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  • Sports, IPL and the game of advertising

    Sports, IPL and the game of advertising

    MUMBAI: Follow social conversations and you will be led to believe that it is politicians, Bollywood stars, movies, Indian fictional television shows and characters that create the most buzz online and offline. Clearly, fans are in abundance, and many go as far as to imitate their heroes and heroines on screen and TV. But that’s only on the surface.

    Dig deeper and you will discover that there’s another genre that draws as many conversations as all of them combined, and that is sports. Yes, arguments can be varied that we are not a sports-loving country; look at our decades-long abysmal performance in most competitive running sports the world over. Look at how we go overboard and celebrate when we win just a bronze medal at the Olympics by showering all kinds of national awards on the medal winner!

    And in sports, there’s one segment that occupies around 90 per cent of all social media chatter. And that is cricket. Love the game or not, you are instantly prompted to the online noise; there’s so much of it out there. Ignore it at your own peril.

    It is difficult to deny that sports properties are extremely vital for advertisers. Media spend in sports has bloomed over the years, having been boosted by major cricket tournaments. IPL undoubtedly has transformed the business forever. On the other hand, non-cricket tournaments like Pro Kabaddi League, ISL, and Premier Badminton League are also witnessing slow but steady change.

    According to a report from ESP properties, over the three years from 2015 to 2018, advertising spends on TV have more than doubled on sports properties, from Rs crore ($270 million) to Rs crore ($556 million), at a CAGR of 29 percent. Although numbers are not available for 2019, industry experts have stated ad spends on sports grew thanks to ICC Cricket World Cup and the IPL.

    The report also added that 85 per cent of all adex in sports happened on TV in 2018. Hence, the winning combination of TV and live sports is prompting media planners to prefer sports compared to GEC, movie or news. One of the prime reasons here is definitely the high reach and the immediate impact. Although sports as a segment is an expensive proposition, the high viewership attracts the brands. Special product launches and brand campaigns around sport events are also critical for them. Multiple brand associations during IPL indicate advertisers’ love for premium sports events. 

    For IPL 2020, a large array of brands such as Vivo, Altroz, fbb, Dream11, Paytm, PhonePe, Amazon Prime, CocaCola, Asian Paints, Fortune, Maruti Suzuki, CEAT, KAMLA PASAND and Royal Challenge have jumped on the ‘brand wagon’. The variety in various categories of brands also breaks the myth that only deep-pocket players afford to buy premium sporting properties. Depending on their budget, brands can place their ads either on television or digital media platforms and associate in several ways.

    According to Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2020, total Adex is expected to move up to Rs 74,650 crore, an increase of Rs 7,048 crore. The report reaffirms the ability of pole events to attract advertisers even during a “not-so-high growth” year. The report expects IPL and ICC T20 World Cup to pull in substantial monies this year, too.

    Uncertainties still remain at the ecosystem level given the changes in new tariff order, overall economic condition which is likely to pick up in H2. The report adds as pole properties like the IPL, ICC T20 Cricket World Cup and Hindi GECs’ premium shows are likely to get a fair amount of advertiser attention even in difficult times; these programmes will command higher rates than last year.

    It may intrigue us why the industry is being so bullish on sports. For most of the Indians, sports, especially cricket events, bring the entire family and peer groups together in front of TV. The battle of remote within the family stops when an exciting match comes live on TV. There may be ten GEC channels with a number of shows and a large number of movie channels offering exciting content, making the risk of audience fragmentation higher. The audience is much more cluttered for premium sports events like IPL which unifies the fragmented demographic of the country.

    “In India, around 80 to 85 percent of money spent on sports is spent on cricket while many other leagues have come in a larger scheme that adds up to the other 15 per cent. So, their relevance is less. Therefore, in India when you say sports, unfortunately even now everything equals to cricket. And that’s a very high engagement medium which has got very huge involvement of the audience making it a great platform,” Dentsu Aegis Network APAC CEO and India chairman Ashish Bhasin says.

    With turns and twists in scripts, change in characters, the audience retention may become a challenge in the case of long-running shows on GEC. But live sports concentrates attention on exciting twists happening during a match in a limited time. During a long-running cricket match, as the audience are less diverted to elsewhere, brands are provided with more integration opportunities, a luxury no other sport event can offer. The 45-second, but frequent, breaks are bonanzas for brands as viewers don’t skip channels typically.

    “In India, sports, fortunately or unfortunately, is almost equal to cricket. Something like IPL stays with the nation for 40 days. It is probably the biggest property on Indian television. Brands that do great are those who manage to integrate various touch points with consumers together. It is not only about putting ad spots on television but having a digital strategy. You cannot expect people to have activities only on pubs or restaurants or bars. So, whoever does it in a well-synchronised manner sells best,” Bhasin adds. One of the senior executives from a leading brand also comments that awareness, audience engagement and brand recall go up immediately after IPL match.

