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Tag: Ranji Trophy

  • Mastercard acquires title sponsorship rights for all BCCI international & domestic home matches

    Mastercard acquires title sponsorship rights for all BCCI international & domestic home matches

    Mumbai: Mastercard has announced its collaboration with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to broaden its strategic outreach to Indian audiences. During this association, Mastercard will be the title sponsor for all international (both men’s and women’s) matches played on home soil, domestic cricket matches such as the Irani Trophy, Duleep Trophy, and Ranji Trophy organised by the BCCI, and all junior cricket (Under 19 and Under 23) matches played in India.

    This sponsorship and the activities around it are aimed at enhancing Mastercard’s connection with cricket lovers across the country and beyond. For a brand that is invested in sponsorships worldwide with marquee properties like the UEFA Champions League, the Grammys, the Cannes Film Festival and the Australian and French Open tennis tournaments, Mastercard’s tie-up with the BCCI further enhances its portfolio of partnerships.

    BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said, “The BCCI welcomes Mastercard as the title sponsor for home cricket matches for the 2022–23 season. Along with the international home series, the BCCI’s domestic tournaments are crucial as they are a stepping stone towards making India a strong international side. The BCCI truly values Mastercard’s support in building Indian cricket.”

    “This sport is more than a passion point, it’s a way of life and we look forward to some innovative experiences for the fans via this partnership and delivering value to Mastercard through this collaboration,” he added.

    BCCI honorary secretary Jay Shah said, “The BCCI is pleased to be associated with a global marquee brand-Mastercard.”We are in for an exciting period in Indian cricket as we have Australia and South Africa coming over for white-ball series before the T20 World Cup and Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy early next year, while domestic cricket has a packed calendar with the return of the Duleep Trophy and a full-fledged Ranji Trophy season. The 2022-23 season will witness a lot of action across age groups, and I am confident that this will be an enriching partnership.”

    Mastercard chief marketing and communications officer Raja Rajamannar said, “Cricket is a perfect amalgamation of sports and entertainment with immense potential to deliver priceless moments. Our globally recognised “priceless” platform offers us the unique opportunity to delight our cardholders, customers and partners worldwide. Cricket enjoys unparalleled popularity not just in India where it is a singular unifying force for the nation, but also in several countries around the world. It is therefore particularly relevant and opportune for us to have acquired the title sponsor rights for all home international and domestic cricket matches organised by the BCCI.”

    Former Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni, who has been Mastercard’s ambassador for over four years, added, “Cricket has been my life and given me everything I have. I am thrilled that Mastercard is sponsoring all the home cricket matches of the BCCI, especially the domestic, junior, and women’s cricket. The Ranji and junior players of today will play for the country tomorrow and continue to embody the pride of 1.3 billion Indians.”

    According to the brand, Mastercard endeavours to enhance its strong international base of sponsorship assets across passion points with uniquely Indian ones. Mastercard has worked to amplify this passion area with the signing on of MS Dhoni, the former Indian cricket captain, as its brand ambassador over four years ago.

  • Star Sports 1 Hindi drags sports channels viewership down in week 7

    Star Sports 1 Hindi drags sports channels viewership down in week 7

    MUMBAI: The decline in the viewership pattern of sports broadcasters continued in week seven (15-21 February) of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India ratings. Sports channels, this week, tumbled by over 60 per cent as compared to week six (8-14 February).

    Star Sports 1 Hindi of Star India group dragged the viewership of overall sports channels to the lowest level this year. The channel alone fell substantially by over 76 per cent in the current week of BARC.

    Despite significant fall in viewership, Star Sports 1 Hindi topped the list of top five sports channels. The channel received 78,298 weekly impressions in week seven as compared to 3,31,536 weekly impressions in week six of BARC.

    Star Sports is the official broadcaster for all international matches played in India and New Zealand. It’s also an official partner to telecast limited over matches of the World Cup and Asia Cup across genres.

    Cricket is the majorly favoured and watched sport by the Indian audience, followed by World Wrestling Entertainment, soccer, and tennis. However, week seven was dull in terms of any India-specific cricket matches except women’s T20 world cup and the domestic tournament Ranji Trophy.

