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  • Star Sports reveals IPL 2020 sponsors in promo

    Star Sports reveals IPL 2020 sponsors in promo

    Mumbai: The Disney Star India (read: Star Sports sales) team seems to have done it again: breasted the broadcast sponsorship tape for the IPL 2020 in good time, even as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has yet to close many of its deals.

    The roster of sponsors, which was revealed in the first IPL promo look pretty healthy, clearly showing the confidence that brands have in the success of the tournament which is slated to flag off on 19 September in the Dubai International Sports Stadium in the UAE.

    It’s digital first brands, as expected and predicted, that have come on board as co-presenting broadcast sponsors. This includes fantasy sports app Dream 11, online shopping major Amazon, digital payments company PhonePe, and edutech unicorn Byju’s.

    Amongst the associate sponsors figure some old sports backers and some new ones: Cadbury Dairy Milk, Sunfeast, Coca-Cola, Polycab, Rummycircle, Kamla Pasand Masala and  McDowell’s.

    For this year, Star Sports claims to have already sold out 75 per cent of the IPL inventory. There are over 60 advertisers, including FMCG, auto, BFSI, online shopping, edutech, and other new-age brands, for spot buys, PPL shows, and features. Some of the brands in this list include Coca Cola, ITC, Mondelez, P&G, Nestle, Colgate, Britannia, GSK, and Reckitt. Star has also indicated that the number of advertisers and the amount of ad spends is higher than the usual. The network claims to have witnessed heavy demand from brands as Dream11 IPL cuts across gender and ages

    The broadcaster reveals that brands from BFSI categories have shown great interest in this season of Dream11 IPL. They are seeing it as a unique combination of festive and a high impact opportunity to engage and influence consumers whose buying behaviour has been disrupted.

    On the programming front, Star Sports has increased its content for pre-shows thus making more inventories available for this popular asset for brands that want to participate in this high impact property during the festive season.

    IPL is the biggest live sporting event happening in the subcontinent after a hiatus of nearly five months. People are keenly awaiting the tournament to begin. It is expected that the viewership of the game will be higher as audiences have sorely missed live sports. As per BARC, currently, TV consumption is higher over pre-Covid2019 times as people are restricted to their homes. The matches, this year start at 7:30 pm and will increase audience availability by more than 20 per cent, as per BARC.

    Over the years, the league has been regarded as the biggest platform reach and engagement for brands as it has continued to set viewership records across demographics year-on-year. The twelfth edition of the league witnessed 613 million viewers (consolidated + PPL + Surround). The broadcaster will continue with its focus on regional channels. IPL 2019 also saw some record-breaking numbers through women viewership. Nearly 175 million women viewers aged 15 years and above watched Vivo IPL across India between 23 March and 12 May 2019. As per the data from the broadcaster, the top 50 shows among women include cricket and IPL dominates primetime with 3.5 per cent leadership margin.

  • TV9 signs deal with Kolkata Knight Riders for IPL

    TV9 signs deal with Kolkata Knight Riders for IPL

    NEW DELHI- Last week, Hindi news channel TV9 Bharatvarsh signed up as the principal sponsor of the Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2020.

    Now, the channel has signed a deal with two-time IPL winner Kolkata Knight Riders as an official sponsor for the forthcoming edition of the league that will be held in UAE from 19 September to 10 November 2020. 

    On Twitter, KKR CEO Venky Mysore: “KnightRiders Welcomes @TV9Bharatvarsh as our partner for both @KKRiders & @TKRiders. Their significant reach across various markets in India in five different languages will help us stay connected with our fans.”

    TV9 network CEO Barun Das said: “The meteoric rise of our national Hindi news channel TV9 Bharatvarsh to the No. 2 position shows that the news viewers not just expect but reward innovation in their daily news experience and we are happy to sign with Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals to further enhance the experience for our viewers.”

    The television news network also has a deal with Trinbago Knight Riders, a Caribbean Premier League team also owned by Kolkata Knight Riders owners.  

  • Uday Shankar speaks up about IPL 2020 in Covid times

    Uday Shankar speaks up about IPL 2020 in Covid times

    MUMBAI: Disney Star India chairman Uday Shankar seems to thrive in crisis moments. The ongoing pandemic seems to have brought out the best in the former journo. The world’s most prestigious and valued cricket tournament the Indian Premier League (IPL) – on which he had betted big three years ago by bidding unheard of acquisition fees – is taking place in the UAE come 19 September after it was aborted in March end.  For only the third time in its 13 years of  existence it is being held in a foreign land.

    And it's taking place in very trying circumstances:  Covid 2019 is on a rampage in India and cases are rapidly rising every day and the CSK team has reported that one of its players and many of its staffers have contracted the SARSCov2 virus – that’s even before a single ball has been bowled.

    Hence, Uday and his team are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that it runs smoothly at least from the broadcast end. Speaking to The Times of India, he said that “Star has been working on its own bio-secure bubble. The challenge that has been presented to my team is to deliver an exciting IPL, while keeping every crew member and team member totally safe from the pandemic. That remains our top priority. It’s not an easy one because there are no global role models for something like this.”

