classy premium event.”

    Citing an example, the marketing head said, “If cricket is at 100 points on the pie chart in India, every other sport in India is at 10 points and our aim is to increase that point to 20-25 points.”

    Being strong on social media at 6 million reaches across platforms, the broadcaster is constantly using digital marketing methods to promote various sports along with traditional marketing.

  • ICC, Coca-Cola enter into five-year global strategic partnership till 2023

    ICC, Coca-Cola enter into five-year global strategic partnership till 2023

    MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Coca-Cola announced their five-year global strategic partnership on 30 January 2019. The partnership will see The Coca-Cola Company’s brands becoming exclusive non-alcoholic beverage partners of the ICC until 2023.

    The five-year agreement includes all ICC events around the world including the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales, the ICC men’s and women’s T20 World Cups in Australia in 2020, the ICC Women’s World Cup 2021 in New Zealand and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India in 2023 amongst other global tournaments.

    Speaking on the occasion, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia president T Krishnakumar said, “Cricket is a global sport and a passion shared by more than a billion people across gender, generations and cultures. In-line with our long history of partnering with major sporting events globally, our strategic partnership with ICC, reinforces our long-standing commitment to refresh sports fans and enhance their entertainment experience. We look forward to delighting our consumers with our diverse portfolio and engagement opportunities to create unique experiences for fans through the next five years and even beyond that.”

    Importantly, the partnership will strategically align both the ICC and The Coca-Cola Company for the long-term by combining the strength of The Coca-Cola Company’s diversified portfolio of over 500 brands as well as worldwide reach with ICC’s ambition to expand the sport’s footprint globally.

    Commenting on the partnership, ICC chief executive David Richardson said: “It is our pleasure to welcome Coca-Cola on board as an ICC partner for the next five years. As one of the world’s biggest sports with more than 1 billion fans, we are delighted to partner with Coca-Cola, one of the biggest brands in the world. The ICC is committed to growing the game worldwide and the popularity of the three formats with pinnacle global events in each makes this an exciting time for major brands to be associated with our sport.”

    The Coca-Cola Company has an eight-decade long association with Olympics, four decades with the FIFA and nearly 25 years with World Cup Rugby. The associations stem from Coca-Cola’s philosophy of being part of consumers’ lives and their passions.

    India is a strategic market for TCCC and Coca-Cola India is well on its path to become the fifth largest volume market in the Coca-Cola system. Recently, Coca-Cola India celebrated its 25th-anniversary milestone in India and is focused on introducing innovative and localized beverages that suit the consumer tastes and preferences specific to the regions.

  • La Liga aims to be India’s second favourite tournament: Jose Cachaza

    La Liga aims to be India’s second favourite tournament: Jose Cachaza

    MUMBAI: La Liga was the most talked topic in football after FIFA World Cup in 2018 because of its first-of-its-kind deal with Facebook for three years for the Indian subcontinent. In the past couple of years, La Liga’s main focus has been to promote Spanish football beyond its borders, with the aim to create a community of fans around the world.  

    With this aim La Liga now has nine international offices: two in China (Shanghai and Beijing), one in South Africa (Johannesburg), Nigeria (Lagos), the United States (New York), the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), India (New Delhi), Mexico (Mexico City) and Singapore.

    Talking about the deal with Facebook, La Liga India MD Jose Cachaza said, “We are doing what’s never done before. Both La Liga and Facebook are very happy looking at how the project is evolving and we hope that our relationship with Facebook will be a long and fruitful one. The figures are really positive till now. We are changing the way Indian fans watch football.”

    While the 380 matches were to be available for free to people on Facebook in eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Facebook and SPN reached an agreement wherein the broadcaster earned the right to air over 100 games via its sports cluster.

    La Liga delegate India Gary Udhwani said, “Our mission is to increase the brand value and brand image not only of La Liga but also of all the clubs. In India, we have many objectives which include increasing revenues and being closer to our fans but our main aim is to contribute to the local growth of football because if football grows here, La Liga will automatically grow. We like to be the second most popular league in any country after their local league.”

