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Tag: U Sports

  • U Mumba ropes in 6 sponsors, 3 partners for Pro Kabaddi League 7

    U Mumba ropes in 6 sponsors, 3 partners for Pro Kabaddi League 7

    MUMBAI: U Mumba, the franchise owned by U Sports which is helmed by Ronnie Screwvala and Supratik Sen, got 6 sponsors and 3 partners on board for the upcoming Season 7 of the Pro Kabaddi League that starts on 20 July. While a few brands have been associated with U Mumba in prior seasons as well, a few new ones have deals across all the sport franchises under U Sports.

    The categories of sponsorship have been taken by the following: Indigo Paints as Presenting Sponsor, Haldirams as Powered by Sponsor, Mitashi as Electronics Partner, BKT Tires as Off Highway Tire Partner, Flamingo as Pain Management Partner, Je & Vee Infrastructure as Infrastructure Partner and Vihan Switches as Electric partner. In fact, Indigo paints was Presenting sponsor for U Mumba in season 6 as well. A few more sponsors are expected to come on board as the season begins.

    U Mumba also has Radio City as Radio Partner, Superfan AI as Fan Engagement Partner, Gold’s Gym as Fitness Partner, Dome@NSCI, SVP Stadium as Venue Partner and PayTM/Insider.in as Ticketing Partner for a second year running.

    Flamingo, flagship brand of Ascent Meditech Ltd. has backed U Sports not only in kabaddi, but also in volleyball (U Mumba Volley) and table tennis (U Mumba TT)

    As a brand, U Mumba looks to grow along with its partner brands. U Mumba believes in ensuring all brands get their desired visibility, engagement and more. It’s evident from the fact that some of our partners are with us in concurrent seasons.

    U Sports co-founder and MD, Supratik Sen said, "We are pleased to have all these sponsor and partner brands on board for season 7 of the Pro Kabaddi League. All our partner brands and sponsors share similar mindsets and ethos as U Sports, and we hope to have an engagement with them that is deeper than just being sponsors. As always, U Mumba has always engaged the right audiences and thus facilitates maximum traction for our sponsors! With strong brands like these backing the team, we will definitely do our best to live up to their and the fans expectations and reach for top honors.”

    Indigo Paints managing director Hemant Jalan said, "We have been a part of the U Mumba journey for a while now and the relationship has been nothing short of amazing. It is important to have similar mindset and goals. The engagement we got last season was wonderful and we’re looking to do more this season. The team over the seasons has shown tremendous progress and we could not be prouder to be associated with a team like U Mumba. Hoping for yet another successful season this time too!"

    Haldirams Food International Pvt Ltd, director, Neeraj Agrawal said, “We are extremely pleased to be a sponsor of U Mumba for the upcoming Season 7. Kabaddi is the most iconic & lovable sports after cricket in India, and in over the years PKL has grown as one of the biggest sporting properties, and we are proud to be part of it, U Mumba and our brand have perfect synergy. This is our first season with U Mumba, and we are as excited as the team is! We believe the team will deliver the best of their skills & conclude at the top order. On behalf of Haldirams family, I wish them all the very best”

    Ascent Meditech Ltd, founder and MD, Flamingo, Rajiv Mistry said, ‘’Pro Kabaddi, an action-packed platform for brands has changed the media consumption pattern among Indians drastically over the past seasons. Kabaddi players have now become household names and carry with them huge followers, who are majorly millennial. With Kabaddi or with any sporting activity, come injuries and pain. Flamingo, the official pain management partner of U Mumba would play a crucial role in comforting the pain among the players with its quality products thereby enabling them to excel in their pursuits and help emerge Kabaddi as the winner. He adds, Kabaddi acted as the perfect fit as Flamingo products are used by everyday consumers across age who strives to progress and refuse to stare at defeat due to niggles and pain.’’

    BKT Tires joint managing director Rajiv Poddar said, “Having been associated with 8 Kabaddi teams last season and receiving a fantastic response from our stakeholders, we are delighted to continue our association with Kabaddi this year as well. Being able to support some of the most competitive Kabaddi teams in the country is a matter of pride for BKT Tires. The U Mumba team has had great success over the past seasons, and we are delighted to be able to partner with the team this season.”