    Asked about the properties they plan to buy in 2020, a media planner from a well-known media agency names IPL. While he mentions about a few reality shows like Big Boss and KBC, he also talks about other sporting tournaments such as ICC Women's T20 World Cup and Pro Kabaddi League. According to him, there is another reason to look at the sports genre than others. He asserts that media planners prefer sports for male target group as it garners higher men’s viewership compared to other genres. In addition to that, he adds, TV will be preferred while buying a sports property. 

    Another executive from a leading advertising agency also mentions ICC T20 World Cup and ICC Women's T20 World Cup while talking about the properties they are looking at for 2020. He also adds that other niche games like badminton and Kabaddi are emerging but cricket takes up most of the advertisers’ budget till now.

    “IPL particularly is a format which gets audiences across age groups, geographies and sectors. Earlier, sports mainly used to be male-dominated fiefdom. Now, IPL, because of its entertainment factor, has converted itself as a family programme. So, it is a great way for a brand to get national recognition overnight. That is why it is a good platform if you want a quick reach,” Bhasin adds.

    The year 2020 looks more exciting for marketers looking at sports. Cricket tournaments like IPL, Asia Cup, Women's World Cup and T20 Men's World Cup are leading the chart along with Olympics and Pro Kabaddi. 

  • IPL & Rs 3,300 crore revenue: Thoughts to ponder

    IPL & Rs 3,300 crore revenue: Thoughts to ponder

    MUMBAI: Can an Indian broadcast TV network imagine that it could gross $600 million in revenue– that is about Rs 4,200 crore – in one day?

    That would indeed be the day.

    The fact is the Murdoch-owned and run Fox did earn that from 100 advertisers on Sunday 2 February 2020 when it aired the NFL’s SuperBowl match between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. It did attract an audience of 150 million, which watched the pre-game coverage, the game, the electrifying half time performances by Latino bombshells Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, the post game discussion in the studio, followed by the factual show The Masked Singer.

    Speaking at an investment analyst post earning conference call Fox executive chairman & CEO Lachlan Murdoch said: “We surrounded the Super Bowl with an immersive and innovative programming lineup from Miami across Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Sports 1 and our local stations. And we use this enormous platform to launch Season 3 of the Masked Singer right after the game which became TV's highest rated reality telecast in eight years. We delivered extraordinary ratings for our advertising, distribution and NFL partners.”

    In India, the big events that aggregate audiences are the IPL and any cricket match that the Indian team is involved in. IPL 2019 delivered 462 million viewers on the Star network channels between 23 March and 12 May, according to BARC data.

    So, the NFL had a 150 million strong audience, generating $600 million in rvenue for Fox. That's a realisation of $4 or around Rs 300 –  per viewer. Ad spots on the NFL SuperBowl cost about $175,000 per second, with a 30-second spot costing as high as $5 million plus. According to measurement company SpotTV,  the cost per lead (CPL) for the NFL SuperBowl 2018 was between $27 and $100 on game day. Seems high, but advertisers obviously think its worth as this is the day America worships.

    The IPL, according to media reports, generated around Rs 2,200 crore for Star India in 2019, with a cumulative TV audience of 460 million. Now let’s apply the $4 average realisation in revenue per viewer that the NFL managed to get from advertisers and other partners to this audience. It works out to a whopping $1.8 billion or Rs 12,300 crore.

    But you might say we are being silly, that we are extrapolating a highly developed US ad and TV market to an emerging market like India. Right. Let’s shave that to a $1.50 per viewer, which is what we think it should be, it still works out to a jawdropping $690 million or Rs 4,918-odd crore. You might again say we are bonkers once again. Let’s bring it further down $1 per viewer – it tots up to $460 million or Rs 3,300-odd crore. Currently, the IPL is generating around 60 odd cents per viewer.

    Can that be pushed up to $1 per viewer? That's something Disney and Star India head honchos Uday Shankar and K Madhavan are betting on. So far, advertisers and agencies have not been valuing the IPL and its audiences enough. Remember, the IPL was valued at around $6.8 billion last year. Its valuation will go up undoubtedly this year. Currently, advertisers are paying between Rs 10-15 lakh per 10-second spot (barely $13,000 to $20,000 as compared to the $175,000 per second for the NFL SuperBowl) during the IPL.

    Star India paid $2.55 billion to acquire the rights to the IPL in 2017 for five years.  At that time, it spent around Rs 54.5 crore per match. Add production and promotional costs, it would have to recover anywhere between Rs 60-75 crore per match.

    Something has to change on ad spends in India. The thinking amongst brand and marketing managers, media buyers and planners needs to undergo a revision, a refresh. Going for the lowest price, slashing media rates, need not get you the best results. As the saying goes: you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Some media planners and brand managers say they buy clever and they buy cheap and they get their return on investment.

    Sure. But premium content costs. The IPL set back Star India by some Rs 16,347 odd crore for five years. That means it has to recover around Rs 3,500 odd crore from advertising and subscription revenues each year. So far, it has had a gap in the first three years. But that has not deterred it from taking the television component of the IPL up a notch each year.

    Star India’s Uday Shankar is focusing on consumer experience and delight. The network has invested in raising the standard of the quality of production, providing more language feeds. Thankfully that has been accompanied by drastic improvements in the quality of play in the various matches, as well as the competition becoming interesting.

