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Tag: Pro Kabaddi League

  • The year of improved sports marketing and production

    The year of improved sports marketing and production

    The year 2014 may have seen a few new leagues coming up but cricket very clearly rules the roost both from an on ground and on air perspective.  While gap between cricket and other sports have shortened, it’s still quite significant.  Indian Super League (ISL) has begun well with aggressive marketing and managed to garner eyeballs for Indian football. ISL has also garnered encouraging response from advertisers. For the first time a non-cricket sports has more than six central on ground sponsors.  Though lot of work need to be done in the grass root development of football, it’s been a great beginning considering its first season.

    Moving onto FIFA, the market in India for the sport is growing every four years as can be seen from the last three editions.  We have beaten the benchmarks of 2010 in 2014. It also generated lot of hype that helped garner newer audiences and fan base. Overall football, as a sport is growing and FIFA being the biggest football tournament has managed to score on all counts. The cumulative efforts over the last five to eight years, by  FIFA, European Soccer Leagues and the broadcast community backed by audience desire to see a more local flavor of football has helped in the formation of the ISL. 

    The surprise package of 2014 was the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), a pleasant surprise I must say. It was a league which was very well marketed and packaged with fantastic production value. While everyone thought of Kabaddi as rural sports, it’s quite interesting to see viewership numbers ticking from metros.  Looking forward to season 2 of PKL with a hope that it continues to attract audience and build stickiness.

    Indian Badminton League (IBL) launched in 2013 with top international talent and lot of fan following, missed the show in 2014. Hope to see IBL back with bigger and better show in 2015. The Hockey India League (HIL) also showcased fabulous production quality and packaging. HIL has also managed to grab reasonable response from advertisers till now. Currently with the fabulous winning performance of team India, in 2015 we would like to see a better marketing of HIL to attract and hold audience attention.

    The Champions Tennis League (CTL) and the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) both failed to generate buzz because of lack of marketing efforts. CTL has been a bit disappointing with respect to the production value, while IPTL’s production was world class. Expectations from IPTL were quite high considering the participation of big current stars and legends like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Pete Sampras, Serena Williams etc…. Aspirational and emotional connect with IPTL was very high for the fans who have been following tennis for more than two decades. It was like a dream coming true to see the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Pete Sampras, Serena Williams or even Sania Mirza playing in India. There was high interest in fans to go and see their heroes play live and get to meet them or get a closer glimpse of them.  But would that translate into TV viewership is something we will have to wait and watch. Therefore while CTL’s structure is towards building affinity for tennis as a sport with a hope that more Indian start playing the game. IPTL is clearly going after the experience of getting up and close with the big international stars and ride on their popularity to garner eyeballs. However considering the structure of both leagues, the overall objective of both leagues is little unclear.

    Marketing and production values of these sports have been a key highlight this year.  Sport marketing in India has been ahead of the curve in terms of marketing and production value. Great production values along with a greater thrust on marketing has led to a stronger audience and advertising interaction.

    ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is the biggest sporting event in 2015 and will continue to attract audience in large numbers. The advertising pie will grow and be bigger than 2011 as other sports are still catching up and are in the development phase.

     

    (These are purely personal views of GroupM ESP national director entertainment sports and live events Vinit Karnik and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views)

  • Repucom eyes India’s expansion to a multi sport nation

    Repucom eyes India’s expansion to a multi sport nation

    MUMBAI: The year 2014 has been a wonderful one for sports in India. With a number of sporting leagues starting and big conglomerates putting in their money and muscles to make India a multi sport country, the brands are ready to jump on to the band wagon.

     

    To run the show, finances of a large magnitude, a sustained and reliable inflow of premium information and analytics is of crucial importance  and so is the evaluation to help clubs, teams, franchise owners or sponsors to better understand the returns of sponsorships as well as, provide a frame of reference for future projects and aids in the planning process. However, not all has been and can be evaluated. So, here comes Repucom, a sport marketing research company, which helps find a solution to this.

     

     The research company, with more than 20 offices worldwide and 1000 plus clients, conducts sponsorship evaluation, market research, consultancy, media evaluation and commercial auditing. And keeping an eye on India’s growing sport culture, Repucom is all set to cash-in on the frenzy.