    Mitashi Edutainment Pvt. Ltd. founder and CMD, Rakesh Dugar said, “With longstanding associations with cricket and football, Mitashi is excited to collaborate with the U Mumba team for the 7th edition of the Pro Kabaddi League 2019. We share the team’s ethos and ideology with focus on hard work, companionship and sportsmanship. We encourage the promotion of home-grown talent and sports across India and Internationally. We are confident that our U Mumba team shall come through with flying colours and shall win the trophy in this edition of the PKL 2019."

    Vihan Electric Private Limited director Devendra Kumar Jain said, "We are very excited to be associated with U Mumba and are sure the journey is going to be a long lasting and fruitful one for both parties. As a team, U Mumba is young and motivated and that reflects on our brand energy too."

    Je & Vee Infrastructure MD Vinay Singh said, “At Je & Vee Infrastructure, as someone who believes in quality and excellence in everything we do, we see U Mumba is the one team that shares the same values. By partnering with them, we hope to connect with the common Mumbaikar and build long term relationships not only with audiences but with the team as well! We look forward to the next 3 months and more!”

  • Esports industry expected to reach $3 bn by 2021

    Esports industry expected to reach $3 bn by 2021

    MUMBAI: When everything is going online, what’s there to stop sports? With improved internet speed, smartphone penetration, government digital push and highest youth population, Esports in India has the right territory for growth.

    In the third edition of Times of India Global Sports Show (GSS) 2018, industry experts came together to discuss about “Unlocking potential: The eSports revolution in India”.

    The state of esports industry over the next three to five years is estimated to grow by 5.3 per cent in Asia and 9.4 per cent in Middle East and Africa (ME&A) according to PwC Sports Survey 2018.

    Esports is a subculture that is just growing. It is the sport of the new generation. In India, it is played on multiple platforms like Voot, Hotstar, Youtube and Twitch.

    Tencent GM Aneesh Arvind said, “Once you have a large enough mass in a region or a country then I would think it’s a matter of time to really become big. The three things we can do from our side to make it really popular are the infrastructure, devices and data where people can play and watch others play.

    The recent sensational game made by Tencent Games is PlayerUnknown’s Battleground’s (PUBG) Mobile, which has crossed 100 million downloads.

    “We have such a large player base in India that all the assumptions we used to have in the gaming industry doesn’t hold true anymore. We have built the game and the ecosystem around it by doing TV commercials, advertisement in different media, got influencers on board,” Arvind added.

    U Sports AVP-brands and partnerships Tushaar Garg said that esports was the first they spotted when they looked for new investment. “The first season of UCypher was to create awareness and created a docu-drama series format. We looked at two thing that is the big massive fan base in terms of demographics as we have a very young population below the age of 35 and biggest smartphone market after the US. We took the most popular title like DOTA, Tekken and Counter-Strike.”

    “We packaged UCypher in such a way that the actual user gets tri-fold offering i.e., career, content and community and with that, we also looked at how we can mass-ify it,” Garg added.

    Esports for the first time became a part of a major sporting event in 2018 Asian Games Jakarta as a demonstration sports. This was announced by Asian Esports Federation (AESF). 10 Indian gamers qualified for the event.

    According to Tencent, Esports is a video game, which is played competitively with rewards attached to it and an ecosystem where people are ready to watch that.

    Nodwin Gaming MD Akshat Rathee asked the panel whether it a monetisation time or a growth time for esports in India to which Garg said, “I think for us it is an investment time. As a company which is building IPs we are very clear that for the next 3-5 year time frame we have to invest in the fan base, create the infrastructure getting the right stakeholder and the right federations.”

    According to UK-based Juniper Research, the advertising spend will dominate in terms of revenue and spend (accounting for 50 per cent in 2022).

    In 2018, the market size of esports is supposed to be $900 million and in 2021 it is likely to reach $3 billion. “We as the esports industry are trying to figure out ways in which we can grow and models of monetisation,” Arvind added.

    “We are the only sport in the world which is not run by the federation because the publisher owns the trademark of the game,” Rathee concluded.