    But all this has to be monetised, right? The economic slowdown has led to cuts in ad spends. And when advertising is down, the visibiliy of those who dare to advertise goes up. And they end up capturing consumer mind space.

    This year, the IPL presents advertisers with a great opportunity. Indian cricket has been shining over the past few months, snatching impressive victories. And cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KL, Rahul, Jaspreet Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravinder Jadeja have been in top form. They will be playing for various teams in the IPL. They have taken the fight to the enemy camp and won handsomely in some matches. Expect them to continue in the same vein in the IPL as well.

    We keep talking about how India is set to emerge as one of the world’s leading economies. Yes, it has its own peculiar way of conducting business, which is so very Indian. But slashing costs, taking ARPUs down and playing the mass game is not the only mentality that should come in play. Opening one’s wallet and investing for the now and the future would definitely make sports TV broadcast rights more viable. 

  • Disney+ launch on Hotstar during IPL 2020

    Disney+ launch on Hotstar during IPL 2020

    MUMBAI: Come the IPL in end March 2020, and Hotstar subscribers will be able to get access to the Disney+  app which has managed to attract 28.6 million subscribers in a short period since launch last year.

    Speaking at an investor earnings conference call after announcing the first quarter results ending 28 December 2019, The Walt Disney Co chairman  & chief executive officer Robert A. Iger said that Disney + will be bundled with Hotstar and sold as a product on 29 March at the beginning of the IPL season.  He refused to reveal the price points it will be launched at, although he acknowledged it will be tailored to the market.

    Said he: “We will be rebranding our existing Hotstar VIP and Premium subscription tiers to Disney Plus Hotstar. Assume that one will be more premium and will include the entire library plus original programming, and the other one will bemore basic that will only have the library and not the original programming. It will be launched at a peak period – that is the IPL cricket league. We will be taking advantage of the presence of Star in the market and the millions of subscribers that they have; we take advantage of the sports tie in. And we will be using the interface and technology that includes the billing that already exists (in Hotstar).  The launch of the service – we believe – (is) under very optimal circumstances.”

    He also told analysts that Disney's next priority is to launch its streaming service in western Europe on 24 March with debuts expected in the UK, France, Germany, Spain Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. Markets like Belgium, the Nordics, and Portugal will follow in the summer. " In December we signed a deal with Canal Plus, the leading pay TV provider in France," he said. "We're currently in talks with several other potential distribution partners throughout the region."

    Iger admitted interest in streaming across the world in international markets is not as high as in the US. “We have a marketing challenge to launch in those markets. Not that those markets have not been seeded with streaming. But we have to yet to launch there,” he said.

    Iger has been accelerating the launch of Disney+ globally, following the rapid uptake of it in the US. Markets like Australia, New Zealand and Peurto Rico followed a week later.

    Earlier expectations were that Disney+ would launch in India after the IPL, and it would launch in Europe much later.

    It may be recalled that Disney APAC president Uday Shankar had, earlier this year, been mandated to steer Hotstar, leaving K. Madhavan in charge of the TV business. Now we know why: to meet the early launch date of Disney+ on Hotstar.

    (updated at 10:19 am)

     

  • THE PASSION AND POWER OF THE IPL

    THE PASSION AND POWER OF THE IPL

    MUMBAI: No other sport generates as much excitement in India as does cricket. No other sport unites a nation of 1.3 billion more than cricket.

    The world’s most popular T20 cricket league – the IPL – also does the same trick, but it takes it to a different level. It splits the nation into several large tribes or cohorts who vociferously root for their individual teams in the hope their support will help their favourite lift the trophy and the prize money after two months of competition. 

    Stadiums wherever the matches are held fill up and an IPL ticket is a much sought after item as fans congregate wearing their team colours, waving pennants, donning wigs and sporting tattoos on their cheeks and foreheads. The roar that fills the air whenever the bowler runs up to deliver a ball is deafening. And it gets even louder when the batsman lofts it out of the ground. Or the leather hits the stumps. The stadium simply explodes.   

    They have a common cause. A common passion:  their love of cricket.

    When it comes to the IPL, age, gender, and time of day don’t matter. Men, women, the old and the young, children stay glued to their television sets. The IPL is the big glue. There were some interesting insights on how more youth are watching IPL during the IPL season than non-cricket content. Friends come together and raise a toast to their respective teams, shouting themselves hoarse either in pubs or restaurants or in the comfort of their homes. Much similarly, families come together and it becomes a part of their day where they huddle together and spend quality time.

    Last year, a leading publication also showcased an interesting infographic that clearly showed viewership of the league amongst women is on the rise, based on Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data.  It reached 85 million women during prime time as compared to 48 million who watch GECs in the same time slot.  They also accounted for 47 per cent of the tournament’s audience, which is sizable though lower than males who make up 53 per cent. A recent study also showed that cricket is the biggest aggregator of women as audience and it has almost 300 million plus reach. This opens doors to various brands and companies who are looking for the right platform for their target groups. 