     

    Repucom south Asia senior VP and India director Joseph Eapen says, “India is one of our key country of interest, from a cricket crazy country, now a truly a multi-sport country. From the past seven years, we were providing the sponsorship ROI metrics for cricket – IPL and all homes series; then came HIL, IBL, racing, and this year we are providing the same for Pro Kabaddi League, Indian Super League, running and International Premier Tennis League. So it is an important time and we are on it to quantity the investments.”

    So how is it all done?

     

    The company covers a varied amount of sports research through its various initiatives. It conducts sponsorship evaluation for TV, print and the online space. It arrives at ROI in terms of 100 per cent advertising equivalency and mainly quality index that quantifies the ROI on the basis of the quality of integration with the sport or any branded content. The quality factor it considers is size, duration, position and number of brand hits.

     

    Through social intelligence it picks up drivers of social conversations like the rights holders, the event, the sponsors, the celebrity associated with it or the promotional activities around an event, organic and  otherwise and develop a KPI score card that provides clients insights on a pre-event, weekly, monthly as well as post event basis. In the case of the Hero ISL, it was done on a daily basis.

     

    Through Bespoke Research it utilizes methodologies tailored to the individual requirements of clients. Sports DNA is a sponsorship planning and monitoring tool for clients pursuing an international strategy. According to Eapen, it is the world’s largest multi-client sports study, running consecutively since 2000, allowing high-quality market research via consistent and comparable methodology. It is built upon a twice-yearly survey of over 30 markets worldwide to deliver a wide range of insights globally.

     

    Similarly, Catalyst is a framework that analyses the effectiveness of on-site activation in the context of sponsorships which generates key insights on property engagement and attendee profiling, activation diagnosis and impacts on brands. Currently it is being done for Procam International (for their activations leading to the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon) in 30 plus locations in India.

     

    But the tool which is creating the most buzz is Celebrity DBI. It is an independent index that quantifies and qualifies consumer perceptions of celebrities. The categories of celebrities indexed include actors, athletes, film and TV stars, musical performers, business leaders etc. Subcategory examples include coaches, designers, chefs, politicians. It evaluates celebrities in 13 key markets worldwide like Germany, France, Italy, United States, China, Russia, Australia, Brazil, Japan, India etc.

     

    “It’s the only global celebrity evaluation service designed to provide superior brand-relevant insights. Brands, agencies, rights holders, teams, leagues and other marketers worldwide can measure, compare and leverage the impact of celebrities both locally and globally. The expanded database features more than 5,000,” says Eapen.

     

    In India the company has been working with IMG, Hero, Muthoot, Pepsi, Vodafone, Yes Bank, Star Sports, USL, Garnier Men, Airtel, Standard Chartered, Mahindra, Toyota, Red Bull, Johnnie Walker, Nokia and Panasonic. For branded content it has been working with Idea, L’oreal, Tata tea, Snapdeal, Vodafone, Sunfeast, Maruti, Cornetto, Lux, Oreo and Lenovo.

     

    For the ongoing ISL the company has firehose access to twitter feeds and a special tool to look at Facebook posts, plus uses Crimson Hexagon, Social Bakers and other tools are used by their in-house and global digital team.

     

    It has also been working with broadcasters for their branded content analysis it says it is proud of their association with Viacom18, especially Colors, as they have a contract to provide ROI metrics for all of their branded content.

     

    In the field of cricket the company has been conducting commercial auditing for ICC; as their compliance monitor – policing the broadcast of rights-related content through compliance monitoring helps to ensure that all events, branding and commercial stipulations are adhered to according to contract.

     

    With India now being a key market that is offering a lot of consumption potential for the business of sports, according to Eapen, besides the usual four of gate revenues, sponsorship revenues, media rights and merchandising there is another added factor- the 10+2 ad cap. “This reduction in ad inventory will force brands to look at integration and placement within the content – sport is an ideal platform for this

     

    Talking about the company’s future expansion plans in India, Eapen informs that a lot of growth will happen from the sport sponsorship consultancy services turn knowledge into action. “Our fact-based insight and recommendations allow brands, right holders and agencies to maximise the value of their investments in sport and entertainment” he concludes.

