ITV

Tag: IPL2018

  • DDB Mudra Group creates a new rally cry for team KKR

    DDB Mudra Group creates a new rally cry for team KKR

    MUMBAI: The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is a franchise cricket team representing the city of Kolkata (West Bengal) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team, defined by its ‘Korbo, lorbo, jeetbo’ (Play, Fight, Win) spirit has won the championship trophy twice. At the IPL 2018, the team has already drawn first blood in its match against Royal Challenger Bangalore (RCB) and then against Delhi Daredevils (DD).

    Created by the DDB Mudra Group, KKR’s latest anthem #KKRHaiTaiyaar (KKR is ready) shows the city and its die-hard fans gearing up for the 2018 IPL season. Featuring Bollywood celebrity and team owner Shahrukh Khan, the anthem has been crafted to give KKR and its fan-base a distinct, symbolic action in the form of a fist pump, which has the potential to become a ritual during every KKR match. The lyrics give the team’s decade-long war cry – ‘Karbo, lorbo, jeetbo’ a new spin, resulting in an anthem that fans – both old and new, can connect with. 

    Kolkata Knight Riders MD and CEO Venky Mysore says, “Every year our marketing embarks on a research and insight-backed exercise that aims to find the pulse of our fans to arrive at a tagline that rings most true to KKR. This year, along with the creative team at the DDB Mudra Group, the team has come up with #KKRHaiTaiyaar; which truly signifies the mood at our camp.”

    The anthem boldly challenges KKR’s opponents to watch out as the team sets out to destroy every challenge in its path to becoming champions again. The visual representation and the music composition of the anthem captures the pride and passion that drives everyone associated with KKR  – right from the players, to the coaching staff, the groundskeeper, the bat-maker , etc., along with the millions of supporters that live and breathe for the team.

    DDB Mudra Group national creative director Rahul Mathew adds, “KKR has always prided itself on being more than just a team. KKR is an attitude. And you see this attitude in every aspect of their game; be it the auction, the training, the selection, the strategy, the execution of it, their victories and even their losses. Which is why, the KKR fan base spills far and wide outside of Kolkata. Because while Kolkata maybe in the name, the spirit of the Knight Riders is something everyone relates to. It’s this very spirit and attitude that we’ve captured in the work and in our call to arms #KKRHaiTaiyaar.”

    Backed by a strong media strategy, the campaign is being showcased across television channels, radio, digital and print. In the print campaign, the players are shown coming out of moulds, to emphasise their readiness. On the digital medium, the anthem has more than 1.9 million views and 21K shares on the brand’s Facebook page alone, since its launch on 6 April 2018.

  • Star to share select IPL matches with DD with an hour’s delay

    Star to share select IPL matches with DD with an hour’s delay

    MUMBAI: For the first time in the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) history, one of the biggest cricketing bonanzas in the world will be aired by India’s public broadcaster Doordarshan too. But there’s a catch. Rightful broadcast rights holder Star India and DD have mutually agreed that select matches out of the 60-odd ones to be played this season will get aired on the pubcaster’s channel with an hour’s delay.

    Asked specifically by Indiantelevision.com on the sidelines of an event here on Thursday, Star India chairman and CEO Uday Shankar said, “We will share with DD some highlights and one match every Sunday, apart from select other ones. It’s good for IPL that new audiences (not subscribing to pay TV) will get to sample it.”

    According to Shankar, who’s riding a wave of cricket broadcast rights and other successes, Star India will share with DD select matches of the 11th edition of the IPL in 2018 that the pubcaster will air with a delay of 60 minutes. What does it mean? If an IPL match starts at 8 pm, for instance, DD will start airing it 9 pm onwards.

    Asked as to why Star, which won the IPL global broadcast rights last year for a period of five years, is willing to share matches with the pubcaster that can probably have advertising revenue implications, Shankar said, “Its more in the nature of providing sampling opportunities to people who don’t have access to pay TV. It’s a mutual agreement [and] if we were not comfortable, we wouldn’t have shared the delayed feed also.”