  • U cypher scores 26 mn views, 2.3 mn engagegemnts & 9.2 lakh fans in season one

    U cypher scores 26 mn views, 2.3 mn engagegemnts & 9.2 lakh fans in season one

    MUMBAI: The Indian E-Sports scenario just had a boost with season one of U Cypher with MTV, India’s first Multi-Game Multi-Platform E-Sports Championship, that premiered on MTV earlier this year. Backed by Ronnie Screwvala along with Supratik Sen, the first season of India’s premier E-Sports championship saw over 2.3 million engagements and built over 9.2 lakh fans on social media over the course of the campaign, a strong force to the aim of having E-Sports recognized a mainstream discipline called E-Sport.

    Being the first E-Sports series in India, packaged for serious gamers as well as casual gamers, the course of the campaign included various marketing pieces which received tremendous response across the country. The U Cypher with MTV campaign received a total of 26.3 million video views. They also created a first of its kind E-Sports music video ‘Hum Gamer Hain’ which garnered 10 million views as well as international e-sports fame. Apart from this, they even looped in popular social media influencer, Jose, to curate a video which garnered over 133k views.

    Aside from creating a positive perception amongst the target group through television, the digital episodes have skyrocketed with the first episode garnering 119k views till date. 80% of the audiences for season one was between 10-24 age group which came from cities across India including cities like Srinagar, Guwahati and Dehradun. This goes to show how the sport has its roots across India and has got a tremendous boost, thanks to this platform.

    Commenting on the success, U Sports, Founder, Ronnie Screwvala said, “The first season of U Cypher was an absolute delight for gamers in India. The campaign, primarily digital, succeeded in building perception in the minds of the audiences that E-Sports and U Cypher are the next big phenomenon to hit India. We already received over 1600 quality player’s participation requests for the next series. We have opened doors for talented players and are only moving in a positive direction to making many, many careers.”

    U Sports, CEO & Co-Founder, Supratik Sen added, “The overall project and campaign did phenomenally well to garner such fantastic response for a first of its kind televised E-Sports experience. The strategy was a tough ask to capture not only the heavy gamer, but also the casual gamers towards the series. Our plan was strategized keeping all audiences in mind, from metro cities to tier 2 markets and the response only reinforces the fact that we are in the right direction! The next instalment in U Cypher will be announced soon, which will be bigger and will have lots more to watch out for!” 

    In its first season, U Cypher had 6 teams, with 14 members in each team. Each episode included two teams face off across titles like DOTA 2 and CS: GO on PC, Real Cricket on mobile and Tekken 7 on PS4 with a prize pool of a whooping INR 51 Lakhs. All U Cypher episodes and gameplay are digitally available on usports.in, Voot, YouTube, YouTube Gaming and Twitch.

  • U Cypher with MTV: a stunnig finale concludes with team yakshas taking the inaugural season’s title

    U Cypher with MTV: a stunnig finale concludes with team yakshas taking the inaugural season’s title

    MUMBAI: Boosting the E-Sports scene in India, the intense, gruelling 34-day U Cypher championship finally ended with team Yakshas bagging top honours. They defeated the Sherdils in a thrilling match that went into overtime, a befitting season finale. Kicked off as an intense month-long championship on India’s No. 1 youth brand, MTV, U Cypher finale was a special 90-minute episode that witnessed the two teams battle it out to a cliff-hanger finish. Team Yakshas emerged as the ‘Naye Superstars’ of virtual gaming and were crowned U Cypher with MTV Champions for the debut season.

    The finale started off with an easy win in Tekken 7 for Hans from Sherdils, who has remained undefeated throughout the tournament. The next game, CS:GO, was also won by team Sherdils to bring their score to 8 points, half-way through the match. The Yakshas upped their game soon after to pick up wins in both DOTA 2 as well as Real Cricket 17, bringing the match to a tie. The tie-breaker toss went in favour of the Sherdils who chose CS:GO as the decider game. Relentless focus and shrewd strategizing from the Yakshas saw them win the match in the third overtime 22-18, to be crowned U Cypher Season 1 Champions.

    The first season of U Cypher saw some incredibly talented players, as well as great team-work across all teams. Hans bagged the Most Valuable Player of the championship. Shubham More won 9 out of 10 games in Real Cricket 17, both teams Yakshas and Yodhas won 7 out of 10 DOTA 2 matches, while Akramaks won 8 out of 10 CS: GO matches played in the tournament.