     

  • “Hero ISL will be equivalent to the Barclays Premier League”: Nitin Kukreja

    “Hero ISL will be equivalent to the Barclays Premier League”: Nitin Kukreja

     

    Try naming some of the sports played in India and one will be able to count them on one’s fingers. Cricket will top the list leading to clichés such as ‘India is a cricket obsessed nation’ or ‘cricket is a religion in India’.

     

    Ironically, India’s National Sports Developmental Bill 2013 recognises 66 sports in the country.  

     

    Off late, we are witnessing a rousing appetite for emerging sports from the birth of leagues like the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), World Kabaddi League and the upcoming Hero Indian Super League (ISL).

     

    Star India is one of the broadcasters aiding the growth of a multi-sport ecosystem in India. After the success of the PKL, it is gearing to make the ISL a roaring success too. Leading the sports division is Star India president sports Nitin Kukreja who joined the group in August 2007. With earlier stints at Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Morgan Stanley, the young executive talks about how the broadcaster plans to reach out to multiple sports fans in India and the strategy ahead of India’s footballing movement exclusively to indiantelevision.com’s Herman Gomes.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    Which are the sports Star is looking at experimenting with in the next five years?

    Over the past year, we have invested in sports like kabaddi, hockey, badminton and football, apart from cricket. Whichever sport we invest in, our objective is to make the game relevant and exciting even for the un-introduced population, thereby attracting viewers and eventually helping the entire sports ecosystem of the country.

     

    For the first time we have a TV network which is the promoter of the upcoming Hero Indian Super League. Is the league based on the Japanese J league model where the teams were named after their home city and emphasis was laid on the grassroots development programme?

    Football is a universal language that cuts across culture, race, religion and economic might. Being a prime provider of sports content to the sports fans in India, it was natural for us to become one of the promoters of the Hero ISL. We have gone a step ahead, as for the first time in the history of football, we’ll telecast the matches live with commentary in five different languages – English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali.

     

    The Hero ISL is conceptualised jointly by IMG-Reliance and Star India. We’re also fortunate to have the support of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) that reaffirms the commitment of the governing body to develop and promote the game in the country. With the league, India has joined the world of football and Star Sports is attempting to reach each and every sport lover in the country in his own language.

     

    Grassroots development is one of the most important aspects in the agenda for the Hero ISL. The mandate for winning a city team in this league was not just based on the highest financial bid, but also on the bidders’ proposal of a sound plan for developing football in the catchment area they wished to bid for.

    What are the factors that offer huge consumption potential for the businesses of sports in India?

     

    Our country is one of the youngest in the world and statistics show that over 50 per cent of India’s population is aged less than 25 years. In fact, India is set to be the youngest country in the world by 2020. It is this segment that provides a huge potential for the business of sports in India. For far too long, we have been a single-sport country. At Star, our efforts are aimed at inspiring people to make sports an integral part of their daily lives. We believe sports is more than getting people to watch TV, it is about shaping a culture where sports can thrive and talent can be honed.

     

    We realised that there is a growing appetite from Indian sports fans for cricket and other kinds of sports. We want to address this need and offer the best of cricket, international sports as well as domestic and global leagues that will give birth to a new sporting nation.

    The success of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League indicates that the appetite of sports fans in India has grown beyond the boundaries of just cricket. However, all of sports constitute just four per cent of the total TV viewership in our country, which is substantially below general entertainment and news. Of this, almost 3.5 per cent is contributed by cricket. While cricket remains central to our business, Star is making significant investments to increase the fan following for non-cricket sports in India. The passion with which the Indian youth connects with different sports is the key to this business.

     

    How many viewers are you planning to reach out to, during the League?

    The Hero ISL will be the first sporting event in the country to be backed by a never seen before ubiquitous broadcast plan, with a potential to reach around 85 per cent of India’s television audience. This ambitious plan is expected to herald an unparalleled reach for any content, in the history of Indian television. Spanning over eight channels in the sports and general entertainment categories, the Hero ISL will be televised in five languages: Star Sports 2 (English), Star Sports 3 (Hindi), Star Sports HD 2 (English), Star Gold (Hindi), Star Utsav (Hindi), Asianet Movies (Malayalam), Jalsha Movies (Bengali) and Suvarna Plus (Kannada). Through this, we would engage more viewers in non-English speaking regions of our nation and present the game in the language that the fans speak.

     

    Which are the international agencies that you have got on board to provide better production values for the ISL?