    Though Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani tweeted about the IPL matches to be aired on DD sometime early evening Thursday quoting a media report, Prasar Bharati’s Twitter handle later expanded on the actual deal to say, “To bring Vivo IPL 2018 to a wider audience, Star TV has agreed to share with Prasar Bharati select matches on a one hour deferred live basis with 50-50 revenue sharing.”

    Indiantelevision.com also learns from industry and government sources that the as per the Star-Prasar Bharati deal, the matches to be aired on DD will also include the opener, the play-offs and the final. The 2018 edition of the cash-rich league will feature 12 matches that will be played at 4 pm and 48 matches that will start at 8 pm. According to details available, the matches will be played at nine venues over 51 days starting 7 April 2018.

    Though Star was not forthcoming on the issue, Indiantelevision.com also learns from industry sources that DD will do the ad-sales and marketing of the matches to be aired on pubcaster’s TV channel and share the revenue with the rights holder in the ratio of 50:50. Star, while quoting government norms on mandatory sharing of sporting events with DD, earlier had pushed for a revenue share in the ratio of 75:25 in its favour.

    For several months, officials of the MIB and Prasar Bharati and executives of Star India were locked in a series of hard bargaining over the finer details of match sharing with the pubcaster. Even as the finer points of sharing were being negotiated, the Indian cricket board wrote a letter to the MIB two days back expressing concerns over various government nods not forthcoming needed to telecast IPL matches live. The MIB has given its nod for temporary live uplinking of the IPL’s 11th edition, whose inaugural ceremony will be held on 6 April 2018.

    In September last year, Star India had won the global television and digital rights to IPL for the next five seasons for approximately $ 2.5 billion or Rs 16,347.50 crore. Until 2017, Sony Pictures Networks India had held the television broadcasting rights of IPL for 10 years (since 2008).

    Also Read :

    Star India beats Sony, Jio to win media rights for BCCI’s home matches

    IPL 2018 gets a makeover with Star India

    Comment: Does Star stand to gain or lose by sharing IPL with DD?

    Star’s Uday Shankar on distribution challenges, IPL, FTA vs. pay TV, innovations, Made in India content…and much more

  • WROGN, IMARA are official lifestyle partners for RCB in IPL 11

    WROGN, IMARA are official lifestyle partners for RCB in IPL 11

    MUMBAI: Universal Sportsbiz Pvt Ltd (USPL) has announced that WROGN and IMARA will be the official lifestyle partners for team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the Bangalore based franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for its eleventh edition.

    WROGN fashion will add the right style to the RCB team with the squad sporting WROGN’s trendy and quirky designs off the field, and sporting the WROGN logo on their caps and helmets when in action on the field. At home ground, WROGN’s funky in-stadia branding will add colour and enhance the vibrant and lively atmosphere during the matches.

    IMARA, a contemporary interpretation of the conventional with a refreshing take on ethnic designs, will be the first women’s fashion brand to be an official lifestyle partner for a team in this edition.

    USPL founder Anjana Reddy says, “We are delighted that this season, two of our fashion brands, WROGN and IMARA are associating with team RCB, and we wish RCB all success as they #PLAYBOLD at T20 this season! This will give fans and our customers the opportunity to engage with the team and watch them in action!”

    Commenting on the growth in female viewership in the recent past, she adds “There has been a global increase in female viewership for sports events. In India too, women and children comprise a significant portion of the viewership pie, especially in T20, with a high entertainment quotient. The T20 matches have seen a significant growth in female viewership year on year with last year’s edition having 45 per cent of its viewers as females. IMARA is the first women’s brand in the country to be an official lifestyle partner for a team in the IPL, and Jacqueline Fernandez’s energy and youthfulness combined with her definitive fashion sense and incredible connect with fans will definitely add to the collaboration.”

    The two brands have comprehensive plans to engage and interact with RCB fans and customers at their outlets across the country. The association will be promoted across digital properties of RCB, WROGN and IMARA including the official websites and social media channels. Customers will also have the opportunity to get tickets to RCB matches on shopping either online or in stores.

    Excited about the association, RCB chairman Amrit Thomas believes that RCB supporters will appreciate the opportunities to get tickets to RCB matches on shopping either online or in stores, and to engage and interact with the team.

