ITV

Tag: Sport

  • Prasar Bharati inks handball broadcast deal to boost sport’s reach

    Prasar Bharati inks handball broadcast deal to boost sport’s reach

    NEW DELHI: India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with the Handball Association of India (HAI) to produce and beam all national and international handball events.
    The matches will be telecast on DD Sports, Waves OTT, and other Prasar Bharati platforms in a bid to expand the sport’s footprint and nurture emerging talent.

    The agreement was formally exchanged between Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Gaurav Dwivedi and HAI executive director Anandeshwar Pande. Prasar Bharati chairman Navneet Kumar Sehgal was also present at the signing.

    The move marks a major push to take the underdog sport mainstream and give Indian handball players a national stage.

    (If you are an Anime fan and love Anime like Demon Slayer, Spy X Family, Hunter X Hunter, Tokyo Revengers, Dan Da Dan and Slime, Buy your favourite Anime merchandise on AnimeOriginals.com.)

  • Konami marks Holi with efootball event featuring Gurpreet and Jonathan

    Konami marks Holi with efootball event featuring Gurpreet and Jonathan

    Mumbai: Konami Digital Entertainment, B.V. Konami is set to bring the vibrant spirit of Holi to its flagship football simulation, efootball, with a special campaign running from 1 to 26 March 2025. The initiative will highlight India’s thriving efootball community, featuring national football captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and renowned esports player Jonathan Gaming.

    The campaign, which bridges mainstream football and esports, will see Jonathan Gaming play a key role in community engagement, while Sandhu is expected to make a significant announcement during the event. Other top gaming personalities involved include Gamerfleet, Sharkshe, RK Reddy, Snax, and Eagle Gaming.

    At the heart of the celebration is the ‘Goal Ke Rang’ efootball tournament, where players will compete for the title of India’s efootball champion and a €1,000 prize pool. Additional in-game campaigns exclusive to India will also be unveiled.

    Expressing his enthusiasm, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu stated, “Football and gaming both require skill, strategy, and passion, qualities that unite players on and off the pitch. This campaign is an exciting way to celebrate Holi with fans and bring that competitive spirit to efootball.”

    efootball general producer, Makoto Igarashi stated, “This campaign is about uniting football and gaming enthusiasts, whether through competition, collaboration, or the shared love of the sport. India’s efootball community is thriving, and we hope this Holi celebration with Gurpreet, Jonathan, and some of India’s biggest gaming voices makes a lasting impact.”

  • JioHotstar SvoD has unmatched local and global content – Ampere Analysis research

    JioHotstar SvoD has unmatched local and global content – Ampere Analysis research

    MUMBAI: Now, it’s got an endorsement from leading research and data anslysis firm Ampere Analysis.  JioHotstar formed through the merger of Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema, has been given the stamp  of the largest subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) services in the market, boasting over 14,000 movies and TV seasons at launch.

    JioHotstar has a significant advantage in the Indian SVoD market by combining extensive local content with premium Hollywood titles, says the research and data analysis firm in an insight post released on its portal yesterday.   Over 60 per cent of its library consists of locally-produced content, including hit TV shows from Star and Colors TV networks. 

    This aligns with Indian viewers’ strong preference for domestic entertainment, with 62 per cent of surveyed audiences reporting they watch locally-produced movies “very often.” Notable titles in its library include Hanu-Man, the Baahubali films, and reality TV favorite Bigg Boss.

    However, JioHotstar also addresses India’s growing demand for Hollywood movies, a key battleground against Netflix, says Ampere. 

     

    Inda tv shows

    While 41 per cent of surveyed Indian viewers watch Hollywood films “very often,” JioHotstar delivers a vast selection, leveraging Disney’s franchises such as Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, alongside exclusive content from Universal (Oppenheimer, Despicable Me 4), Warner Bros. (Harry Potter, The Dark Knight), and Paramount (Mission: Impossible, Transformers). Additionally, the platform offers popular US TV shows from HBO, Showtime, and Nickelodeon.