     

    While there are millions of football lovers in our country, the popularity for international tournaments and European leagues has been predominant. We plan to change this with the Hero ISL, which will be a world-class product equivalent to European leagues like the Barclays Premier League.

     

    In our commitment to showcase a truly global league, we have partnered premier international agencies such as IMG for the live programming of the matches, Argentina-based 4HUMANS to put forth superlative graphics design and the UK-based AE Graphics for its execution.
     

    While Star invested in the infrastructure for the Pro Kabaddi League, how much will you be investing in infrastructure in different cities for the Hero ISL?

     

    We are investing heavily in the sport, not just monetarily but by putting in sincere and significant efforts as well. Our investments go beyond infrastructure building, whereby we’re working towards grassroots development for the sport that will help putting India on the global map for football.

     

    The league has invested in stadium refurbishment in the eight identified venues to create a platform to groom young footballing talent in the country. These include Salt Lake Stadium (Kolkata), Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Chennai), Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Delhi), Fatorda Stadium (Goa), Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Kochi), DY Patil Stadium (Mumbai), Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium (Delhi) and Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex (Pune).
     

     In how many years do you see the franchise teams breaking even?

     

    It is too early to talk about that. All our efforts at this point in time are pointed towards building it as a premium property. But given that the game has such an enormous potential we’re confident that the league will enthrall sports fans and be commercially successful as well.

    Many football experts and club owners in India are of the opinion that the Hero ISL will affect the I-League and lead to it becoming an inconsequential format. What are your thoughts?

     

    We’re glad that I-League exists today, as having multiple properties that support the game only help the overall sports ecosystem in a country. However, the Hero ISL is an entirely different property with a well-differentiated offering.

    Some I-League clubs have joined our property; team owners from Salgaocar, Dempo and Shillong Lajong FC co-own teams in the Hero Indian Super League. This really benefits Indian football as a whole in the long run.

     

    How has starsports.com been performing and how will you utilise the platform during the Hero ISL?

    All matches of the Hero ISL will be telecast live on starsports.com. Over a short span of time, the traction on starsports.com has grown significantly and we are expecting a steep growth in online traffic for all our upcoming football properties. The website is currently approaching a 100 per cent growth already over last year’s football subscription numbers, with almost 70 per cent of the traffic coming from the age group 18 – 24.

    Besides live telecast of all Hero ISL matches, starsports.com will also present video on demand content, match highlights and full match replays. Our reach on football this season is touching 25 per cent of the entire core football watching audience on TV.

     

    What is more exciting for a football fan is that Starsports.com offers all matches of the Barclays Premier League, Spanish La Liga , Italian Serie A and the Hero ISL offering a wide variety of content to the viewers.

     

    While advertisers missed the bus for the Pro Kabaddi League how many advertisers have you got on board for the ISL besides Hero Motocorp? Are you looking at providing a combined on ground and on air package for advertisers?

     

    There are no preset benchmarks for the game of football in India and we intend to set them right at an unprecedented scale and vision to serve our product. Our focus has been on building the Hero ISL as a premium property and we’ll continue with that approach. For the first season of the league, we are offering package deals for brand visibility, both, on-ground as well as on air. With Hero Motocorp being signed as the title sponsor, there is a lot of buzz and anticipation around the associate sponsorships. We’ll announce the names of the associate sponsors as well soon.

     

    What was the ad revenue from the Pro Kabaddi league?

    Firstly, we did not sell Pro Kabaddi to advertisers, simply because we treated it as a start-up in its investment phase, like any other new business. Star Sports was the title sponsor for the league. However, the advertiser interest kept mounting as the league progressed and got an unprecedented, rather historic response from people across the country.

    Don’t you think two Kabaddi leagues will cause a viewer fatigue?

     

    Cricket has demonstrated that the fans just cannot have enough of the sport that they love. We are used to seeing cricket, tournament after tournament, all year long. The recently concluded Pro Kabaddi League indicates the mass acceptance of Kabaddi as an engaging sport and there is no way that having two Kabaddi leagues will create a viewer fatigue of sorts. In fact, the two leagues are different from each other in terms of their formats and the game-play, which overall makes Kabaddi even more interesting. It only increases the exposure and penetration that the game deserves.

    Are you looking at building new leagues in India for volleyball and basket ball?

