Mumbai: Gaurav Khetan has joined homegrown microblogging site Koo as vice president-business, as per his updated LinkedIn profile.
Khetan was last associated with Star Sports as vice president, rights acquisitions and strategy. He managed various portfolios in his nine-year stint at the Star network channel.
Prior to Star Sports, Khetan had a four-year stint at PwC as a business consultant, working on CXO suite projects across industry sectors.
He is an alumnus of IIM, Ahemdabad.
Mumbai: Star Sports brings back #SelectDugoutDebate for its fourth edition with new teams and a previous winner and Dugout expert Brett Lee as the adjudicator. The one-hour special will be aired on 14 October, starting at 7 p.m.
The experts of the game will put their minds together to predict the winner of the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL). The show will be aired on Star Sports Select 1, Star Sports 1, Star Sports 2, and Disney+ Hotstar.
Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) boys Scott Styris, Abhinav Mukund, and S Badrinath form ‘Team Scotty’ who will go up against Dugout panelists Graeme Swann, Brian Lara, and Ajit Agarkar from ‘Team Swanny’ for pride, glory, never-ending banter, and ultimate bragging rights. “I look forward to defending my title. We won last year because we easily proved why Mumbai Indians would beat Delhi Capitals, which they did. Swann is taking over from Brett Lee and hopefully, his team provides a greater challenge,” said Styris.
Scotty Swanny, the battle is about to commence in the #SelectDugout!
With @BrettLee_58 playing adjudicator, find out who will land the knockout in the #SelectDugoutDebate:
Oct 14, 7 PM | Star Sports 1/1HD/2/2HD/Select 1/Select 1HD pic.twitter.com/jNnx6B94M2
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 12, 2021
The debate follows a unique T20 format, with four segments: Powerplay, Middle overs, Death Overs, and a Bonus Round: Super Over – each of these modern greats and legends will speak for ‘their finalist team’ to score points. The Dugout experts will present their case on their respective teams and why they believe their team is going to win the IPL. The teams will dive deep into the wealth of analytical data available to them at Star Sports and look to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of both the finalists of Vivo IPL 2021.
“Once more the #SelectDugoutDebate is here. I yearn for strong opposition but will have to make do with Scott. The dugout debate is bigger than the IPL itself,” said Graeme Swann.
Mumbai: Star Plus trumped close rivals Sun TV and Star Maa to emerge as the most viewed channel in Barc week 38 (between 18 and 24 September). The three channels have been fighting it out for the top position for several weeks, with the regional GECs dominating the list for the past three weeks.
This week Star Plus clocked 2744.83 (‘000s) AMAs as against 2719.62 (‘000s) last week when it was at the second position. Tamil major Sun TV was next with weekly AMAs of 2650.54 (‘000s). 2512.05 AMAs secured the third spot for Telugu GEC Star Maa.
Colors and Star Utsav clinched the fourth and fifth position. Riding high on IPL viewership, Star Sports 1 Hindi made a direct entry as the sixth most-watched channel in week 38. Sony SAB, Star Vijay, Star Pravah, and Zee TV grabbed the remaining four spots.
Sun TV led the tally in the mega cities with 459.74 AMAs. Star Plus, Colors, Star Vijay, and Sony SAB followed. With weekly AMAs of 2644.6 (‘000s), Sun TV was the top performer in the South Market as well. Star Maa, Star Vijay, Zee Kannada, and Zee Telugu were at positions two, three, four, and five respectively.
Maharashtra/Goa showed a clear preference for Star Pravah which bagged 1507.05 AMAs. With 1076.13 AMAs, Zee Bangla toppled long-time leader Star Jalsha to clinch the top spot in West Bengal. The latter slipped to the second spot.
At 419.59 AMA, Tarang was the most viewed channel in Odisha, Zee Kannada in Karnataka (1461.09), Star Utsav in Rajasthan (245.59), and Zee Anmol (355.23) in UP/Uttarakhand.