    Beyond movies and TV, JioHotstar is set to dominate India’s sports streaming space. The platform holds exclusive rights to three of the country’s most-followed sports events: the Indian Premier League (IPL), Premier League soccer, and Wimbledon. 

    Cricket, India’s most popular sport, is a crucial driver for subscriptions—43  per cent of surveyed respondents follow it avidly. The IPL, in particular, was pivotal to Disney+ Hotstar’s previous subscriber growth, and its loss in 2023 led to a significant decline in subscriptions.

    With a well-balanced mix of local productions, Hollywood blockbusters, and top-tier sports content, JioHotstar emerges as a formidable force in India’s competitive SVoD market.

  • India’s Digital Appetite: A Nation’s Search Habits Decoded

    India’s Digital Appetite: A Nation’s Search Habits Decoded

    MUMBAI: Kantar’s inaugural India in Search report has  revealed a comprehensive transformation in Indian consumer behaviour, painting a portrait of a nation rapidly evolving in its digital sophistication. The report meticulously analysed  data curation of Google search trends, further analysed by mapping emerging themes and topics against the Kantar trend framework matrix. The following are some of the trends that have emerged.

    Sport: Cricket maintained its digital supremacy with 223.4 million monthly searches, but the landscape is diversifying. Women’s cricket has emerged as a powerful force, with searches surging 103 per cent. Traditional sports are gaining ground, with kabaddi up 75 per cent and hockey rising 40 per cent. Community sports have seen particular growth, with pickleball emerging as an unexpected contender alongside badminton.

    Technology: The Mobile Revolution Chinese brands command 52 per cent of smartphone searches, with Samsung, Vivo, and iPhone leading overall volume. Premium devices show remarkable strength, with “Pro” versions seeing a 418 per cent surge. The Redmi 13C 5G dominated growth charts with 1 million searches (up 44,000 per cent), followed by Nothing Phone 2A (823,000 searches, up 37 per cent) and Motorola Edge 50 Fusion (673,000 searches, up 30 per cent).

    Health and Wellness: A Holistic Shift Health queries have evolved beyond traditional concerns. Mental wellbeing and skin health have become prominent, with sensitive skin solutions attracting 5 million searches and pregnancy care reaching 2 million. Digital fitness solutions are preferred, with fitness apps (289,000 searches, up 12 per cent) outpacing personal trainers (307,000 searches, up 2 per cent).

    Travel: The New Explorers Alternative destinations have seen searches rise 49 per cent. Lakshadweep emerged as a surprise beneficiary of diplomatic tensions, with searches soaring 268 per cent. Similar growth appeared for Azerbaijan (268 per cent) and Kazakhstan (226 per cent), reflecting Indians’ growing appetite for unexplored destinations.

    Entertainment and Lifestyle The beauty sector showed dramatic growth in searches for hair colours (715 per cent), serums (419 per cent), and gels (40 per cent). Live entertainment has resurged, with concert searches rising 43 per cent for acts ranging from Coldplay to Diljit Dosanjh.

    Dining and Experiences Fine dining searches have doubled, with Bengaluru leading the trend (416,000 searches, up 104 per cent). The rise in experiential dining suggests a maturing consumer palate and increased disposable income.

    Digital Influence:  Domestic influencers and vloggers have captured public interest (3 million searches, up 47 per cent), outperforming global celebrities (2 million, up 24 per cent). Regional celebrities saw declining interest (754,000 searches, down 11 per cent), suggesting a shift in cultural influence.

    News Consumption:  Major headlines drive 41 per cent of all searches, with financial news around Sensex and NIFTY showing strong interest. The report notes a growing sophistication in news consumption, with readers increasingly balancing mainstream sources with independent digital platforms.

    The analysis, covering November 2023 to October 2024, examined over 400 search topics across 15 categories, offering unprecedented insight into India’s digital behaviour. The findings suggest a nation increasingly comfortable with digital technology, yet maintaining distinct cultural preferences in its online engagement

  • YuppTV bags broadcasting rights for T20 World Cup 2022

    YuppTV bags broadcasting rights for T20 World Cup 2022

    Mumbai: YuppTV, an over-the-top (OTT) South Asian content provider, has acquired the broadcast rights for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, scheduled to take place between 16 October and 13 November.