    In the overall standings, Yakshas and Sherdils were followed by the Marksmen and Akramaks in third and fourth place respectively.

    Vivek “Acrid” Gore, the winning team Yakshas’ Captain, says “It’s a dream come true to win one of the biggest E-Sports tournaments in India. U Cypher has been a life-altering moment for all of us. The championship was very well organized and felt like an international tournament. The key moments for Yakshas were working on strategies together, practising and making new friends for life. We were focused and had only one aim right from the beginning, to become the champions for the first ever season. I look forward to being back in the next season.”

    U Sports, Founder, Ronnie Screwvala comments “I would like to congratulate Team Yakshas who constantly proved themselves to arise the reigning champions that they are today. Also, a word of appreciation for the other teams who put up an amazing fight till the very end. They may have lost the tournament but have won all our hearts with their skill, passion and determination. Our endeavour was to give talented young E-Sports athletes an audience with the country and raise awareness for E-Sports to be recognized as a sports discipline. U Cypher in its first season itself met with great interest across the country and made the world take notice. Hope the fans enjoyed the series.”

    Commenting on the conclusion of the show, Viacom18, Head – Youth, Music and English Entertainment, Ferzad Palia said, “Pulling off a totally new genre on television was a big challenge for us but the kind of response we have garnered for a first of its kind, multi-platform, multi-game E-Sports championship is beyond anything we ever imagined! Over the past one month, U Cypher with MTV has changed the E-Sports scenario in India. The overwhelming response has assured us that India is ready for such format, and we hope to continue bringing such cluster breaking content to our viewers. As we close the first season of the show, we would not only like to congratulate Team Yakshas for a fantastic win, but also the other teams who have contributed in the overall success of the season.” 

    U Sports, Co-founder and CEO, Supratik Sen says “The highly competitive nature and high-speed spectacle of the sport made U Cypher a thrilling experience for players and viewers across the world. Our aim in introducing E-sports and positioning it as a new sport has garnered worthy traction from various places worldwide. Season one set the benchmark high with team Yakshas victory. My commendations to team Yakshas and all the player in the tournament. They are all E-sports Superstars. The viewers have perceived the show well and our inbox is flooded with requests to participate in the next season. We hope the nation had a great game with U Cypher season 1. We’ll be back soon with more on the next season.”

    U Cypher as a championship has gathered momentum in India. It has laid the foundation to break the stereotype, thus changing the perception that was and that E-Sports in India is now becoming a long-term career prospect for gamers as it is internationally. The aspiration is to nurture the sport and motivate budding young gamers giving them a platform to showcase their talent and compete at the international level.

  • U Cypher begins new innings for e-sports in India

    U Cypher begins new innings for e-sports in India

    MUMBAI: The Indian e-sports scene is all set for a major revamp as U Sports, one of the newly formed sports business companies in India, launched U Cypher, the country’s first multi-platform, multi-game e-sports championship that started airing on MTV 19 January onwards.

    “U Cypher took around two years to plan, which includes thinking about a nice game, searching and auditioning the right team, spreading the right word and also licence tie-ups,” said U Sports CEO and co-founder Supratik Sen. The execution took another six months.

    U Sports focuses on some main sporting disciplines: kabaddi, football, e-sports and motorsports. The company also owns the UMumba team in the Pro Kabbadi League.

    “Motorsports is in the planning stage and a lot of infrastructure needs to be created on the racing track. We want to make it like a tourist destination sport, we don’t want to stick to a place and make racing tracks,” said U Sports founder Ronnie Screwvala. “The planning is in two stages, starting with global and local experts and bike riders to talking to three or four top bike companies in the world in their interest, and support from the state government for the infrastructure,” he added. 

    U Cypher’s ambition is to present a platform to talented gamers that helps them achieve their maximum potential as well as shape their career in e-sports leagues.

    “The first season is not live but recorded because we wanted the non-gamers to understand it well,” said Screwvala. “On the digital front, our deal is revenue sharing and with MTV it is content exchange and airtime sales. On the print side, we will have some ads on The Times of India and Hindustan Times.” 