Mumbai: Star India Network has reported that it is on track to breach 400 million viewers’ mark on TV, for the fourth year in a row. The tournament so far has garnered 380* million viewers until match 35, 12* million higher than IPL 2020 at the same stage. The TV viewer aggregation is higher than the last three editions of the tournament, since 2018.
The second phase of IPL 2021 got off to a brisk start with viewer engagement levels also being at a healthy average of 32 per cent** on a per match basis – at par with IPL 2020, according to Star Sports.
“We are proud to have delivered IPL to over 380 million viewers for the fourth time in a row,” said a spokesperson from Star Sports. “The last two occasions have been special as we navigated unprecedented circumstances and overcame challenges in bringing IPL to fans in the comfort of their homes.”
Star India has adopted a strategy of regionalisation and customer segmentation, whereby the tournament is presented in eight different languages to cater to viewers in different states and regions and two additional customised match-feeds to cater to specific consumer segments.
The broadcaster has also created a slate of programming around the tournament including BYJU’s Cricket Live, Cricket Countdown and Game Plan. There are also a roster of franchise shows such as Knight Club (Kolkata Knight Riders), Inside RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore), The Super Kings Show (Chennai Super Kings), MITV (Mumbai Indians) and Ye Hai Nayi Dilli (Delhi Capitals). The consumption of IPL 2021 including Star Sports’ pre-match programming stands at 242 billion minutes.
(*On 2+U+R basis for TV only figures – first 35 matches; ** On M15+AB Urban for TV only – first 35 matches) [Source: Barc India]
Mumbai: The match between Manchester United and Newcastle United on 11 September, which marked the return of Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo, garnered four times the reach of an average Premier League match this season, according to data by Star Sports. It became the most viewed game of the Premier League in India over the past five years, the channel said.
The hosts (Manchester United) led a 4-1 victory against Newcastle United at the Old Trafford stadium. Ronaldo’s return has been eagerly anticipated at Old Trafford after he signed a stunning deal with Man United that booked his ticket back from Juventus.
Manchester United will next square off with Aston Villa at Old Trafford on 25 September.
Star Sports has launched a campaign ‘Sunday Night Football’ to bring viewers the best of footballing action. The viewing-friendly Sunday night primetime slot will air some of the most anticipated matches of the Premier League. The broadcaster steps into regionalisation with dedicated feeds in Bangla and Malayalam for key Premier League matches over the weekend.
Mumbai: Star Sports, in association with ICC, has released an official anthem called “Live the Game” for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The campaign is conceptualised by Star’s creative team and it highlights how the game of cricket transcends boundaries to bring fans across the globe together.
International animation agencies Bat Collective and Red Knuckles were roped to execute the animation in the video along with Bollywood music director Amit Trivedi who composed the sports anthem. “Cricket has been my favourite sport and it was a pleasure to create the anthem for ICC T20 World Cup. The track is quite upbeat, and I hope it resonates well with the youth and cricket fans,” said Trivedi.
The cricket tournament will be available to watch on Star Sports network and Disney+ Hotstar VIP.
“The Men’s T20 World Cup is one of the biggest events on the global sports landscape. Its stature and allure serve as the ideal platform to recruit new fans, re-engage old ones, and bolster the game’s connect,” said Star and Disney India head of sports Sanjog Gupta. “The USP of this campaign is the visual rendition of the invite and its trendy music amplifying the immersive #LiveTheGame proposition.”
“Cricket has more than a billion fans around the world, and we wanted to put our young fans in the heart of the action alongside their heroes and allow them to live the game,” said ICC general manager for marketing and communications Claire Furlong. “Partnering with Star Sports and Amit Trivedi to create the animation and music for the campaign has given us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the fact that India is our host despite the event being staged in Oman and the UAE.”
Mumbai: The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 14 finally resumed on Sunday with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beating Mumbai Indians (MI) in the first match. The cricket bonanza, which got suspended mid-way in May due to the second wave of Covid has returned to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) yet again, with Star Sports telecasting all the live-action.