    The total revenue earned in the 2016/17 season by LaLiga amounted to €3,662.3 million, which represents an increase of €494.6 million (15.6 per cent) compared to the previous season.

    “India is the fastest growing economy in the world. We all know that cricket is the country’s favourite sport. While 80 per cent of the live sports audience comes from cricket, football is already the second most watched sport on Indian television,” Cachaza added.

    In the last four seasons, LaLiga has increased its international presence around the world. Institutional relations have been reinforced with federations, leagues and even governments, with whom MoUs have been signed.

    LaLiga has also invested a great deal of human and technical resources in the protection of its audiovisual rights. The sale of these rights accounts for a large part of the income received by football clubs and LaLiga has a duty to protect its value.

    La Liga’s enterprising foundation organises a multitude of Corporate Social Responsibility projects that aim to spread the values of CSR of professional football in society. In order to do this, LaLiga allocates €67 million per year to CSR work, thus becoming the highest contributor among the European leagues in social matters.

    The LaLiga Foundation is working on unique projects, in which football values take centre stage and are transferred to all corners of the world. These projects are being carried out on a budget of $4.9 million (4.25 million Euros) for the 2018-2019 season.

    Cachaza pointed out that the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t affect La Liga. But if we look at the numbers provided by BARC India, the movement of Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Juventus did indeed affect viewership. El Clasico’s impressions dropped down from 4 million to 2 million, but on the other hand, Serie A viewership doubled. The El Clasico's number do not include the impressions garnered on Facebook.

    Football associations are also fighting piracy. On 23 January, a joint statement from the Asian Football Confederation, Bundesliga, F.A. Premier League, FIFA, LaLiga and UEFA was issued against beoutQ, regarding illegally screening matches of AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019. The statement read, “Collectively we, as rights-holders in various football competitions, condemn the pirate entity beoutQ, which continues to abuse the operations of rights holders and legitimate broadcasters through its persistent and illegal screening of events for which it has made no effort to secure the rights; the latest example of which is the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019.”

  • Football viewership up 7% in 2018 from 5% in 2016

    Football viewership up 7% in 2018 from 5% in 2016

    MUMBAI: After Star India took the initiative to boost a variety of sports in India, other broadcasters also picked up their shovels to dig deep. It has made a sincere effort in the turnaround of Indian football with participation (to build culture), incentivisation (to build careers), and commercialisation model (to drive in viewership) which are the three building blocks to development.

    Delivering a keynote address at the Star Sports India Football Forum 2018, an initiative by SportzPower, Star Sports head marketing Rajiv Mathrani said, “The best way to predict the future is to dream it. India is not too far from playing FIFA World Cup with the increase in the number of teams, the ranking in which we are and the young talent which is coming along.”

    All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das said that AIFF will very soon launch a school-level project along with the game’s world governing body FIFA.

    According to BARC data, FIFA WC final garnered 16 million impressions in India and stood at fourth place. China (56 million impressions), Germany (21 million impressions) and France (19 million impressions) were ahead of India.  

    BARC India head- partnerships Elbert D’Silva said, “If we look at football, in 2016 the sport garnered 2 billion impressions and now till October 2018, it has garnered 3 billion impressions.”

    Football viewership has gone up from five per cent in 2016 to seven per cent in 2018.

    As of now, there are 836 million viewers who watch television across India. Out of these 836 million viewers who have access to television, 791 million or 95 per cent have consumed some sporting content across multiple TV channels. If we look at football numbers, 498 million people have sampled some content related to football in the country.

    According to D’Silva, the movement of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Juventus has affected the viewership. El Clasico’s impressions dropped down from 4 million to 2 million, but on the other hand, Serie A viewership doubled.

    The sports revenue in India has increased from $0.9 billion in 2016 to $1.1 billion in 2017, whereas North America has seen a spike in the revenue from $15.7 billion in 2016 to $16.2 billion in 2017.