    YuppTV has bagged the exclusive broadcast rights for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Australia 2022 for 75 countries, including Continental Europe, Malaysia (non-exclusive), Japan, China, Hong Kong (non-exclusive), Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, and Southeast Asia (except Singapore). The tournament will be telecast live over YuppTV’s platform.

    The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 is the 8th edition of the tournament and will be held across seven venues in Australia between 16 October and 13 November. The tournament features 16 teams competing for the world title of T20 champions. A total of 45 matches are scheduled to be played in the tournament.

    YuppTV CEO & founder Uday Reddy said, “Cricket is one of the biggest sports in the entire world, with more than one billion fans situated in different corners of the globe. T20 began as an exciting format, and in recent years, has become one of the most watched and loved forms of the game.”

    He adds, “The exciting match-up between international teams, nation versus nation, for world dominance is guaranteed to be an enthralling experience for viewers, who will be gearing up from the comfort of their homes to watch the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 to support their favourite teams and take them to victory. It brings us immense pleasure to bring the tournament to millions of people across Asia and Europe, and we look forward to having users tune in to the match on our platform to catch all the action live!”

    Fans from across the world await the most anticipated fixture, India vs Pakistan, which will take place on Sunday, 23 October in MCG, Australia. The final match of the tournament is scheduled on 13 November where the winning team will claim the ultimate prize in T20 cricket.

  • “Future of Ultimate Kho Kho looks very promising”: Sony Pictures Networks India’s Rajesh Kaul

    “Future of Ultimate Kho Kho looks very promising”: Sony Pictures Networks India’s Rajesh Kaul

    Mumbai: Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) commenced airing the inaugural edition of Ultimate Kho Kho on 14 August. The final takes place on 4 September. The broadcaster has a five-year deal for the event. SPNI chief revenue officer, distribution and head of sports business Rajesh Kaul is optimistic about the future of the league.

    Speaking with Indiantelevision.com, he said, “All leagues in their nascent years have taken time to grow, and this would also stand true for the Ultimate Kho Kho. That being said, the feedback for the league so far in its first couple of weeks has been great and its future looks very promising.”

    He further added that Kho Kho is one of those sports that has pan-India appeal driven by the fact that it is indigenous to the country. “In our research, a lot of young audiences were playing the game, and the older audiences remembered the game with a lot of nostalgia and fondness. It’s a sport that is widely played in schools by both boys and girls. The fact that the sport doesn’t require any expensive equipment adds to its appeal across all economic sections in society.”

    The broadcaster is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the league gains traction with viewers. There are five language feeds. He noted that Kho Kho is one of the few sports in the country that attracts high interest in both the Hindi-speaking markets as well as the South. “For the first season, we have gone all out with five language feeds – English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi. We also have six teams from across the country that are already garnering a following across the country: Mumbai Khiladis, Chennai Quickguns, Telugu Yoddhas, Gujarat Giants, Odisha Juggernauts, and Rajasthan Warriors.”

    On the sponsorship front, he noted that season one was never going to be about sponsors. “Our efforts are targeted towards putting up a fantastic product which does justice to the sport and attracts viewers. This in turn will lead to sponsors’ interest in the upcoming seasons of Ultimate Kho Kho. It should be mentioned though that in its inaugural year, Ultimate Kho Kho has attracted interest from and brought on board corporates like Adani Group, GMR Group, Capri Global, and KLO Sports, along with Singing Sensation Badshah and the Odisha government in collaboration with steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India to own teams in the league.”

    When asked if Sony would look at taking a stake at some point in a sports league, he said that while the broadcaster is continuously on the lookout for opportunities that might emerge, the primary focus in any partnership is to ensure the best coverage of the sport on our sports channels. “At this point, we are working with our various content partners and leagues that share our vision to provide Indians with the best live coverage of sporting action from India and around the world to our viewers.”

