ITV

Tag: Kedar Tenny

  • SPN’s digital play for the FIFA World Cup

    SPN’s digital play for the FIFA World Cup

    Mumbai: In a bid to offer consumers a world-class sporting experience, Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) has pulled out all stops for their coverage of the FIFA World Cup. After launching the ‘meri doosri country’ promotional campaign, the company has now planned a major digital push for the showpiece event.

    The strategy for the digital telecast on SonyLIV, SPN’s OTT platform, has been crafted around three key elements – language, data and consumer participation.

    “The football is an involved fan. We have designed our coverage keeping in mind dedicated football fans. So, stats and data are an important part of our offering.” SPN, EVP and head of digital business, Uday Sodhi tells Indiantelevision.com.

    The ‘Match Centre’ will offer viewers live scores, commentary, match information and stats alongside the live match telecast. This feature is aimed at engaging dedicated football fans. Four language options – English, Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam – will be available on SonyLIV, something that’s never been done before.

    SPN’s consumer participation will rely on a second screen experience. With guests in the studio, the plan is to marry  digital offerings with the TV coverage. This will enable fans to comment on the match and the experts’ opinions, make predictions and participate in polls and contests during and before the match.

    Ahead of the World Cup, SonyLIV launched a ‘Super Sports’ pack for Rs 199 for 6 months. Paid subscribers will have access to live matches behind a pay-wall, while free subscribers’ feed will be ad-supported with a five-minute delay.

    A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study deduced that India’s OTT video market will be among the world’s top ten by 2022. Star India’s OTT platform, Hotstar, breached the 10 million impressions mark during the Indian Premier League final. Given the high consumption of digital video and the formidable FIFA brand, all eyes will be on the numbers SonyLIV delivers.

    Sodhi expects between 4 to 5 crore consumers to use the platform during the quadrennial extravaganza.

    “Unlike 2014, this edition will be telecast at India prime time. In fact, I think it’s been eight years since the FIFA World Cup was telecast at timings that are convenient for Indian viewers,” he says.

    Sodhi has been instrumental in building the SonyLIV platform into a credible destination for sports fans. The experience of successfully working on big-ticket FIFA and UEFA events has helped prep the SPN team for the 2018 World Cup.

    Given the proliferation of digital video and scale of the event, does he have any concerns about robustness of the platform?

    “Football has steady viewership through the match unlike cricket, which peaks at crucial moments. We are not worried about the scale. We did big numbers during the India-South Africa cricket series. There is no problem on that front,” Sodhi says confidently.

    SonlyLIV’s digital coverage will also be available on its partner platforms like Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire among others.

    In terms of size, scope and stage, the FIFA World Cup is the apex of global sporting competition. The 2018 edition could be seen as a test case for the potential of the OTT market in India. How the digital strategy of SPN plays out eventually and the response from the consumers will offer crucial insights and lessons to all the stakeholders going forward.

  • Sony bets big on 2018 FIFA World Cup

    Sony bets big on 2018 FIFA World Cup

    MUMBAI: With the 2018 FIFA World Cup set to kick off on June 14, Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) is gearing up for the company’s most-anticipated event of the year. Banking on the rising popularity of football in India, the formidable FIFA brand and a viral ad campaign, the sports cluster of Sony Pictures is aiming to double up its viewership this year.

    While the football viewership in India on the rise, FIFA events tend to enjoy a further spike in the television rating as they draw both fans and fringe-viewers to the screens. In a bid to heighten the excitement around this edition of the World Cup, Sony has opted for a fan-centric campaign instead of a player-centric one.

    “When we looked at data, we saw that there is a football audience and there is a FIFA audience, wherein the FIFA audience is far greater than football audience. People follow FIFA since we don’t have our own country’s participation it and it was a challenge to drive communication around it,” says Sony Pictures Networks senior VP of marketing and OAP of sports Kedar Teny.

    Titled ‘Meri Doosri Country’, the campaign aims to encourage Indian fans to cheer for an ‘adopted’ country. The campaign idea took shape over a cup of coffee between Sony and agency Culture Machine. Sony was clear about what it wanted – a campaign that goes beyond clichés of football to make it relevant for the fans.

    While Sony was part of the creative process, it did not interfere with the creative freedom of the agency.

    The campaign was shot at various locations in Mumbai, Kolkata and Goa and an enormous cast of over 800+ actors. Interestingly, the last (closing) shot itself featured over 300 people.

    The campaign has adopted a 360-degree approach and is spread across TV, digital, print, and radio and will be telecasted in English, Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam.

    The world feed in English will be on SONY TEN 2 SD and HD channels, the Hindi feed will be aired on SONY TEN 3 SD and HD channels while Bengali and Malayalam feed will be available on SONY ESPN SD channel.

    The company is aggressively advertising and marketing the tournament on television and various digital platforms. Soon after launching the first campaign, Sony has launched a series of short format content on television and digital.

    Sony’s partnership with FIFA has been a successful one, claims the network. Some of their previous collaborations with the world football’s governing body include the 2014 FIFA World Cup, FIFA U-17 WC India, FIFA Confederates Cup, FIFA U-20 World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup.

    “The association with FIFA has been good for business for Sony Pictures Networks. Our viewership numbers have exceeded our expectations in all events and we are extremely proud of our association,” highlights Sony Pictures Sports Networks president of sales and distribution Rajesh Kaul.

    Sony is confident of having a successful tournament. Given the instant success of its promotional campaign, one cannot fault the management for being in a buoyant mood ahead of the showpiece event. Now, all they can hope for is an exciting tournament that will keep the fans glued to their television sets.