    SPN India EVP and head digital business Uday Sodhi thinks that this year’s FIFA WC has really made football mainstream in India. “The only difference for OTT is that this is a newer medium, the forms of monetisation and the way you monetise will take more time to get established,” Sodhi added.

    ESP Properties business head Vinit Karnik said, “With multiple services coming in one set top box, the day is not too far when the gap between traditional TV and OTT will change.”

    SonyLiv has a large sports footprint, football is growing 150 per cent y-o-y, basketball is growing 3-5X. Sodhi believes that India will have a freemium business going forward to a large extent. There will be a significant amount of advertising play and subscription will then be able to create a niche for itself for premium content.

  • La Liga ahead of the curve with Facebook deal: Jose Cachaza

    La Liga ahead of the curve with Facebook deal: Jose Cachaza

    MUMBAI: As the new wave of acquiring rights is shifting from broadcast to OTT players and social media giants, La Liga is the most recent example which has been acquired by Facebook and sub-licensed to Sony Pictures Network (SPN) India. The Spanish premier football league has launched its football school focussing on grassroots programme in Delhi in the first week of October and then in Kerala recently. In Delhi, the school was inaugurated by former French international and Arsenal legend Robert Pires.

    Apart from Kerala and Delhi, La Liga is planning to open centres in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

    Indiantelevision.com caught up with La Liga India MD Jose Cachaza to talk about the league’s expansion plans and the strategy behind partnering with social media giant Facebook.

    He believes that they are little ahead of the curve from others because it is the way broadcast is going as major companies are getting strongly into sports and OTT is taking a lead role in various countries.  Cachaza also believes that the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo has had no effect on the viewership and sponsorships of the league.

    Excerpts:

    How do you plan to expand the popularity of La Liga in India?

    This is an ongoing project that we started two years ago and we are working in different ways. There are two sides of our work; one that is quite central is our digital project for India. Digital is the most direct way of interacting with fans today, especially considering the penetration of digital communications in India. Two years ago, we had 300,000 followers on social media and today we have reached 3.3 million followers. Digital allows us to not only give information directly to our fans but also to get feedback from them. Our broadcast agreement with Facebook strengthens this strategy.

    We cannot forget of course the relationship with fans so we do a number of activities involving the fans like the public viewings. We just announced the next big public viewing of the upcoming El Clasico in Kolkata on October 28. They have been successful in the past two years in New Delhi and Mumbai and now we are going to Kolkata, which is the modern heartland of football. We want to get there and bring the excitement of the El Clasico to the Bengali fans. Last year in New Delhi, we had 20,000 people showing up and we hope there will be more in Kolkata.

    We are also now bringing to India our network of Football Schools. We are starting with 33 La Liga Football Schools in more than 10 cities and almost 4,000 kids training with us. This project is important to us because we are our philosophy of football, the Spanish way of understanding the game, head coaches who are La Liga trained and UEFA certified coaches. We decided to bring the joy of playing football to thousands of kids and we will leave a legacy of dozens of coaches trained with our methodology and philosophy of football.

    We are bringing legends to India like Fernando Morientes, Luis Garcia, Christian Karembeu, Gaizka Mendieta, Robert Pires and Steve McManaman. We are doing many things and a lot more to come.

    What is the rationale behind going with the social media giant? How satisfied are you with this deal?

    We are highly satisfied and I think it was the right thing to do in this market. So maybe we are a little bit ahead of the curve from others because it is the way broadcast is going. It’s not something we invented with Facebook, major companies are getting strongly into sports and OTT is taking a lead role in various countries. The only thing we have done differently is that we are the first but we won’t be the only.