    Dethroning the government-owned channel, DD Sports, from the top five channels’ list completely, Star Sports First bagged the second position. The channel posted a positive show with a marginal rise in viewership of over 6 per cent, by securing 49,263 impressions in week seven as against 46,244 in the previous week of BARC.

    Despite being low in numbers as compared to rival broadcasters, Sony Pictures Sports Network channels have put a tough fight in week seven. This week, the group’s two sports channels, Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 3, grabbed the third and fourth spots in the list of top five most-viewed channels.

    Sony Ten 1 turned green after reeling under a negative space for the last two weeks. The channel improved its performance by gaining over 1 percent to 31,573 weekly impressions as compared to 31024 impressions in the previous week. The channel, in week six, was down by over 50 per cent.

    Replacing Star Sports 3 from its position at number four, Sony Ten 3 has been featured for the first time in the top five sports channels list with 25561 weekly impressions in the current week. All thanks to the UEFA: Champions League – Round of 16, a football tournament that began from 19 February, the channel has successfully made a mark in week seven of BARC.

    Meanwhile, Star Sports 2, for the first time this year, got featured at the fifth spot in the list of top five channels in terms of viewership. The channel secured at least 20,383 eyeballs in the week seven of BARC. The channel broadcasts the domestic cricket tournament, Ranji Trophy, which has come to its last leg of semis and features many important cricketers that represent Team India at the international level.

  • BCCI Technical Committee and NCA meetings held

    BCCI Technical Committee and NCA meetings held

    Media Advisory

    May 29, 2016

    Neutral venues discussed to make Domestic cricket competitive

    In a bid to make domestic cricket more competitive and rule out the issues related to preparing specific wickets for home teams, as well as to expose players to play in different conditions, the BCCI Technical
    Committee recommended neutral venues for the Ranji Trophy matches This is a step recommended to make domestic Ranji Trophy cricket more competitive.

    The committee also discussed the format for Duleep Trophy for the season 2016-17. It was recommended that selectors would pick four teams to participate in a round-robin format tournament. The entire tournament will be a day/night affair.

    The Committee also cleared India ‘A’ tour of Australia in August for two four-day matches and a tri-series.

    The recommendations will now be tabled at the BCCI Working Committee.

    In the NCA Committee meeting, the members were updated about the assessment of all the ongoing zonal camps in various age groups and the umpires’ refresher course.

    Members were also briefed about the physiotherapist and trainers course to be conducted by the NCA next month. Physios and trainers of all the state associations will be attending this course.

    Ajay Shirke
    Hony. Secretary
    BCCI

  • BCCI Technical Committee and NCA meetings held

    BCCI Technical Committee and NCA meetings held

    Media Advisory

    May 29, 2016

    Neutral venues discussed to make Domestic cricket competitive

    In a bid to make domestic cricket more competitive and rule out the issues related to preparing specific wickets for home teams, as well as to expose players to play in different conditions, the BCCI Technical
    Committee recommended neutral venues for the Ranji Trophy matches This is a step recommended to make domestic Ranji Trophy cricket more competitive.

    The committee also discussed the format for Duleep Trophy for the season 2016-17. It was recommended that selectors would pick four teams to participate in a round-robin format tournament. The entire tournament will be a day/night affair.

    The Committee also cleared India ‘A’ tour of Australia in August for two four-day matches and a tri-series.

    The recommendations will now be tabled at the BCCI Working Committee.

    In the NCA Committee meeting, the members were updated about the assessment of all the ongoing zonal camps in various age groups and the umpires’ refresher course.

    Members were also briefed about the physiotherapist and trainers course to be conducted by the NCA next month. Physios and trainers of all the state associations will be attending this course.

    Ajay Shirke
    Hony. Secretary
    BCCI

  • BCCI to honour cricketers on 11 January

    BCCI to honour cricketers on 11 January

    MUMBAI: The seventh annual BCCI award ceremony will be held on 11 January 2014 to honour the best performers in senior and junior-level cricket, at the international and domestic level, in the twelve months from 1 October 2012 to 30 September 2013.