    The IPL draws in sponsors and advertisers year on year for obviously its large reach.  BARC data reveals that the IPL 2019 season attracted an audience of 462 million on TV with reach going up by 12 per cent. Total viewing was a mind-boggling 338 billion minutes and the OTT platform too attracted 300 million viewers with a peak concurrency of 18.6 million for the final. 

    It’s these reasons why the IPL with its fan craze and passion has proved to be one of the country’s largest marketing platforms. Heads of companies see it as an opportunity to showcase some out-of-the-box advertising, be creative in designing their brand associations and gain all the reach and eyeballs the league delivers. It’s this passion that marketers can capitalise on to make sports fans – and they number hundreds of millions – their brand fans. It makes eminent sense for savvy marketers to use the IPL to launch new brands or extensions, build product categories, as well as roll out salience and sustenance campaigns. 

    The league offers creative and innovative solutions that bring visibility to a brand. One of the better examples of the execution of this is what it did with the RP- Sanjiv Goenka group’s Too Yumm baked snacks campaign during IPL 2018 and IPL 2019. Says Too Yumm chief marketing officer Anupam Bokey : ”Unlike other media, IPL is a very well measured and researched event, which gives the brand great confidence to invest in it,” he reveals. “The league helps the brand to get an accurate ROI, as well as higher recall, compared to other genres”. (for more read: How Too Yumm Hit a Six with the IPL)

    Consider Byju’s. It generates 63 per cent of its ad GRPs from cricket, according to BARC data. The education app came on board as an associate sponsor of IPL 2019. 

    What sense does it make for an education app to partner with a sport? 

    You don’t have to dig too deep to look for the reasons. India and Indians have always had this romance and passion for education.  Both have only intensified recently. In a country that is undergoing drastic changes in terms of a shift towards a modern lifestyle with all the trappings thereof, families view education as a ticket to a high paying job that will help fulfill and achieve those aspirations. Ditto with cricket; it’s a game and a discipline that has captured India’s imagination. 

    Additionally, the blazing competitive nature of cricket requires cricketers to study opponents, improvise and learn new skills all the time, if they want to stay on top of their game. Byju’s aids families to educate their school-going children, helps them learn beyond school and even tool themselves with other skill sets. Hence, an association could only help Byju's. 

    The results showed:  its average daily downloads shot up 90 per cent plus after its IPL association. Research has shown that 95 per cent of those surveyed associate Byju’s with the IPL. 

    Auto industry newcomer MG Motor too successfully used IPL 2019 as a launchpad for the entry of its connected car into India in the competitive luxury sports utility segment. BARC data reveals that it banked heavily on news as a genre from February to the end of March 2019 to generate 50 per cent and 49 per cent of its 212 and 810 ad GRPs. Google Trends reveals that Its search index on the engine was hovering around 10-15 per cent during this period. 

    It shifted its spends almost entirely to sports from 30 March and continued doing so in April, May, June, and July 2019. And of course, a large part of it was on the IPL, followed by the cricket world cup.  It generated ad GRPs of 888, 417, 719 and 514 for those months respectively. But it's Google search index went up nine times over a 30-day average, peaking on 12 May at the time of the IPL final. 

    The impact was felt on MG Motor’s order books too, which jumped up to 20,000 bookings at a time when other brands were witnessing much less. Finally, awareness of the brand rose: it was 3.5 times higher amongst those who associate it with the IPL, leading to an overall improvement in its imagery parameters, according to Kantar Research. 

    Said MG Motor India president & managing director Rajeev Chaba at the time of the launch: “The MG Hector, as India's first internet car, has been built with a high level of localisation and comes power-packed with features, inside-out. As MG's first offering in India, the Hector demonstrates our commitment to provide the best cars to Indian customers, that they love and appreciate.”

    Even simple spot buy associations can work well. Online grocery delivery service Grofers took up this option during the last edition of the IPL.  The net result: it doubled its Google search activity; notched up a 4x increase in app downloads even as daily usage went up 22 per cent, according to data available with indiantelevision.com.  

    “We were normally advertising on Hindi GECs but then we thought that the response on Hindi GEC could have gone down during IPL. So we experimented with IPL with a small burst of advertising. We did get a bump up during that time,” Grofers co-founder AlbinderDhindsa had expressed to a publication sometime back. 

    Nuvoco Vistas Corp’s Duraguard (part of the Karsanbhai Patel-promoted Nirma Ltd) got onto the sponsorship bandwagon. However, it chose to associate as a features partner sponsoring spontaneous pushbacks and Super Sixes. The Super Sixes partnership was the more exciting one as it highlighted batsmen belting the ball out of the ground, no matter how well it was bowled to him. It is craftsmanship from the batsman at its best. The victory of bat over ball. And it’s a piece of content which is always something viewers want to watch. 

    The company has three principal cement brands—Duraguard, Duraguard Microfiber and Concrete. The objective of the IPL association was to raise awareness and recognition for the cement brands it acquired after its purchase of the erstwhile Lafarge India’s assets in 2016.

    And it worked extremely well. Search on Google for Duraguard went up by 30 per cent, and total awareness for it went up 3.4 times in research conducted in an exposed versus a controlled group. 