    The Disney Star India team has put in place the bio-secure bubble in Mumbai to accomodate 400-plus staffers across six floors of the production facility which has been set up for the IPL.  Staffers will be rigorously tested – pre-screened, tested before taking them in and periodic testing will be resorted during their stay in the production hub. “Stringent sanitization and social distancing protocols at production facilities and multiple zones are being set up to keep teams separated,” explained Uday. 

    He added that the same stringent Covid-related protocols will be followed for 65-70 days at the three stadiums with around 700 plus crew and around 90 commentators working across UAE, India and globally.

    The crew’s output will reach 100 countries, result in seven fully customised broadcast feeds across languages and 18 hours of daily live and special programming around the IPL, Uday further shared.

    “IPL has gone out of India twice, but this exercise is going to be phenomenal… The BCCI is the umbrella under which everybody operates, and they have a right to expect full safety and reassurance from us …The onus is on us to take the responsibility,” he said. “The protocol we’ve designed for this IPL can become a global benchmark for any tournament to be held safely….In the end, we all know, it’s a virus and anything can happen, but we would like to have a very clear conscience that we put our best foot forward.”

    Even though there won’t be spectators in the stadia in Abhu Dhabi, Sharjah and Duba, Uday expects TV viewership to cross 550 million in India across live broadcast and beyond live programming. “There’s been a massive drought of live sport. People have been in a state of mind where they need a break from the last few months and IPL is ideally positioned for that. We are very focused on making sure the fan experience at home is not impacted. Technology has only made the engagement of the fans deeper and wider,” he averred.

    Uday further highlighted that the IPL coming back could be viewed in a more positive light. “At a time when the country has been gripped by concerns, and people have mostly been spending time locked indoors, something as important to their lives as the IPL coming back is highly symbolic of the triumph of things positive over things negative,” he expounded. “IPL is India’s only global brand and one of the top sports properties globally too. This year’s IPL is a professional and personal commitment.”

  • BCCI announces Unacademy as official partner for IPL

    BCCI announces Unacademy as official partner for IPL

    MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League governing council (IPL GC) announced India’s largest learning platform Unacademy as official partner for IPL beginning with the 2020 edition which will be held in the UAE from 19 September onwards. The partnership will cover three seasons of the IPL.

    The Bengaluru-based edutech firm, Unacademy, aims to build an online knowledge repository for multilingual education by bringing expert educators together from across the globe.

    IPL chairman Brijesh Patel said: “We are pleased to have Unacademy on board as the ‘official partner’ of the Indian Premier League 2020 to 2022. IPL Is the most watched cricket league in India and as a homegrown Indian edutech company we believe that Unacademy can create a huge positive impact on the aspirations of the audience watching, especially the millions of Indian youth who are seeking inspiration in their careers.”

    Unacademy vice-president marketing Karan Shroff said: “We are delighted to become the official partner of IPL. Unacademy is a high-intensity brand that has disrupted the education and learning market with innovations and broken geographical barriers for Learners and Educators. The IPL has a similar history of disruption and innovation that have not only brought cricket fans closer to the game but also catapulted it to become one of the top sporting events in the world. With this partnership, we will double-down on our efforts to make Unacademy the biggest brand in the consumer-internet space in India. We thank the BCCI and IPL for the opportunity and look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.”

  • It’s celebration time for fans as IPL returns!

    It’s celebration time for fans as IPL returns!

    MUMBAI: The scene: a flat in a middle class society in Mumbai’s Malad suburb. It’s late evening Sunday, 1 August. Varun Gupta, a 23-year-old is working on a presentation, which his boss unsuspectingly thrust on him in the afternoon. His neighborhood has been declared a containment zone as around three individuals have been tested Covid positive.

    Suddenly, a notification pops up on his computer informing this die hard IPL fan that the IPL governing council has cleared the staging of the the tournament in the UAE from 19 September to 10 November 2020.

    His hitherto frowning face breaks into a smile of joy. He leaps out of his chair, and goes to his mother in the kitchen and dances around her, whooping with delight.

    Varun is just one of hundreds of millions of cricket fans who have been celebrating in their own ways since the IPL’s announcement early in August. For long they have been starved of live sports courtesy the rampaging SARS COV2 virus and the lockdowns it imposed on the world.

    Ever since the news that the IPL2020 is taking place, albeit in the UAE and possibly with limited or no stadium attendance, has come out, IPL fans are ecstatic. They have gone into overdrive, tweeting, posting on Instagram, Facebook and what have you, expressing their joy.

    The IPL not only brings out the passion, it also helps harness creativity in cricket fans as can be seen in the tweets and posts above.