    The first season of U Cypher has six teams, with 14 members in each team, competing for a total prize money of Rs 51 lakh. The combat zone orbits around four games, namely Counter Strike: GO and DOTA 2 on PC and Tekken 7 on PS4 and Real Cricket 2017 on mobile. The championship is available digitally on U sports.in, YouTube, Twitch, and Voot. Season one consists of 35 episodes.

    Sen said that the company has tracked closed to 200 tournaments pan India, in various colleges fest, cafes and small areas. U Cypher will be a bi-annual tournament with total investment of Rs 20-25 crore.

    The combined e-sports and gaming market is estimated to be Rs 3900 crore with more than 2000 teams consistently participating in tournaments across India and abroad with over 50 crore players worldwide.

    “The difference between U Sports and other sports companies in India today is that some of them are into a single sport, some are the team owners in a league and some of them own a league but we are a combination of all these elements,” Screwvala added.

    The gamers have been divided into six teams for the league—Yakshas, Yodhas, Sherdils, Crusaders, Marksmen and Akramaks. Most of the gamers for the first season are from Mumbai.

    Also Read :

    U Sports launches India’s first ever Multi-Platform Multi-Game E-Sports Championship – U Cypher with MTV

    PKL sponsors and partners cross 100-mark

  • U Sports launches India’s first ever Multi-Platform Multi-Game E-Sports Championship – U Cypher with MTV

    U Sports launches India’s first ever Multi-Platform Multi-Game E-Sports Championship – U Cypher with MTV

    MUMBAI: The Indian E-Sports scenario is all set for a major revamp as U Sports, one of India’s biggest sports business companies in association with India’s No. 1 Youth Brand, MTV, announces the premiere of their all new month-long championship, U Cypher with MTV. Premiering today, on 19th January, the show will air every day from 10pm to 11pm on MTV.

    Backed by Ronnie Screwvala (Founder, U Sports) and Supratik Sen (Co-Founder & CEO, U Sports), the Indian E-Sports scenario is all set for a major revamp with U Cypher with MTV. The league is a first of its kind, multi-platform, multi-game E-Sports championship which comprises of 35 episodes. In its first season, U Cypher with MTV will have 6 teams with 14 members in each team. Each episode will have two teams face off across titles like DOTA 2 and CS: GO on PC, Real Cricket 2017 on mobile and Tekken 7 on PS4 with a prize pool of a whooping INR 51 Lakhs. The final four will play knockouts to determine the winners.  

    Ronnie Screwvala, Founder, U Sports said, “There has been an enthusiasm for E-Sports sparkling under the surface in the country for far longer than what is known. U Cypher with MTV provides a platform for talented gamers to achieve their maximum potential and build their career in E-sports. The players have been meticulously picked from the Top E-sport Tournaments and teams from Pan India. The digital and broadband revolution has changed the game for this sport. CS and DOTA have had 20 million downloads in the past 10 years in India. And that’s a huge number for something that’s only starting to fully surface.”

    Commenting on the association with U Sports Viacom18, COO, Raj Nayak said, “E-Sports is growing fast worldwide. Not only that but the annual consumption of E-Sports content stands at almost over 3.7 billion hours across various platforms which are largely digital. Closer to home, in India the gaming market is estimated to be over USD 600 million. Given the potential one can see, we at MTV are excited to be the first and only media network in the country to showcase an E-Sports League on television! We are delighted to partner with U Sports to craft a new tomorrow today through the launch of our exciting and one of a kind new property – U Cypher – only on MTV!”

    U Sports, Co-Founder & CEO, Supratik Sen said, “We are all set to showcase the biggest E-Sports championship on television with U Cypher with MTV. This will be the rise of a new batch of athletes and U Sports will look to give the best E-Sports athletes a chance to showcase their abilities. E-Sports is growing at a rapid pace andhas been announced as a medal event in the 2022 Asian Games. E-Sports is moving from being a hobby to an actual career option and its high time we saw the potential in it.”