  • adidas, Mirabai Chanu inspire more women to join weightlifting

    adidas, Mirabai Chanu inspire more women to join weightlifting

    Mumbai: With her latest win at Tokyo Olympics 2020, India’s star weightlifter Mirabai Chanu has emerged as an inspiration for countless women who shy away from sports such as weightlifting that are perceived as being male-dominated. Breaking the norm, Chanu chose to go with her strength and passion and took it as a challenge to overcome this bias.

    The sports superstar recently visited the adidas store at Vasant Kunj Promenade mall in Delhi, where she met four aspiring women weightlifters to share with them her narrative of ‘Impossible Is Nothing’. During the interaction, Chanu spent time hearing out their aspirations, the challenges they face and what inspired them to take up weightlifting as a sport.

    Sharing her journey and experiences to motivate them, the Olympics medalist said, “My journey from a remote village to representing our country at an international sporting event clearly showcases that sport doesn’t care about gender or stereotypes. In our society, weightlifting has always been perceived as a male-dominated sport. It took a lot of courage and hard work to break such stereotypes. I want women to dream and believe in themselves to be able to see possibilities.”

    Commenting on Chanu’s victory at the Games, adidas India – senior director, Sunil Gupta added, “We are extremely proud of Mirabai’s success, and it gives us immense pleasure to be a part of her incredible journey. Our aim is to enable all athletes including our partners to achieve their ‘impossible’ by providing them with the best products in training and competition. I hope her success inspires young girls to believe in their dreams and see possibilities of fulfilling them.”

  • Why IPL2020 makes sense for marketers and brands

    Why IPL2020 makes sense for marketers and brands

    MUMBAI: The countdown to the 2020 season of India’s biggest sports extravaganza – the Indian Premier League (IPL) – has begun. Come 19 September, more than a billion eyes will be riveted on their TV screens as the first ball of the first match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings is bowled at 7.30 pm.  It does not get better than this for IPL fans, for whom it will be a revisit of the 2019 finals when the Mumbai lads beat the southern team by a whisker of a run, in a heart-stopping duel.

    The 2020 league, which is one of the most premium in the world, is coming at a time when brands sorely need to get back into the consumer’s mindset. Most marketing mavens believe there has been an erosion in brand love among consumers.  Thanks to the disruption in supply chains, consumers have hitherto been okay with buying products rather than their favourite brands. The percentage of shoppers buying online has leapfrogged, footfalls in brick and mortar stores have dived. The humungous response to the Flipkart and Amazon sales in the past two weeks shows customers want to spend and that demand is there.

    Observers believe that big brands which have refrained or cut back their communication with consumers need to get back with their mesmerising and engaging TV and digital commercials so that the consumer connect gets forged once again.

    “Even as the cases are going up, consumer confidence is slowly but surely coming back,” says Group M head of entertainment and sport Vineet Karnik.

    As time goes by, consumers will increasingly go out, spend and the economy will surely follow, or that is the corollary.

    “Marketers believe the IPL is a good opportunity to give a boost to that consumer sentiment even further,” says IPG Media Brands CEO Shashi Sinha

    Sinha had been quoted sometime back in an interview that the IPL is a tentpole property, the biggest in India. “Television is anyway fragmented. The highest ratings come on IPL in India. IPL is the only platform which allows you that single window to reach masses, audiences. Our brands have consistently used it for some time now,” he had said.

    What will make cricket an even bigger audience builder this year is the fact that viewers have not got to watch Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli play for a large part of 2020. Clearly, the desire for sports has been bottled up and is expected to explode into a frenzy of viewing between September and November. Fans are raring to go and have been tweeting, posting their joy, annoyance and opinions on every social media and blogging platform. 

    All thanks to being locked down courtesy the virus, India and Indians have been consuming more content – video, audio, games and what have you – in heavy doses and binges. Data shows that TV consumption is up over 15 per cent (source: BARC) as compared to pre-Covid2019 times, and it is unlikely to slow down, and in fact will sharply accelerate northwards.