    Following the overwhelming success of Pro Kabaddi League, we are currently focused on repeating the act with the Hero ISL. As of now, we don’t want to divulge the details of properties in the pipeline. Being the leading sports network in India, we have continually worked for the betterment of sports, and we’ll take up any opportunity that is aligned with this objective. Rest assured, we will keep you abreast with any further developments.

    Do you now see India becoming a multi sports nation soon?
    The appetite of the Indian sports fans has been steadily increasing and there is an increasing acceptance of non-cricket sports. However, the nation is still far away from being known as a multi-sports nation today.

    At Star, we believe that India with its 1.2 billion population should not be a single-sport nation. Hence, we’re putting forth and reintroducing other sports like kabaddi, football, hockey, badminton, etc. to revolutionise the sporting landscape in the country. We are sowing the seeds to spawn a multi-sport culture, and our vision will definitely translate into reality.
     

  • When Kabaddi turned Pink!

    When Kabaddi turned Pink!

    Pink is the new colour of Kabaddi. The colour, associated with sensitivity, tenderness and femininity is definitely in stark contrast to the indigenous game which has its origins dating to the pre historic times. On 31 August,  when Jaipur Pink Panthers clawed U-Mumba during a nail biting finale of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League, the highly agile and contact sport was covered in Pink and announced its presence on the world stage.

     

    The Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) which spanned 37 days and 60 matches, finally culminated at the National Sports Complex of India, Mumbai, the very same venue where the seeds of the game were first sown. While the Abhishek Bachchan-owned Jaipur Pink Panthers lifted the coveted trophy, the Ronnie Screwvala-owned U-Mumba team had to be content with the second spot.

     

    While many, including advertisers were skeptical whether the league would be able to generate audience’s interest both at the stadiums and on TV, the results are all out for the world to see. Not just male audiences, but women and children lapped up the game as they came in full gear supporting their respective teams with flags and merchandise. Families from Patna to Vizag, filled the stadiums with not just their presence but also their loud chants, enthusiasm, glee and even disappointment when their teams had to bid farewell. People connected to every raid taken by the 24 year old Jaipur Pink Panthers’ captain Maninder Singh. Players like him and U-Mumba captain Anup Kumar have a new-found fan base now. The last time when such enthusiasm was showcased was probably at the Wankhede stadium for India’s first love-Cricket.

     

    During the opening night 66 million Indians tuned in to watch the games on Star Sports and Star Gold claims the channel. On the micro blogging site Twitter, Star said it had generated conversations that were trending for nearly two days.

     

    No one but Star India, businessman Anand Mahindra and promoter Charu Sharma could have augured the path that Kabaddi has taken today. When Star India COO Sanjay Gupta earlier said that the sport would fit their objective of transforming the sports landscape in India, he was right. India seems to have found its second sport.

     

    The league proves that with a balanced mix of corporate backing, government support, telecast backing combined with international quality production values and celebrity endorsement, a lost game can draw renewed crowds to the stadium or tune in their TV sets. Therefore, it’s hardly a surprise that restaurants, bars and lounges had their customers asking for Kabaddi to witness the performance of 96 of the world’s best Kabaddi players. A few parents who complained that their kids were turning into couch potatoes are smiling, since their kids are now in the open playing the game.

     

    This has been driven by celebrities/owners of teams including Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who pledged their support to the games by being present at the venue.

     

    All in all, we eagerly wait to wear our favourite T-shirts at the next edition of the league beginning in March 2015 (hope the advertisers are listening!).

  • Jaipur Pink Panthers lifts Pro Kabaddi League trophy; season 2 in March 2015

    Jaipur Pink Panthers lifts Pro Kabaddi League trophy; season 2 in March 2015

    MUMBAI: The Indian audiences have been humming ‘Kabaddi Kabaddi’ for the past one month. And as Abhishek Bachchan’s Jaipur Pink Panther beat Ronnie Screwvala’s U Mumba to lift the Pro Kabaddi League season one trophy, the big announcement was made.

     

    Looking at the great response for Kabaddi in the country, the promoters have decided to bring back season two of Pro Kabaddi League in March 2015.  

     

    Conceptualised by Indian businessman Anand Mahindra and co promoter Charu Sharma through their venture, Mashal Sports, the Pro Kabaddi League has entertained audiences right from Mumbai to Patna. “We are very happy with the response for the league and Kabaddi and so will be back as early as March 2015,” said Mahindra.