    Last season, the T20 matches had achieved a 24 per cent jump in television and digital viewership as compared to ningh edition. The average impressions per match stood at 21.18 million as against 17.11 million in 2016. This year, the player auction itself received a record viewership of 46.5 million on television that was six times more than last year, and digital viewership five times more. This season, the T20 matches are expected to see record viewership of about 30 million average viewership per match.

  • IPL 2018 gets a makeover with Star India

    IPL 2018 gets a makeover with Star India

    MUMBAI: IPL 2018 not only has a new destination channel but has changes that have been requested and accepted for the first time.

    It all started in September 2017 when Star India won the global IPL media rights for Rs 16,347 crore for the span of five years (2018-22). This is the first time when both the TV and digital rights are with a single broadcaster, which will result in the simulcast of the game without the groaning five-minute delay.

    For the first time, IPL will be live on 10 channels and Hotstar. On the digital platform, VR will be a key differentiator and will possibly help Hotstar to keep the fans glued on to it.

    For the previous seasons, Sony Pictures Network was airing IPL in two languages Hindi and English on Sony Six, Sony Max and their HD feeds. But Star is planning to telecast it in six different languages English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Kannada. The Kannada channel was still in the works some weeks ago.

    Star India recently managed to convince the IPL governing council (GC) to change the timings for the games of the league being held from 7 April to 27 May 2018. The 8 pm game will now begin at 7 pm while the 4 pm game has been pushed forward to 5:30 pm.

    Mumbai Indians co-owner Akash Ambani said that the time change will impact the team. “For us it is tough. Because people of Bombay work till 6:30-7 pm. It’s going to be impossible making it to a game at 7 pm. You are impacting the revenue. You are impacting the audience coming there. So we are objecting to that,” he said to Cricbuzz.com.

    IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla told Indiantelevision.com, “We have received the letter from Mumbai Indians. We haven’t taken any decision yet and it will be confirmed shortly.” But a week ago he confirmed to Indiantelevision.com that the timings have been changed.

    IPL 2018 will see mid-season transfer after seven games. The players who were not included in the playing 11 can opt for their mid-season transfer to other franchisees.

    The IPL GC announced that each IPL franchise can retain a maximum of five players from their respective current squads. Of the five players, a franchise can retain a maximum of three players through retention in lead up to the auction, and a maximum of three players through the right-to-match card during the auction. The other restrictions on player retention are: a maximum of three capped Indian players can be retained, and only two overseas players and two uncapped Indian players can be retained. For the first time, the player retention event was aired on TV and digital. The event was watched by 8.1 million people across the country.

    The salary cap for each team for the 2018 season has been increased from Rs 66 crore to Rs 80 crore (approximately $12.4 million). A franchise will be allowed to spend only Rs 33 crore on retentions ahead of the 2018 IPL auction, leaving it with just Rs 47 crore to spend at the auction.

    The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry is working on a proposal to make IPL available on Doordarshan and has asked the Sports Ministry to weigh in on the matter.

    The move will mean that Star India will have to share the live feed of the tournament with public broadcaster Prasar Bharati under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007. Prasar Bharati runs Doordarshan and All India Radio. For this IPL will have to be categorised as a tournament of national importance at par with events like Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Wimbledon.

    Star India, for the first time, has also thought of starting international fan parks for the IPL and cricket lovers around the globe. Fan Parks were launched in 2015, initially in 16 cities. The 2017 edition of the Fan Park was held in 36 cities in 21 states, bringing fans across the length and breadth of India closer to their beloved sport. These included 14 new cities, like Bhubaneswar, Bareilly, Kochi, Ludhiana, Tumkur and Nagercoil which hosted the Fan Park for the first time.

    For the first time, fans were given a chance to vote for their favourite players on vivoiplelection.hotstar.com as a part of the ‘Election se Selection’ campaign on the network. The campaign, according to Star India MD Sanjay Gupta, received more than one lakh votes in less than 12 hours of its launch. Ajinkya Rahane and Krunal Pandya emerged as fan favourites after the final voting count before the auctions.

    Also read:

    Star ushers in IPL’s new era with a bang

    IPL auction: Gayle to play for KXIP, Unadkat most expensive Indian player

    Star India gets IPL to change match timings for 11th edition