    Ravichandran Ashwin will be the recipient of the Polly Umrigar award, for being India’s best international cricketer of 2012-13. The award was previously won by Sachin Tendulkar (2006-07 and 2009-10), Virender Sehwag (2007-08), Gautam Gambhir (2008-09), Rahul Dravid (2010-11) and Virat Kohli (2011-12).

    Abhishek Nayar will receive the Lala Amarnath Award, for being the best all-rounder in the 2012-13 edition of the Ranji Trophy.

    The Mumbai Cricket Association, which Nayar represents, will collect the trophy for the Best Overall Performance in the 2012-13 season. The various teams representing the MCA won the Ranji Trophy, the Under-25 C.K. Nayudu Trophy, the Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy, the Women’s Under-19 Inter-State tournament, and finished runners-up in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy.

    The achievers of 2012-13 apart, Rohit Sharma will receive the Dilip Sardesai award, for being India’s best cricketer in the recent Test series against the West Indies.

    A highlight of the function will be the felicitation of three former stalwarts – RG (Bapu) Nadkarni, Farokh Engineer and Late Eknath Solkar – for their contribution to Indian cricket. They will receive a memento and a cheque for Rs 15 lakhs each.

    The function will be held in Mumbai.

  • Why Star sponsored Indian cricket for 2013-14?

    Why Star sponsored Indian cricket for 2013-14?

    MUMBAI: It came as a bolt from the blue – actually in this case the greens on which the sport of cricket is played. The BCCI has decided to award the title sponsorship of all domestic and international tournaments in India for 2013-2014 for a reported price of Rs 2 crore per match, around Rs 1.5 crore less than that paid by the previous sponsor Airtel.

     

    What goes? Why is Star going hell for leather putting money behind the game? One can’t but forget that the Star Group beat competition from Multi Screen Media (Sony) to bag the six-year broadcast and digital rights of India’s international cricket matches at home and domestic events like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and the Irani Trophy. The Rupert Murdoch-owned company’s six-year contract is valued at Rs 3,851 crore and will cover 96 matches in all.

     

    One of the reasons, Star India COO  Sanjay Gupta says is that the network is going all out to promote not just cricket but also other sports. Says he: “We are betting big on sports and even more betting on cricket. Currently we have the rights to telecast the matches on television as well as on other multi-screens.”

     

    As a strategy the Star group, he says, is ideally looking for something similar to what it did for IPL, Star sponsored IPL through its brand – Star Plus. Plans are focused on deepening its relation with cricket and also using cricket to promote its brands in a big way.

     

    “So looking from the Star brand point of view we would like to use this sponsorship, for obviously Star Sports and also Star Plus and Life OK,” expounds Sanjay.

     

    He further states that Star will use its entertainment network to build the awareness and enthusiasm for cricket likewise. And then conversely use the cricket platform to build awareness for other sports in the country. “So when people are watching cricket we should be able to sample other sports to them, and thus give them more to watch, so that is the strategy we are putting in place,” says Gupta.

     

    Telecasting the action on the field in different languages is another tack. “One of the major challenges of sports in the country has been that for the last 10 years, sports were being telecast in only one language and that’s English, but that is not the primary language for consumption in most of India.”

     

    Research has revealed that TV viewers would be better served if they get to consume sports coverage in either Hindi or their local languages. “As we know that in entertainment the language used makes a big difference, so our attempt is to build content for both key sports – cricket and football – in Hindi, so that people are able to consume the content in a much better manner,” exults Gupta.

     

    Star will continue the English commentary for both cricket and football as it has a great panel of commentators for both these sports and the content is enjoyed by a huge chunk of its viewer base. “But we are equally building affinity with the content in the Hindi speaking markets (HSMs) and the response has been really encouraging and proves that our strategy is working well with our loyal fan base,” Gupta explains.