     

    The day also saw Patna Pirates beat Bengaluru Bulls to grab the third position in the first season. Neither the heavy rain, nor the ongoing Ganapati celebrations deterred Mumbaikars to be at the National Sports Complex of India to cheer for not just their team, but the game.

     

    While Patna beat Bengaluru by 29-22, the finale between Jaipur and Mumbai, saw AB’s team winning 35-24 against Scewvala’s team.  

     

    Excited with the response from women audiences, the organisers are thinking of launching a women’s Kabaddi League too.

     

    Present at the mega clash were IMG-Reliance chairperson Nita Ambani, Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Ronnie Screwvala, Zarina Mehta and singer Shankar Mahadevan among others.

     

    One thing which the Pro Kabaddi League has proved is that India is no longer just a cricket crazy nation.  Kabaddi truly has become the second sport for India.

     

    Kudos to team Pro Kabaddi League!

     

  • U-Mumba to clash against Jaipur Pink Panthers in Pro Kabaddi League finale

    U-Mumba to clash against Jaipur Pink Panthers in Pro Kabaddi League finale

    MUMBAI: As many as 218 million viewers tuned into the Star Sports Pro-Kabaddi Leagues’ opening game. The rustic, ancient and Indian contact sport game has finally found its due respect from Indian audiences and after a month of entertaining Indian audiences in a never seen before avatar, the finals are here.

     

     

    The Leagues’ two giants; U –Mumba and Jaipur Pink Panthers will clash in the finals that will take place at the National Sports Club of India in Mumbai on 31 August at 7:45 pm. Ironically, it was these two teams that had kicked off the tournament wherein the Ronnie Screwvala owned U-Mumba team won over the Abhishek Bachchan owned Jaipur franchise at the very same stadium.

     

     

    Hoarding around the city and posts on social media have been announcing the big finale. The broadcast of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi is on Star Sports 2, Star Gold and starsports.com.

     

    In its glory days, the sport enjoyed a rich heritage where it was practiced during festivals and after harvest as a matter of celebration. Star’s endeavour to restore that festive air around Kabaddi and set it in today’s context with world-class production, modern indoor stadiums, mat surface courts, jazzy music along with celebrity engagement to make it more appealing to the youth seems to have truly worked its charm. 

     

  • Pro Kabaddi league wins hearts during opening week

    Pro Kabaddi league wins hearts during opening week

    MUMBAI: In a cricket-crazy country, the game of Kabaddi has found an astounding number of viewers.

     

    As many as 218 million viewers tuned into the Star Sports Pro-Kabaddi league’s opening games, according to inputs provided to the channel by TAM.

     

    The TAM data for week 31 shows the league’s reach for the first eight days stands at 72.5 million viewers.  This when extrapolated to an all India universe, as per standard industry conversions, means that over 218 million Indians have watched the tournament, according to the channel. Data shows entire families including women, children and youth tracked the league.  In all 32 per cent of all viewers were women while 22 per cent were children. The strategy of making the sport appealing to youth has paid off with 25 per cent of all viewers in the 15-24 age segment.

    Star India CEO Uday Shankar said, “Kabaddi has every ingredient, including skill, strategy and speed, to emerge as a serious sport and win a fan following. The opening week response is especially encouraging given that it is a true blue Indian sport.” 

     

    Mashal sports co-promoter Anand Mahindra commented, “To Charu and me, the popularity of Kabaddi was never in question. However we have been genuinely overwhelmed by the support the game has received from all quarters, be it the media, film fraternity, sportspersons or the government. The viewership data further reinforces that Pro Kabaddi could be India’s sports revolution in the making.”

     

    The strategy of sampling through Star Gold has paid off with a 37 per cent growth in Star Gold’s prime-time slot.  The on-line buzz and conversations continue to build with 910 million impressions online in the first eight days of the tournament, in itself a record for a comeback sport. 

     

    In its glory days, the sport enjoyed a rich heritage where it was practiced during festivals and after harvest as a matter of celebration. Star endeavors to restore that festive air around Kabaddi and set it in today’s context with world-class production, modern indoor stadiums, mat surface courts, jazzy music along with celebrity engagement to make it more appealing to the youth. The broadcast of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi is on Star Sports channels, Star Gold and starsports.com.