    The BCCI has also rejigged the match timings, which should augur well for TV viewers and advertisers. Instead of 2019’s 4 pm and 8 pm starts, the matches in the UAE will now commence at 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm IST respectively. The 3.30 slot will end up extending into early prime, while the 7.30 pm match will end during peak primetime when audiences will also be at their peak. 

    The biggest USP of the IPL, a media observer points out, is that it provides for a very good advertising environment with less clutter. Ad breaks average 50 seconds, means that four to five TV commercials can be played out.  The free commercial time per hour during the IPL is also limited at 800 seconds per hour, as compared to other genres where it crosses 920 seconds and some time goes up to as high as 1,120 seconds. All this works well for brands as the OTS on commercial and engagement goes up.

    Sinha is as optimistic – if not more – today with IPL’s prospects than he was three months ago. “I genuinely believe the IPL will do very well with viewers,” he said. “Some of our smaller brands are also asking us to put their spends behind it. The advertisers will definitely give it a good shot at giving a good push to their businesses.”

    Shall we say amen to that?

  • Could Baseball Become the Most-Viewed Sport in India?

    Could Baseball Become the Most-Viewed Sport in India?

    It is no surprise to see that cricket has traditionally been the most-watched sport on Indian television. Figures from the FICCI in 2018 showed that wrestling was close to matching it, but cricket is still the sport to beat. 

    For example, the 2016 Indian Premier League Final was watched by around 730 million people in the country. However, some recent developments suggest that baseball could challenge cricket’s superiority in the years to come.

    MLB Is Pushing for More Growth in India  

    Major League Baseball (MLB) is the organisation that runs professional baseball in the US. They are currently pushing hard to grow the sport in other countries around the planet. They already have offices in places such as Japan, Mexico, China, and the UK as they look to open up new markets.

    As part of this, they have opened their first Indian office, in New Delhi. MLB has high hopes that this nation of cricket-lovers will embrace baseball, mainly due to the similarities between the two sports.

    Their plans for expansion also include giving school kids in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore the chance to learn the sport. The MLB First Pitch grassroots programme will see top coaches run workshops in all of these cities. Eventually, 300 cities across the nation could receive visits from baseball coaches.

    Jim Small is the senior vice president of MLB’s international operations. He said that India has “huge potential for us”. Small said that they see the country as being important in the global growth of their brand. They will also be screening American baseball games live on Facebook for Indian fans.

    The Return of the Million Dollar Arm

    Another baseball initiative involves the return of the Million Dollar Arm contest. You may remember that J.B. Bernstein created this challenge, as he looked for future baseball stars. It was shown as a reality show on Zee Sports and eventually led to a major 2014 movie based on the success of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. 

    They became the first Indian men to sign up to pro contracts for a sports team in the US. Neither of them had ever thrown a baseball before entering the contest. Patel joined the Pittsburgh Pirates before returning to India to teach baseball. Singh eventually moved into wrestling and has joined the WWE.

    This contest returned in 2019, as the MLB stepped up their search for new baseball stars. It is hoped that young athletes with a talent for cricket might make the switch to the American sport. At the time of writing, it is unclear whether Million Dollar Arm will return to Indian TV screens in 2020.

    The New Indian Baseball Star

    Another reason that baseball could truly take off her is the success of Karan Patel. In 2019, he became the first player of Indian descent to get drafted into an MLB team. 

    Patel grew up playing cricket and baseball in the US.  He called switching between the two sports a “fun transition”, although it does take him some time to adjust each time that he moves from one to the other.

    His father Kuldeep Patel played for the US cricket team after emigrating there from India. Karan followed in his footsteps by playing for the USA Under-19 cricket team before winning a college scholarship based on his baseball skills.

    He was picked by the Chicago White Sox in the seventh round of the 2019 MLB draft. He now plans to “work as hard as possible” and try to make the team. If he does, then millions of Indians are sure to be keen to tune in and see how he gets on. 