     

    With digitisation still an ongoing process what kind of changes can be witnessed in the near future? Reveals Gupta, “It hasn’t really brought about a fundamental change, but people who were in analogue had limited access to content as they could only see 20-30 channels, and some of the sports channels were hit at that time as many of the operators would replace it with some other channel if a live match was not on, may be a movie channel or something else. But with digitisation kicking in not only sports but the content for overall channels has improved dramatically and that’s a welcome change as people will be able to watch the sports channels everyday rather than on a need-be basis.”

     

    Star is striving to build its sports portfolio, and that is the reason that it is trying to get in other sports like football with the Barclays Premier League, motor-racing through F1 and several other sports.

     

    Giving his view on HD as a format Gupta says, “It is very powerful, and we initiated it a couple of years back, as the quality of experience goes up, and with roughly two million HD households consuming HD content across different platforms, the growth of HD will only accelerate.”

     

    Star has recently also launched Star World Premiere HD only strengthening the fact that it believes that is a very big opportunity for all premium content including sports. “We are going to be investing heavily in HD content across genres as we seriously believe HD is the way ahead,” says Gupta.
    Bringing about interactivity with the audience is also something that Star plans to bring about in the near future. “We have already seen that with www.starsports.com when we put cricket, there is a lot of interactivity even in content consumption and not only commenting & social networking but people can see the match and equally see the players’ performances and enjoy highlights even as the live action is going on in the field. So we do see interactivity as a very big tool for the younger generation of the country to connect with sports,” ends Gupta.

  • Ranji Trophy Finals gain high ratings for Neo Sports

    Ranji Trophy Finals gain high ratings for Neo Sports

    Mumbai: According to a press release by the company, Neo Sports channel has met with unprecedented success in its efforts to rebrand and repackage domestic cricket. The viewership ratings touched new heights with the Ranji Trophy Finals between Mumbai & Bengal. The Finals saw peak ratings in the range of 2 TVRs across key markets like Mumbai – 2.1, Delhi – 2.1, Kolkata – 1.7 & WB 1 mn+ – 1.7.

    Additionally, the finals also propelled the Neo Sports ratings ahead of general entertainment, movies, news & music channels across key metros, Source: TAM, TG:CS Males Sec AB 15 years +, February 2nd – February 5th, 2007. Even markets not affiliated to the teams playing in the final garnered high peak ratings with UP 0.1-1mn – 1.6, AP 0.1-1mn – 1.3, Gujarat 0.1-1mn – 1.5, Gujarat 1mn+ – 1.2, Maharashtra 1mn+ – 0.9, Rajasthan1mn+ – 0.8, Bangalore – 0.7.

    “Neo Sports has been highly successful in marketing and presenting Indian domestic cricket. From the Challenger series to the Ranji Trophy, we have consistently managed to garner significant viewership. This only reaffirms our belief that Domestic cricket, when packaged well can attract large audiences. We now look forward to the All Star Series for The Deodhar Trophy starting 25th February to continue in the same vein especially with the inclusion of some of the key Indian players heading for the World Cup.” said Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd.CEO Shashi Kalathil.

    Neo Sports which launched on October 1st, 2006 with the Challenger Series, became the No.1 sports channel within the 1st week of launch on the back of domestic cricket. Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd has an exclusive distribution tie-up with Star India, to take Neo Sports across the length and breadth of the country. The channel is available on Cable, DTH and new media platforms.

  • Neo Sports to telecast Ranji Trophy finals live

    Neo Sports to telecast Ranji Trophy finals live

    MUMBAI: Neo Sports has announced that it will air the live telecast of the Super League for the Ranji Trophy finals from 2 to 6 February 2007.

    The finals between Mumbai and West Bengal, will be played by a host of top players like Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan.

    The company claims that the telecast of the Ranji Trophy finals is an extension of the commitment of Neo Sports to bring domestic cricket closer to cricket lovers and with the seasoned players playing the series, it will definitely be an even more exciting game to watch.