  • U Mumba and Zivame to salute dignity of women

    U Mumba and Zivame to salute dignity of women

    MUMBAI: The Mumbai franchise of the Pro Kabaddi League, U Mumba, has now joined hands with Zivame, an online lingerie brand, to support a unique cause which outlines the need to safeguard the dignity of women in the society. 

     

    Through a cause oriented digital campaign called ‘Maryada’, which is jointly launched by Unilazer Sports and Zivame, has been initiated to create awareness and encourage people to maintain zero tolerance against violence and  also to uphold the dignity of women.

     

    Unilazer Sports CEO Supratik Sen said, “We all believe in and stand for the rights of women in all ways possible. From our mothers to our wives to our colleagues, it is our duty to respect women power. Infact, we are proud of the unified response we received from U Mumba players as they chose to stand up and pledge for their belief in ‘Maryada’, which has the highest importance in the country today. This will be a drop in the ocean for a cause so grave yet we will be satisfied if the slightest of difference will be made by our efforts. We are glad to collaborate with Zivame for this special cause and we hope to create awareness about the importance of this matter.”

     

    Zivame CEO Richa Kar commented, “As an online lingerie destination that constantly engages with women through various platforms, we recognize the importance of creating a society that respects the dignity of women. We are glad to garner support for this cause with U Mumba. It is a small step in establishing ‘Maryada’.”

     

    Considering this to be a matter of pride for U Mumba, the team captain Anup Kumar, who is an inspector with the Haryana Police and an Arjuna Awardee himself said, “We are a part of a tournament that has brought India’s national sport back in the forefront; we are receiving bundles of love from all over the country. This love and respect that has been showered upon us, also comes with certain responsibilities, on the field however off the field, ‘Maryada’ is a cause each one of us truly identifies with and we look forward to encourage the youth to respect and stand up for the dignity of women.”

  • DDB MudraMax assigned franchise and venue management for Bengal Warriors

    DDB MudraMax assigned franchise and venue management for Bengal Warriors

    MUMBAI: Taking everyone by surprise, the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League has caught people’s fancy. And to keep the momentum going Big Bazaar’s Pro Kabaddi League team, Bengal Warriors, has entrusted DDB MudraMax with the complete franchise management.

     

    As the franchise management partner, DDB MudraMax spearheads the marketing communication and consulting on brand strategy and direction. With a mix of marketing touch points, the campaign communication has seen a burst in OOH, media, print, direct marketing, events, all integrated via digital platforms.

     

    The agency is also managing the venue for all the games that were held in the Netaji Indoor Stadium, home ground for the Bengal Warriors.  The last match at this venue was held on Saturday, 2 August, 2014.

     

    Future Group president Sandip Tarkas & Bengal Warriors CEO said, “Kabaddi is potentially the second biggest idea that India can export to the world after Yoga. It is an absolutely amazing sport that is played by really fit and skillful players, and the idea, like Yoga, is very Indian at the core. Frugal, simple, environment blended and works for an overall development of mind and body. Indian-ness is one of the core values of Future Group and we immediately consented to associate with the sport.”

     

    He added, “When the idea of Pro Kabaddi League was born. The choice of Kolkata was also a natural one, as Future Group does enjoy a special bond with Kolkata, the group’s first stores in both Pantaloons and Big Bazaar having been born here. Having done that, managing a sports event at this scale needs some special skills and we found in DDB MudraMax a willing partner who not just shared our enthusiasm for the sport but also had the requisite skills and was willing to invest. Our commitment to developing the sport in West Bengal also manifests itself in the recently concluded Junior Kabaddi League that was organised under the aegis of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India’s (AKFI) West Bengal Unit.”

     

    DDB MudraMax president Mandeep Malhotra said, “The Pro Kabaddi League is a rebirth to the best touch sport of our country, and it surely got me running for my breath. So when we got the opportunity, we grabbed it! My team and I have been on ground at the Netaji Stadium, for every single match, and it’s great to see how this sport has come back to life! I am proud of this association as an Indian and as a participant on building a great team sport. We are all one team and are working towards making Bengal Warriors the most successful franchise on and off the field in the Pro Kabaddi League.”