    The IPL is a big celebration because it demands the attention of this diverse nation. For its viewers, it's the perfect marketing platform and an opportunity for brands to connect with these audiences and convert them into brand fans. Various kinds of brands from FMCG to automobiles and fashion to electronics, everyone is a fan of this cricketing bonanza; and with the growing viewership in men, women, youth and the elderly – the league is only getting bigger. The passion for the sport and the brands, is what the power of IPL is all about!

    With the countdown to this year’s edition commencing, almost everyone is looking forward to another winning inning for the league once again

  • How Too Yumm hit a six with the IPL

    How Too Yumm hit a six with the IPL

    MUMBAI: Bang for the buck. That’s what brand and marketing managers look for whenever they put their money behind an event. And one such property that has been gaining marketers’ interest over the years is the Indian Premier League (IPL).

    One of the largest marketing platforms in the country, the league has witnessed some stellar cricket and legends make their mark in the game. While this happened on the field, players also made a mark off the field. No. Not the cricketers, we’re talking about brands. With creativity and innovation, brands have made a mark and left a legacy year on year with some outstanding advertising. But there exists a myth. The general perception is that while the IPL is a great marketing platform, only brands with deep pockets can partner or associate with it. But we have seen brands like Byju's, PayTM, Vivo, Asian Paints, Dream 11 take pole advertising and sponsorship positions over the past few years both on-ground and broadcast. We also came across a few brands that have found creative ways to bring alive their brand’s proposition and partner with the IPL. One such brand is Too Yumm and its association with the IPL as the ‘Fall of Wickets’ partner on broadcast.

    Too Yumm – an FMCG brand from the RP-Sanjiv Goenka group stable – came on board as a Features Partner ‘Fall of Wickets Partner’ on live television.

    It was launched three years ago as a low-calorie option under group company GuiltFree Industries for those who love snacking but abstain from doing so for health reasons. Chairman Sanjiv Goenka at that time had said the group would be investing around Rs 10,000 crore over the next five-six years to get the brand to a Rs 6,500 crore turnover.

    It made its debut in the highly competitive Rs 28,000 crore plus national snacking market where heavyweights such as Pepsico’s Lay’s and Kurkure, DFM Foods, Bikanervala, ITC’s Bingo, Pratap Snacks’ Yellow Diamond, Parle, Haldirams, and Balaji dominate.  Adding to that is the plethora of small-scale branded and unbranded unorganised regional and local players that also find custom.

    Too Yumm’s differentiated brand promise was – and is – that its snacks are baked and not fried and have 40 per cent less fat than the existing fried snacks brands.

    For year one, GuiltFree spent on traditional media apart from expanding its distribution. But in year two it decided to diversify its budget and put some of it on IPL and its feature.

    Too Yumm creatively married its brand proposition of ‘Fried Snacks Out, Too Yumm In’ in moments where there was a fall of a wicket in the match. The branding came alive during these moments on TV and was visually appealing as well. Every time a player got out, his lonely trudge back to the pavilion would be boxed in the horizontal and vertical L and Aston bands with Too Yumm branding and taglines “Fried snacks out, Too Yumm in” and “Fried Snacks Ko Karo Life se Out”. The brand also used innovative hashtags to capture these moments on social media. The more the wickets that fell, the greater the exposure the brand got. Additionally, Too Yumm also resorted to spot buys during the IPL to the extent its budget allowed.

    “Too Yumm being a guilt-free snacking brand, it can be munched on while being engrossed in a nail-biting match and the fall of wicket feature, which is sticky,  helped us to give a strong reminder about the brand to the viewers,” says Too Yumm chief marketing officer Anupam Bokey. “With the campaign #OneGoneNextOn, we wanted to create a brand proposition that snacking with Too Yumm is good. Generally, any match would give us an opportunity of at least 10-12 wickets falling and during which we tried to do moment marketing.”

    The group had also signed on Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador. Kohli – a fitness fanatic – had discontinued his association with PepsiCo – a year before signing up with Too Yumm  – as he did not want to promote colas anymore.

    “The Indian captain is somebody who walks the talk. So there’s a lot of credibility when he says something and consumers and fans are more likely to accept it,” says Bokey.

    He adds, “The combination of celebrity sportsman as an endorser and association with the IPL uplifted the brand to get recognition. The objective of being associated with the IPL in the first year was to create brand awareness along with the launch of a new product Multigrain Chips. In the following edition, we supported the campaign #SayNoToFriedSnacks that was launched at Kumbh Mela a month earlier, where Too Yumm became the very first brand to get a Guinness Book of World Record at Kumbh.”

    The launch of Multigrain Chips was done through a one-minute ad spot during the strategic time out in the match between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab on 20 May 2018. It showed Kohli doing the unthinkable – munching on chips – but it was revealed that he was actually munching the healthy ‘Multigrain Chips’  of Too Yumm.

    Bokey points out that the IPL generated very high engagement and active viewership in a very short period of time, as there were matches every day during the tournament between April and May. According to him, Too Yumm’s metro awareness has been growing – from 13 per cent pre-IPL 2018 to over 70 per cent with 2019 IPL.