  • BCCI, Nimbus look to give domestic cricket a facelift

    BCCI, Nimbus look to give domestic cricket a facelift

    MUMBAI: For many years domestic cricket in India suffered from neglect by the administration (read Board of Control for Cricket in India – BCCI). However, the Indian cricket board, along with its television partner Nimbus, are looking to turn things around. The plan calls for rebranding of domestic cricket events as well as telecast of domestic cricket not just in India, but also abroad.

    The season kicks off from 1 October and runs till April 2007. The matches will air on Neo Sports, which is being positioned as the Home of Indian Cricket on TV. Neo Sports launches on 1 October 2006.

    BCCI VP and marketing subcommittee chairman Lalit Nodi says, “It has been a dream for us to make sure that domestic cricket is given as much importance as international cricket. We have given brand names to domestic events.

    “So the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy will now be known as Challenger Series for the NKP Salve Trophy, the Ranji Trophy – Elite Division is now titled the Super League for the Ranji Trophy, The Ranji Trophy Plate Division is now known as the Plate League, and the Deodhar Trophy is now known as the All Star Series for the Deodhar Trophy.

    “The Inter State One Day Knockout is now known as the Premier Cup. This initiative is the first of a series of exciting plans that we have in store. While we are looking to get players of the Indian national side to play, the aim is to have many stars emerge from domestic cricket. Why should there be only 11 cricket stars? We can easily have 300. We will monitor innovations as we go along. We are also looking at the mobile to promote domestic cricket. Mobile is a viral medium courtesy features like SMS and this is an area that we are looking to tap into. This will provide a value add for fans who want to follow their team.”

    Nimbus Chairman Harish Thawani says, “This has been a three month process of us working with the BCCI so that our goals were aligned. When we telecast the Challenger Trophy last year on a recently launched network (Zee Sports) it managed TRPs of 1.93. This shows that television does bring in an audience for domestic cricket.

    “What we are doing though is not just a branding exercise. We worked with the BCCI on the scheduling. A lot of time went into working on the logistics. The aim is that domestic cricket should not overlap with the days on which the Indian national side is playing. The one day matches will be day/night fixtures. Over 80 per cent of ODI matches will be day/night encounters.

    “We have also managed to persuade licensees globally to air domestic cricket. So domestic cricket will be seen in the UK on Sky Sports, in Australia on Fox Sports, in Malaysia on Astro and in Africa on Super Sport. On the net it will be webcast on www.willow.tv. We are also expecting to announce a deal in the US.”

    Thawani, however, adds that it will take one season to see what impact the push being given to domestic cricket has had.

    BCCI member IS Bindra was frank enough to admit that it was the BCCI’s fault that domestic cricket has languished to the extent that hardly any people come out to watch matches. “There was a time when a Deodhar Trophy match would have 70,000 people in attendance. One of the failings of the BCCI in the past has been the lack of attention given to domestic cricket. We are looking to correct this. Television coverage by Nimbus will attract people to the arena. It will give viewers the feeling that something of importance is happening. Last year when the Challenger Trophy was telecast we had a 70 per cent attendance on the ground. For the final it was 100 per cent full. In Australia often the finals of the domestic season have a better attendance than some international one day matches.

    “In England the tickets for the final matches of the domestic season are booked a year in advance. I don’t see why we cannot approach that level with proper marketing of our product. Aggressive marketing helps and a good example is the BCCI rankings for domestic cricket which will be launched next month. We have managed to raise 10-15 times more than what the ICC has managed for their rankings. We are on the brink of a revolution as far as domestic cricket is concerned.”

    Thawani adds that Nimbus is looking to sell daily news packages of domestic cricket to news channels.

    One important issue is that of advertising. It is no secret that viewers are unhappy about the sheer volume of ads in a match. Often one sees five balls in an over instead of six as the channel has gone for an ad break at the fall of a wicket. Thawani says that an automated playout system is being put in place so that not a ball is lost. There will be no manual override.

    Modi says that this issue is being taken seriously by the BCCI. It has in fact mandated that it cannot happen. “If ads are put in when a wicket falls instead of a channel showing replays of the wicket taken and a ball is lost then it is a breach of contract,” Modi asserted.