  • adidas by Stella McCartney debuts performance apparel prototypes in continued push to create a more sustainable future for sport

    adidas by Stella McCartney debuts performance apparel prototypes in continued push to create a more sustainable future for sport

    MUMBAI: Today adidas makes strides in the continued drive to solve the problem of product waste with the introduction of two new apparel innovations within adidas by Stella McCartney – the first 100% recyclable hoodie created from garment waste with NuCycl™ fiber by Evrnu and a tennis dress created with Microsilk™ and cellulose blended yarn.

    With the world producing an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste every year1, adidas by Stella McCartney and partners are helping turn this problem into a more sustainable design solution. The new eco-conscious products were developed as part of adidas’ open source approach to creation in collaboration with, Evrnu and Bolt Threads:

    adidas by Stella McCartney Infinite Hoodie was created with advanced textile innovations company Evrnu. The performance garment signals a move towards a reality where products can be completely recycled and repurposed. Using NuCycl™ by Evrnu technology, the Infinite Hoodie is made from 60% NuCycl™ and 40% organic cotton that has been diverted from landfills and can be reused again and again to be remade into high-performance product.

    adidas by Stella McCartney Biofabric Tennis Dress is a prototype concept incubated in partnership with Bolt Threads, a company that specialises in bioengineered sustainable materials and fibres. The tennis dress is the first of its kind, made with cellulose blended yarn and Microsilk™, a protein-based material that is made with renewable ingredients, like water, sugar, and yeast and has the ability to fully biodegrade at the end of its life.

    The inspiration behind the products is simple, create product that not only performs for the athlete, but also for the world at large. To realise this ambition, adidas is exploring ways to minimise waste via three focus areas:

    Made with Repurposed Plastic targets one of the biggest challenges facing the brand today – reducing the dependency on virgin use plastics and CO2 emissions associated with production. The first solution to this problem was seen in 2015 with the launch of the first adidas x Parley prototype shoe, created from upcycled marine plastic waste and illegal deep-sea gillnets. In the four years since, adidas has built a supply chain for scale and will make 11 million pairs of shoes using Parley Ocean Plastic by the end of 2019, with the goal to use only recycled polyester in products by 2024.

    Made to be Remade is the next step, creating a completely circular loop where products won’t end up on beaches or landfills in the first place. Through closed systems, raw materials can be broken down and remade into high performance sportswear, as seen earlier this year with the launch of FUTURECRAFT.LOOP, a recyclable performance running shoe that can be returned and repurposed into another shoe, and today with the reveal of the adidas by Stella McCartney Infinite Hoodie.

    Made to Biodegrade is the future-gazing ambition to create a bionic loop where products have the capability of being completely biodegradable and return to the natural ecosystem. Using materials developed from natural resources or made from cells and proteins in a lab, as seen with the adidas by Stella McCartney Biofabric Tennis Dress concept, adidas has demonstrated the possibility to create products using materials that are made with nature, and is a step in the brand’s journey to explore innovative solutions that can, at some point, also return to nature. 

    James Carnes, Vice President of Strategy Creation at adidas, said: “Creating products with upcycled plastic waste was our first step. The next challenge is to end the concept of waste entirely. Focusing on three core areas, we will explore ways to create products that can either be fully recyclable or biodegradable.  We don’t have all the answers and we know we can’t do it alone. By collaborating with partners who share our same vision, as we’ve done with Evrnu and Bolt Threads, we can combine adidas’ sports industry expertise with specialist knowledge to bring about a waste-free world.”

    Stella McCartney, said:“Fashion is one of the most harmful industries to the environment. We can’t wait any longer to search for answers and alternatives. By creating a truly open approach to solving the problem of textile waste, we can help empower the industry at large to bring more sustainable practices into reality. With adidas by Stella McCartney we’re creating high performance products that also safeguard the future of the planet.”

    The unveiling of the Infinite Hoodie and Biofabric Tennis Dress coincide with the launch of the adidas by Stella McCartney Fall/Winter 2019 collection which features innovative fabrics, created in more sustainable ways without compromising performance of style.