    The IPL association makes eminent sense for other reasons too: the brand fit.

    The IPL is about super-fit cricketers and their teams battling it out on the green to gain supremacy in arguably the world’s most exciting sporting league. And Too Yumm is all about healthy safe snacks for all those who are fitness-minded and yet want to munch some baked items during the day. Since launch, its product range has expanded to cover quinoa puffs, veggie stix, foxnuts, multigrain chips, and Karare.

    Bokey believes that no other platform gives as much reach as the IPL. “It gives a lot of leverage, especially with viewership numbers, generating a combined reach of over 800 million that includes Hotstar and other vernacular commentary channels,” he says.

    He swears by the association, despite the fact that it comes at a stiff price tag. “Unlike other media, IPL is a very well measured and researched event, which gives the brand great confidence to invest in it,” he reveals. “The league helps the brand to get an accurate ROI, as well as higher recall compared to other genres.”

    Of course the brand proposition, quality of idea and integration and the creative executions need to be exceptional to leverage the platform well.

    He cites Hansa Research data, which shows that Too Yumm had the second-best ‘Recall Return on Investment (r-ROI) in the 2019 IPL.

    No wonder the company parks around 15-20 per cent of its ad spend on sports, including the IPL. “Cricket – being a religion in India – creates appropriate traction for brands and we, being a smaller enterprise, have used it for the past two years and have been delighted with the relationship,” ends Bokey.

  • Mobile Premier League and Indian Cricket Captain Virat Kohli renew association

    Mobile Premier League and Indian Cricket Captain Virat Kohli renew association

    Bangalore: India’s biggest mobile gaming and skill monetisation platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) and Indian Cricket Captain Virat Kohli have renewed their association for another year. Kohli will continue to represent and endorse the brand across channels.

    MPL had first teamed up with Kohli early in 2019, releasing video campaigns with the charismatic cricketer ahead of and during the Indian Premier League (IPL). Since then, MPL has garnered a registered user base of 32 million and over 5 billion gameplays have been clocked on the platform. Recently, MPL also released a digital video campaign that went viral, where Kohli met and interacted with the top users of the MPL platform for a day in Mumbai.

    With its focus on skill-based gaming and exhaustive cricket game collection across formats like Fantasy, Predictions, virtual games of skill, MPL is glad to continue to have Kohli on board as the Cricketer personifies skill, hard work, and youthful determination.

    “I am happy to announce that I have renewed my association with Mobile Premier League (MPL). In just over a year, I have seen this young Indian startup grow and reach fans across India. I look forward to supporting them in achieving their goal of being the number one gaming company in India," said Virat Kohli, Captain of the Indian Cricket team. Jogesh Lulla, COO, Cornerstone Sports, which manages Mr. Kohli added “MPL is a young company with exceptional leadership and are on track to become the largest e-sports platform. Our partnership thus far has been fantastic and we look forward to helping them grow from strength to strength along with Virat."

    “We are honored and privileged to have Virat continue his association with the MPL family. With his love and support, we have started to march towards our goal of democratising esports and skill monetisation across India. Virat, his persona, and his positivity resonates across our youth, and along with him, we are looking forward to doing our bit to empower the immensely large talent pool in our country,” said Sai Srinivas, Co-Founder and CEO, MPL.

  • Hotstar decodes the online video consumer, unveils India Watch Report 2019

    Hotstar decodes the online video consumer, unveils India Watch Report 2019

    MUMBAI: Technology changes swiftly. However, sometimes, the market receptiveness for these changes is even faster. Take for instance some of the revelatory insights thrown by the latest ‘India Watch’ report by Hotstar. Consider the fact that Technology changes swiftly. However, sometimes, the market receptiveness for these changes is even faster. Take for instance some of the revelatory insights thrown by the latest ‘India Watch’ report by Hotstar. Consider the fact that Lucknow, Pune and Patna consume more video data than Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata., Pune and Patna consume more video data than Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Or the fact that OTT is no longer a men’s club, as much as 45 per cent of total entertainment consumption at Hotstarcomes from women.

    Similarly, Bihar and Bengal, two of India’s most poor states in per capita income, are leading the country when it comes to per capita data consumption and are much ahead of more industrialised and urban states like Maharashtra and Delhi. And, Kanpur and Kochi are ahead of Mumbai and Bengaluru when it comes to binge watching during late hours. The India Watch 2019 by Hotstarreport busts many such assumptions about the OTT market in India.

    “Video entertainment ecosystems have rarely evolved fasterthan what we are witnessing in India. With affordable
    smartphones and abundant access to data, the small screen isbecoming the preferred medium of entertainment for newconsumers. Thefuture is exciting – for consumers, for marketers, and forcontent platforms,” The Walt Disney Company APAC Chairman, Star & Disney India, Uday Shankar said in a foreword to the report. 