    Viacom18, Head – Youth, Music and English Entertainment, Ferzad Palia said, “E-Sports has found immense number of takers in India thanks to it being home to the world’s largest youth population and the world’s second largest internet user base. Keeping this in mind, it was thus a natural step for us at MTV, the brand with the ultimate word on the youth in India, to invest in a one-of-a-kind show ‘U Cypher’ that takes E-sports out of bedrooms of gamers & gaming arcades and into living rooms through television. A truly unique concept, will see gamers – who have hitherto been known only in select circles – taking on other gamers across multiplatform, multiplayer games in a specially designed arena. At MTV, we have always taken pride in being trendsetters for the youth and thus are thoroughly excited to bring a brand-new concept which will allow viewers to witness the creation of completely new kind of superstars!”

    E-Sports and the gaming market is estimated to be over USD 500-600 million with more than 2000 teams consistently participating in tournaments across India and abroad. U Cypher delves into the culture of E-Sport and finds a world of intense competition and massive opportunities.

    The episodes and gameplay will also be available digitally on Usports.in, MTV, Voot, YouTube, YouTube Gaming and Twitch. MTV has also planned an extensive digital plan to promote the show in addition to promotions across the Viacom18 network channels 

  • Post Kabaddi, Ronnie Screwvala owned U Sports forays into football

    Post Kabaddi, Ronnie Screwvala owned U Sports forays into football

    MUMBAI: After owning the Kabaddi franchise U-Mumba, in the first edition of the Pro Kabaddi League, Ronnie Screwvala owned U Sports, which is the sport division arm of Unilazer Ventures, has now forayed into another sports playground- football.

     

    The company owned by Screwvala has launched a football training and academic programme ‘U-Dream’, to help develop Indian football players who are promising enough to place India on the professional football circuit. With collaborative guidance of Bundesliga, U Sports has partnered with TSG 1889 Hoffenheim for the first edition of U-Dream football.

    The programme plans to encourage participation from talented football players of 13 or 14 years of age, in the first year where the focus is to transform young talent into a pro-team of Under-17 footballers. However, the search will widen to Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 categories from the year 2016 onwards.

    According to U Sports CEO Supratik Sen with over 20,000 football players across the globe earning more than $ 1 million a year, suggests that there are very few careers as exceptional as a professional footballers.

    “Our alliance will set the ball rolling as it will help build a strong talent pool that will compete in the developed and evolved football market. The programme will also equip players with education and infrastructure support hence taking them closer to their dream of becoming a pro player. We hope to reach out to the finest Under-17 football talent who will represent India in Under-17 World Cup in 2017,” he added.

    The programme will start with talent selection tournaments conducted between January and April 2015, across 50 cities which will see participation from 1000 schools. By the year 2016, the programme aims to deepen its reach by widening the search to 100 cities, registering participation from 2,000 schools. There will be an expert judging panel comprising project advisor Subrata Paul, chief of training Mahesh Gawli, and TSG Hoffenheim international advisor Lutz Pfannenstiel who will oversee the selection process to identify the players who will be sent to Germany for the six year residential programme. A team of five Indian coaches and three German coach/ scouts will closely monitor the tournaments in each city.

    This year, only 30 footballers identified from a talent hunt will be sent to Zuzenhausen, in Germany where they will train at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s youth training academy with complete access to the club’s facilities and world-class infrastructure.

    To ensure there is an equal focus on the young footballer’s academic development along with football training, U Sports has decided to collaborate with Motilal Nehru School of Sports, Rai. Founded by the government of Haryana, its primary objective is to provide education facilities with equal emphasis on sports to deserving students. The school will conduct a 10-day schooling camp for the 30 athlete students and their parents at the school campus prior to their departure where they will be briefed on the curriculum, course structure and programme tutors.

    The 30 student athletes will undergo CBSE education coupled with German language training in the first year of the programme. In the second year, they will have an option to continue with CBSE schooling or apply for admission in the German Public Education system. The programme will also offer counseling to the players to help them decide on the course of action if they wish to opt for German education.

    Hoffenheim head of match operations and first team administration Thomas Richter, who is also responsible for the club’s internationalization said, “Talent development at the grass-root level is paramount in Bundesliga and is the key in placing India in the international football circuit as this can serve as an opportunity to produce the finest football talent from the country, who are groomed from a young age.”

    The programme is open to all school children of 13 or 14 years of age. Bonafide students born on or after 1 January 2000 but on or before 31 December 2001 can apply.