Despite the brief hiatus, the channel has managed to board a strong lineup of broadcast and streaming sponsors for the second leg of the tournament. For broadcast partners, Star has roped Dream11, PhonePe, BYJUs, Ajio, and JioFiber as ‘co-presenting’ sponsors and Bingo, Kamla Pasand, Mutual Funds Sahi Hai, Asian Paints, CRED, Prime Video, Dairy Milk, Thums Up, Garnier Men, and Upstox as ‘associate’ sponsors.
Its streaming partners include Dream11 as ‘co-presenting sponsor’; Vimal Pan Masala and Upstox are ‘powered by’ sponsors; and Unacademy, PhonePe, Mutual Funds Sahi Hai, Livespace, Swiggy, Amazon.in, Volkswagen, and Fresh To Home have joined as ‘associate’ sponsors.
There is Deja-vu, as the celebrated cricket league is once again being held in the second half of the year coinciding with the festive season. Advertising spends traditionally see a surge twice in the calendar year coinciding with the IPL in H1 during March-May and with the festive season in H2 between September-November.
Many strategic factors determine brand associations with the IPL. Some brands want to piggyback on the enormous reach garnered by the T20 series. Others may associate with the tournament because it fits the brand ethos. There is a multitude of industry-related factors that marketers take into consideration. For example, food delivery brands associate with IPL because average order volumes generally spike when cricket matches are being played.
The timing of the IPL is another important factor to consider. For example, beverage brands which are traditionally one of the top advertisers on IPL, associate with the sports property because it coincides with the peak summer months. Similarly, paint brands also associate with IPL as many consumers plan to paint their homes during summer before the monsoon begins.
According to the data provided by TAM Sports, a division of TAM Media Research, over 100 brands were advertised on the IPL 2019 and 2020 editions out of which 56 were common categories. The top advertiser categories during IPL 2019 were mobile handsets, auto, digital wallets, beverage, online gaming brands, paints, perfumes/deodorant, food/grocery delivery, pan masala, and OTT/social media brands.
The category contribution among the top ten advertisers did not change significantly during IPL 13 with seven brands in common, however, the digital brands increased their share of overall spends. The top advertisers included mobile handsets, online gaming, digital wallets, OTT/social media, ed-tech, telecom, e-commerce, auto, pan masala, and beverage brands.
It should be noted that the top ten advertisers of IPL 12 and 13 contributed 55 per cent and 61 per cent of ad volumes, respectively.
Ad volumes of categories such as perfume/deodorant and air conditioners saw an obvious decline at 97 per cent and 96 per cent, respectively when IPL 13 no longer coincided with the summer season. Similarly, beverage brands also saw degrowth of 55 per cent.
The mobile handset category, which was the top advertiser for both the 12 and 13 editions, saw an ad volume decline of 46 per cent for the 13th edition because Vivo, one of the top advertisers, was missing from the tournament. Auto advertiser’s ad volumes decreased by 54 per cent due to stress in the overall sector.
The ad volumes for e-commerce and telecom grew tremendously by 400 per cent and 300 per cent, respectively, capitalising on the transition to digital forced by the pandemic conditions. Categories such as ed-tech, OTT/social media, and online gaming increased their ad volumes by 75 per cent, 32 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, to ride the digital wave.
“This phase of IPL 2021 is going to be equally big or supersede phase one in terms of ratings and revenue. The entry cost is relatively very less considering it’s a high-impact property that is coinciding with the festival period once again, hence it will be bigger for advertisers than last year. We estimate that the overall festive spends would increase by 20-25 per cent over 2020,” said Havas Media Group India, president, and national head, R. Venkatasubramanian.
According to a study by Havas Media and YouGov, during the first leg of IPL 14 (2021), e-commerce category was the top advertiser for the tournament followed by consumer durables and the auto sector. Food delivery, online gaming, and ed-tech brands were also highly visible during the tournament.
“Every category is going gung-ho to advertise on cricket and its offshoots. Last year, Star Sports attached a premium to inventory because IPL was creating some kind of excitement for the ecosystem. This year’s edition would definitely see an increase in revenue realisation by 10-20 per cent over last year. Advertisers won’t be deterred by the fact that the tournament has been scheduled for the second half of the year. In fact, brands will have a tougher time with recall as a lot more advertisers are fighting to be associated with IPL,”said SYSKA Group, chief marketing officer, Amit Sethiya.