    The report also chronicles Hotstar’s amazing journey to becoming India’s largest premium streaming platform by viewership.Launched in 2015, Hotstar, with 400 Mn+ downloads, is already one of the most downloaded apps in India, registering 2X installs and 3X growth in consumption this year as compared to 2018. This growth catalyses from Hotstar's endeavors in taking digital video consumption to new frontiers, where non-metros are outstripping metros in terms of video consumption and regional content has grown to account for 40 per cent of overall content consumption.

    The big Cricketgamble.

    In September 2017, Star India (Hotstar’s erstwhile parent company) trumped Facebook, Reliance Jio, Sony and Bharti Airtel, and won broadcast rights for IPL for whopping Rs 16,347.50 crore for the next five years. That bet has largely paid off.

    How sports streaming in general, and IPL in particular, have helped Hotstar in achieving subscriber growth not even imagined by other OTT platforms, is clear by live streaming viewership growth on Hotstar.

    During IPL 2017, Hotstar recorded 4.5 million concurrent viewers. For IPL 2018, this number was 10.3 million. In 2019, Hotstar recorded 18.6 million concurrent viewers during IPL and 25.3 million concurrent viewers during ICC 2019 Cricket World Cup.

    Live streaming sporting events like IPL has not only helped Hotstargrow its subscriber base, but such events also provide better advertising options on the platform. Brands like Swiggy and Coca Cola ran integrated ad campaigns on Cricketing and IPL themes during this IPL season and the report talks in detail about how these brands were able to leverage IPL popularity for their brand marketing. 

    Talking about advertising oppurtunities during live events, Shankar said: “Sharp customer insights and deeper customerengagement, when powered by enhanced technologicalcapabilities, will open new possibilities for marketers, whocan now run targeted marketing campaigns at scale duringlive events.”

    During VIVO IPL 2019, 64 million viewers also participated in Watch ‘N Play, twice as many as last year.

    The contribution of live streaming sporting events on Hotstar can be gauged from the fact that in 2019, as much as 42 % of all content consumed on Hotstar was sports related while 58 per cent was in the genres of entertainment and news (despite the surge during general elections).

    Outdated gender stereotypes

    any OTT audience measurement reports have underlined how the platform is heavily skewed towards male audience. The Ormax Media report, released last month in November, found that as much as 66 per cent OTT viewers are male. The India Watch report, however, throws interesting figures.

    Not only are female viewers growing, at least on Hotstar, but there is a growing overlap of content choices among males and females on OTT space. In 2019, as much as 45 per cent of Hotstar viewership were women.

    Besides, the report finds that video consumption by women on Hotstar increased by 3.2 X timesin 2019, outpacing the growth in video consumption among men.

    Further, 40 per cent viewers of family drama shows on Hotstar are women. And men are more interested in mythology than women and 41 per cent of Game of Thrones viewers also watched Hindi family dramas.

    Hotstar EVP & Chief Product Officer Varun Narang said, “The accelerated growth of the Indian video entertainment ecosystem has had an unprecedented impact on the consumer. Today, the Indian consumer enjoys a plethora of content to choose from, has moved beyond metro cities, and isn’t limited by gender or language. More importantly, this growing accessibility has opened doors to new thoughts and ideas that are shaping a stereotype-defying consumer.”

    Regional leads the way

    The report finds that more than 40 per cent video consumption came from regional content. Tamil, Telugu and Bengali are the top regional languages. In fact, Bigg Boss Tamil is the highest watched entertainment show having beaten all the Hindi TV Shows.

    New ways to news

    Another genre witnessing huge growth in video consumption is news. 2019, being the general election year. Hotstar recorded 10 times more video consumption in news genres in 2019 compared to last year. Further, 65 per cent of news consumption comes from people in the age group of 15-34.

    The report is an important addition to the existing knowledge gap about OTT audience in India and will certainly provide new insights to marketers and content creators. 
     

  • Star India’s FY19 losses widen due to IPL

    Star India’s FY19 losses widen due to IPL

    MUMBAI: Star India’s bet with the Indian Premier League (IPL) seems to have made a dent in its pocket for the financial year ending March 2019. The company reported a loss of Rs 1216.13 crore as against a profit of Rs 287.69 crore a year ago, according to a report by Economic Times.

    Star India booked IPL expenses of Rs 4000 crore. Even though the company’s revenue increased by 35 per cent, it was hit by the IPL expenses.

    Economic Times also quoted a Tofler report which indicated that Star India’s total revenue from operations was Rs 12,314 crore in FY19 which was Rs 9149 crore a year ago. Ad revenue was up by 49 per cent while distribution revenue saw a hike of 9 per cent.

    The total expenditure was up by 58 per cent, mainly due to a 66 per cent increase in programming and operating cost, 34 per cent higher employee cost and 57 per cent hike in marketing cost.  While the company has high hopes from the future of Hotstar, currently it also contributed to the losses. IT reported a net loss of Rs 558.38 crore showing revenue of Rs 1112.74 crore.

    FY2019 was also the first year when Star India had both TV and digital rights to the IPL.

    As if this wasn’t enough, Star India also took a hit in its regional business. It saw a 9 per cent drop in net profit from Rs 298.22 crore to Rs 271.85 crore. The regional business revenue was up by 11 per cent touching Rs 1445.10 crore.