    A recent report was that football in India is at the third position in terms of viewership and revenue, after cricket and kabaddi respectively…

    No, that is not right. Audience wise, if you consider all the competitions, football is number two. If you see Indian statistics, Pro Kabaddi League has just a few thousand more viewers than ISL. However, if you consider everything like LaLiga, EPL, UEFA and all other leagues, football is clearly the second sport. In terms of revenue, if you take sponsorship, ticketing and broadcast deals from ISL to FIFA, you will once again find that football is the second sport in India.

    Are you planning any content and distribution deals in India to offer more content apart from matches?

    We are offering tens of hours of content to India, various shows and content that is already on Sony and now will be available to fans through Facebook.

    With the new broadcast model, with TV and digital both, has the viewer engagement changed?

    Maybe it has changed in the way they see it, but it is engagement at large. Indeed, our engagement with fans on social media is growing.

    Telecom industry in India has seen a great spike after the entry of Reliance Jio. Data consumption got a boost but till now the country is not well-equipped to watch the full tournaments on smartphones. Don’t you think it is a big risk if the digital platform does not reach to a sub licensing agreement with the broadcaster?

    It is a risk we are eager to take. Always when you are the first in anything, something that will be the trend, you are taking a risk. But, we are proud to do it.

    After the rights are sold, what is the role of La Liga with the broadcast or streaming platform?

    We have a really strong cooperative relationship with our broadcasters, anywhere in the world, not only here. It’s not just that they pay and they show the matches, there’s a lot of thing to do, activations, marketing opportunities and more to this that we work together with them. We are here to understand them and to help them to better promote their product because we also have it in our own interest. Our relationship is very close and intense; it was with Sony and now with Facebook.

  • SonyLIV partners Planetcast to power live streaming service

    SonyLIV partners Planetcast to power live streaming service

    MUMBAI: Planetcast Media Services, a global player in digital broadcast technologies announced today that it has deployed its latest feed management and publishing platform to power live streaming of sports feed from its PMSL Facility at Mumbai.

    As a part of the partnership, Planetcast is using its hi-tech and intelligent feed management platform to receive / downlink around 30 feeds, which are then converted to the house formats (mainly audio shuffling & up-down-cross conversion) before being published in DRM enabled HLS format. A host of other VAS is also provided which include channel branding, SCTE insertion, Playout services with live studio including commentary insertion as well as Time delay & Upload for VoD consumption.

    Planetcast’s live streaming services have been successfully deployed on SonyLIV since FIFA 2018, one of the world’s largest sporting events.

    Commenting on the development Planetcast Media executive director MN Vyas said “Planetcast’s live streaming platform is instrumental for global sporting events like FIFA, Asian Games as there has been a paradigm shift in the viewing pattern of such events, this shift in viewing pattern has opened up new revenue streams for the broadcasters. Planetcast’s live streaming technology is aimed at helping the broadcasters to increase revenue by monetising their digital viewership”.

    Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India business head- digital Uday Sodhi said, “There has been a paradigm shift in the viewing pattern of sporting events in India. For SonyLIV it is of paramount importance to deliver a premium video streaming experience to our audience and Planetcast has played a pivotal role in achieving that goal. Planetcast has not only provided the latest technology but also brought in their decades of expertise in the TV broadcast sector to keep us ahead in such a highly competitive space.”

    Planetcast’s streaming service is the professional-grade service for streaming media to audiences of any size on any device, reaching global audiences with high-quality, custom-branded videos— with no additional infrastructure. Our solutions are designed to support streaming needs for multi format (android, Windows, iOS etc.) and multi device (Tablets, PC or smartphones etc.) uni/multi-cast streams with multiple capabilities of formats and video players.

  • SonyLIV’s amplified focus on English content portfolio

    SonyLIV’s amplified focus on English content portfolio

    MUMBAI: Sony Network India’s (SPNI) OTT platform Sony Liv recently extended its English content portfolio in the premium offering. It also has plans to add originals in regional languages.

    On the back of SPNI’s FIFA World Cup 2018 broadcasting right in India, SonyLIV attracted thousands of football fans across the country. The month-long sports event gave a major boost to the platform. Soon after it ended, it expanded the English content library to retain viewers. Three critically acclaimed and admired shows from Hollywood- Damages, Unforgettable and Timeless have also been added.