Mumbai: Higher edtech brand upGrad has announced its association with Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar for the second phase of the 14th edition of the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
The company is set to unveil its campaign on 19 September, which will run till 15 October in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada to connect with the wider audience, it said in a statement.
“With the cricket frenzy setting in, we aim to launch our campaign during the tournament to develop a deeper connection with our pan-Indian audience and narrate the significance of outcome-oriented life-long learning as a means to achieve career growth and success,” said upGrad India CEO Arjun Mohan.
“Vivo IPL has been a high-impact platform that sees unparalleled scale across both TV and digital screens,” said Star & Disney India head of ad sales Nitin Bawankule. “The reach, ratings and impressions are testimony to the power and impact that the property commands and it will be the biggest opportunity for marketers to leverage this upcoming festive season.”
Mumbai: Star Sports, the broadcaster for the Premier League 2021-22 season that began airing on 14 August, has launched a new campaign to bring back ‘Sunday Night Football’. Featuring Ranveer Singh as ‘Captain SNF’, the promo encourages fans to salvage their mundane Sunday nights by watching football on Star Sports Select.
Conceptualised and created by Star Sports’ in-house team, ‘Sunday Night Football’ is a programming slot launched by the broadcaster, where every Sunday evening primetime slot will showcase some of the most exciting games of the season. The channel aired the match between Leeds United vs Liverpool on 12 September.
“India has strong pockets of passion for football and the Premier League has a growing fan base with deep affinity,” said Star and Disney India head of sports Sanjog Gupta. “To continue the growth momentum, we feel the league’s long season needs more frequent apertures for core and casual fans to engage more deeply with it. The viewing-friendly, Sunday night primetime slot will witness some of the biggest games through the season and ‘Sunday Night Football’ will serve as the unmissable weekly destination for all PL & football fans.”
Mumbai: Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the US Open 2021, has launched a promo ‘The Wonderland of Tennis’ ahead of the event held between 30 August and 12 September. The event will start airing from 8:30 p.m. onwards on Star Sports Select.
The US Open marks the fourth and final major event that makes up the annual Grand Slam of tennis. Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic are the defending champions for this year’s tournament.
The last player to achieve a Calendar Slam was Rod Laver in 1969 and Stefanie Graf in 1988. Currently, Djokovic has drawn level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with 20 Grand Slam singles titles under his belt. The promo by Star Sports focuses on Djokovic who first lifted the US Open title in 2018 and has claimed the first three major championships of the year well on his way to achieve a Calendar Grand Slam, that is, winning all four major championships in one discipline in the same calendar year.
The epitome of greatness is all set to create history this US Open. Don’t miss it! #TennisWonderland
STAY TUNED | Starts 30th August : 8:30 PM onwards, only on Star Sports Select 1/Select 1HD | Star Sports Select 2/Select 2HD | Disney+Hotstar pic.twitter.com/QeTrupsdpT
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) August 28, 2021
“Tennis enjoys a niche but dedicated following in India. And for Tennis fans, nothing is bigger than the grand slams,” said Star and Disney India, head – sports, Sanjog Gupta. “Star Sports Select & Disney+ Hotstar are proud to host the last slam of the year as it always delivers enthralling contests, heroic feats, and compelling narratives. This year, the spotlight is squarely on Novak Djokovic as he strives to become only the 6th player in history to win a calendar grand slam and to lift his 21st title, going past Federer & Nadal as the man with most grand slam wins.”
Alexander Zverev is expected to be a major contender for this year’s title. The German clinched his first Olympic singles gold medal in Tokyo beating Russia’s Karen Khachanov. Daniil Medvedev returns to US Open 2021 as the second seed. He was a finalist in the 2019 edition of the tournament losing to Rafael Nadal.
In the women’s field, Ashleigh Barty will enter the tournament after winning Wimbledon and Cincinnati Open in a row and is one of the major contenders for the title along with Naomi Osaka.