    The company recently saw the exit of managing editor Sanjay Gupta, who has moved on to Google India.

  • Fabindia’s association with IPL helped the brand record 40-50% growth

    Fabindia’s association with IPL helped the brand record 40-50% growth

    MUMBAI: While retailers across the country have been facing a decreased footfall in the stores, Fabindia’s partnership with the Indian Premier League this year helped it record a growth of up to 50 per cent. For a brand, that had never advertised on television before, this association with the big-ticket event, which was aired on Star’s sports channels, across 8 languages, proved out to be a fine first move.

    As style partner for the exciting season of cricket, Fabindia styled more than 100 on air cricket experts in over 1000 designs from their menswear collection, as they discussed the game on air. This activity not only gave them 229 hours of brand exposure but also a 96 per cent increase in sponsorship awareness. 

    Fabindia CMO Karan Kumar said, “Post-IPL, we had an increase in footfalls and conversions in the menswear range. We recorded a growth of 40-50 per cent over the same period last year.”

    The activity also helped the brand gain a 22 per cent uplift in Google searches. 

    Brand-nomics’ Viren Razdan noted that IPL is an attractive destination but a crowded space with its own rules of play. However, Fabindia’s tactical approach did good for the brand in aiding its awareness of men’s occasion wear, which had been fairly low before the association, despite it being a powerful brand. 

    He said, “FabIndia is a powerful brand but its association/awareness of men’s  occasion wear has been fairly low, so a partnership gives them a cut through the clutter IPL’s eyeball strength is very high"

    While sponsorships like these might come out as a costly proposition, the return on investment has been spectacular for Fabindia, which got widespread popularity among the masses with strategic placement of brand visibility during the game. 

    Karan Kumar added, “We cracked a concept that was both innovative and cost-effective to showcase our comprehensive indo-western men’s range with the help of cricket.”

  • Duff & Phelps launches IPL brand valuation report 2019

    Duff & Phelps launches IPL brand valuation report 2019

    MUMBAI: Duff & Phelps, the global advisor that protects, restores and maximizes value for clients, today announced findings from its IPL Brand Valuation Report 2019, a comprehensive study on brand values in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

    The findings of the sixth edition of Duff & Phelps’ annual IPL study suggest an increase in the overall value of the IPL ecosystem from US$6.3 billion in 2018to US$6.8billion in 2019, a growth of 7% after considering currency fluctuations. In INR terms, the IPL ecosystem value increased by approximately 13.5% from INR 41,800crores to INR 47,500 crores, underpinned by the continued confidenceadvertisers, broadcasters, sponsors, affiliates, partners and viewers have shown in the IPL.The individual franchisee brands saw mixed fortunes, with their brand values increasing or decreasing in close correlation with their on-field performances. 

    Varun Gupta, Asia Pacific Leader for Valuation Advisory Services and India Country Leader, Duff & Phelps, said, “Our IPL brand values report reflects the evolution of the modern cricket business paradigm. As we move into the second decade of IPL, the league has transitioned from being a startup to being a more mature, stable and profitable business.An increase of 20% in advertising revenues this year and the recently renewed PayTM title sponsorship deal (which has fetched an increase of 58% on a per-match basis over the last deal)are testaments to the continued popularity of IPL. This has resulted in a steady increase in the value of the ecosystem (which grew by 13.5% in INR terms). However, for growth trajectories to maintain their momentum, all teams need to focus on their on-field performance while continuing to broaden their footprint, forge relationships and generate revenue opportunities in growth markets.”

    Santosh. N, Managing Partner, D and PIndia Advisory ServicesLLP,a member of the Duff & Phelps network, said, “This year, Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), continued their absolute dominance with MI winning their fourth IPL title. Their consistent on-field performance has made them fulfil the dreams of their sponsors and advertisers resulting in a year-on-year increase in their brand value. On the contrary, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have shed some of their brand value this year demonstrating thatbig city bases and marquee players are not the only factors influencing brand value; consistent performance on the field also matters.”

    Among franchises, MI, with a brand value of INR 809 crore up by almost 8.5% from last year, continues to top the charts for the fourth season in a row. CSK has seen a massive gain of 13.1% in its brand value to INR 732 crore, propelling the team to the No.2 spot in our brand rankings. Though CSK saw its brand value erode due to the two-year ban imposed on it, it seems to have recovered on the back of continued on-field success coupled with a pan-India ferventfan base and Dhoni’s charisma.

    KKR and RCB have seen their brand value erode primarily on account of their below-par on-field performances, with both franchises shedding approximately 8% of their brand value. However, both continue to be backed by loyal fan bases and the presence of Shah Rukh Khan and Virat Kohli respectively, who continue to carry each brand on their shoulders.This is particularly so for RCB, who if not for Virat Kohli, would have seen a significant erosion in its brand value in the last couple of years. 
    Sunrisers Hyderabad, the youngest franchisee in IPL, has made steady gains over the years in terms of its brand value while Delhi Capitals, on the back of its on-field performances this season, saw an appreciation of 9% to its brand values.