    “Understanding the need for quality international content, we have consistently focused on bringing shows that promise intrigue and entertainment. Post a successful tournament like FIFA 2018 that set new benchmarks in consumer engagement with over 70 million views, we wanted to add onto this momentum further. We expanded our English content portfolio to offer world’s most fascinating stories to our audience and keep them glued onto out platform,” SPNI digital business head Uday Sodhi said in an interaction with Indiantelevision.com.

    Sodhi, happy with the initial response, says other shows from the genre such as Underground, Outsiders and Line of Duty continue to garner good traction. However, the new shows which have been added recently span across genres to ensure they appeal to a wide section of the audience. Continuing the development, the platform is about to announce a string of 8-10 new launches.

    Meanwhile, the English entertainment channels AXN, Sony PIX, and Sony LePLEX HD from the network have recently made their digital debut. For traditional TV broadcasters, promoting catch-up TV through existing content catalogue is a common formula though.

    “Live TV continues to be a potential driver for us as its viewership is significantly large. There has been a natural on-boarding of viewers who like the content offered by these three channels,” Sodhi commented.

    Primarily, viewers aged between 18 to 24 is the target audience of the platform, while the 25-34 age group is targeted next. To create awareness of new content, SonyLIV is making the most use of social media and digital platforms. It is also optimising TV ads and outdoor marketing given the great reach of these two mediums among the audience.

    While sci-fi and crime thriller shows are trending in Hollywood right now, SonyLIV’s newly added English content bouquet includes both the genres being a definite option for making an engaging watch. “We have ensured that our current and upcoming shows have gripping content. Indians have a huge appetite for content that keeps them at the edge of their seat and I do not see a reason for these genres to not work in the Indian market. We are positive about the response these shows are going to get,” said Sodhi.

    The media veteran gave a witty answer to the question of competitors in this category. He said that as they operate across all three business models and various segregating buckets, every player in the market is a healthy competitor. The digital right of Game of Thrones gave a major boost to the subscriber base of Star India’s digital arm Hotstar. International players like Amazon Prime and Netflix already offer a huge chunk of popular international shows. Thus to woo the young urban audience, SonyLIV definitely has to add several other titles to make the library more lucrative.

  • Hero ISL gets NIVIA as ball partner for 3 years

    Hero ISL gets NIVIA as ball partner for 3 years

    MUMBAI: NIVIA, the Indian sports manufacturing brand has signed a three-year agreement with Football Sports Development to be the official ball partner of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) starting season 2018/19.

    With this multi-crore deal, NIVIA will supply the official match balls NIVIA ‘Ashtang’ to the League and the ten clubs throughout the season.

    NIVIA MD Rajesh Kharbanda said, “We are elated to be associated with ISL as the official ball partner. The FIFA Pro categorised Ashtang balls are the newest edition in our professional football product stable and we are confident of upping the game in the highly competitive league environment.”

    An ISL spokesperson said, “We are delighted to introduce FIFA Pro certified match balls Nivia Ashtang for Hero Indian Super League. Ashtang has been produced by Nivia with the highest standards and newest technology to maximise performance.”

    “The association of NIVIA with the ISL is a constructive partnership aimed towards cultivating a strong system of developing football in India and maturing it to International level, a trend that is evident from the performance of U-20 and U-16 Indian teams recently. I would like to thank Inventive Sports for recognising the synergies and facilitating this association,” Kharbanda added.

    NIVIA Ashtang is a FIFA Pro category approved ball which is the highest quality certification that FIFA can grant on the quality of the ball. 

    The iconic Indian sports brand has been associated with the league through individual club deals as kit partners with ATK, Jamshedpur FC and Shillong Lajong (I-League). NIVIA, since its early days has been closely associated with the grassroots development of football in India and has become an integral part of the glorious history of Santosh Trophy since 1970s.