    IPL devotees form different cohorts and go to the extent of going on a fast, avoiding meat, making huge sacrifices in order to propitiate the powers that be to aid and guide their teams to victory. They thrive on the emotional rollercoaster that the game provides, the adrenalin rush, when their teams get the better of the competition, and the downer when they are at the receiving end. Donning their favorite team’s colors, player’s T-shirt number, faces painted like warriors, fans watch every run being scored, every six being knocked out of the ground, every wicket falling and also the heart-stopping run chase, whilst sitting on the edge of their seats in their homes before the TV set.

    For Indians, IPL cricket, its teams and players are not just a release, they are a religion, their gods, which and whom they will die for. And lovers of the T20 format – running into hundreds of millions – have been deprived of the divinity of the game for longer than they would have liked to be. The pent up demand is sure to explode into a frenzy of binge watching of each and every match when IPL goes live.

    The fact that the IPL was called off in March 2020, leading to fans having a break from it and the fact that most of them are at home – and will be homebound for sometime – could mean that IPL 2020 could be the year when it touches new levels in terms of viewership and reach – the highest possible ever.

  • IPL governing council clears UAE as venue; Vivo as sponsor

    IPL governing council clears UAE as venue; Vivo as sponsor

    MUMBAI: So, the Indian Premier League is moving to the UAE after all. All that it awaits is the official government go-ahead, which is likely to come in the next couple of days or so.  The IPL’s governing council green signaled the holding of the world’s most premium cricket tournament in the UAE on Sunday from 19 September to 10 November.

    The council also approved the retention of all its sponsors including Chinese mobile company Vivo, which has committed to Rs 440 crore annually for five years. The tournament will be played in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi – all of which have world class stadiums.

    Ten of the matches will be played in the afternoon from 3.30 IST while the evening matches will be played from 7.30 pm.

    The IPL governing council agreed that each team will have a squad of 24 while allowing any number of replacements in teams in case players get infected. However, standard operating procedures are being prepared.  The final will take place during the Diwali week, which should augur well for brands and broadcaster Disney Star India as well.

    Fans who have been starved of cricket are clearly looking forward to the recommencement of live cricket starring their favorite Indian players.

    Meanwhile the IPL council has also agreed to go ahead with the women’s IPL, featuring three teams and four matches to be played during IPL Playoff week. 

  • IPL2020 window opens; UAE likely destination

    IPL2020 window opens; UAE likely destination

    MUMBAI: Cricket lovers – specially those who thrive on the short format of the game, the T20 – can now rejoice. The IPL 2020,  which was scheduled to begin on 29 March, but had to be called off on account of the SARS Cov2 virus, is finally set to take place, the IPL chairman Brijesh Patel announced today. It will be a full-fledged IPL, with 60 games in all, and is most likely to take place in the UAE between September and November.

    A window of opportunity to go ahead with the IPL popped open on account of the ICC’s decision to postpone the T20 World Cup to next year from its earlier schedule of October-November. Patel added that the IPL had applied to the government for permission to go ahead with its decision to hold it in the UAE.  The IPL governing council is scheduled to meet in a week to 10 days to thrash out the details of the tournament.

    In June 2020, the UAE had offered to host the league, which had a valuation of $6.7 billion in 2020 according to consulting firm Duff & Phelps, saying it had the required infrastructure to host the entire tournament. In fact, the tournament was held in the UAE in 2014 on account of the central elections in India. According to some estimates, the BCCI would stand to lose $500 million if the IPL was canceled for this year.

    The development should come as much needed good news to Star India head honcho Uday Shankar who has seen an 80 per cent drop in revenues at Disney Star India courtesy the IPL being a non-event in March. He, however, has a challenge on his hands: getting the right value from sponsor-advertiser-partners who normally associate with the IPL for the air time on the Star India network during the telecast of the matches. Advertisers have been having a gala time, going in for volume deals, discounting air time rates drastically, on general entertainment channels, which recently launched new episodes after three months of archival repeats. The belief at the Star network is that advertisers will start opening their wallets by October – which is the festival time – and will be more than open to splurge to target consumers who have been starved of sporting action for more than four months already. 

  • LAFFAZ launches its agency arm ‘Digital Mafias’ in UAE

    LAFFAZ launches its agency arm ‘Digital Mafias’ in UAE

    MUMBAI: Digital Mafias, the agency arm of LAFFAZ Media which is a Delhi-based news-hailing startup that covers the startup news, stories related to Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and Indian startup ecosystem, today announced the launch of their services in UAE. The launch took place during the 5th #BrandFusion Entrepreneurship Series of Venture Central (VentureCentral.ae), under the name ‘Market Intelligence Congress’, held at Rose Rayhaan Rotana, Dubai.

    A subsidiary of LAFFAZ, a news platform featuring startups, Digital Mafias started their operations in January 2019 in India to offer cost-effective digital marketing and web-development services to startups, entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes, regardless of the business objective, sector or domain. In a short period of 8 months the company has witnessed an astonishing growth, and is now entering the UAE market.

    With its #BrandFusion series, Venture Central features top brands, supporting partners, market buyers and sellers, business leaders, industry experts and SMEs. The series is a convergence of prominent and key drivers of Dubai’s business hub, and this makes it an effective avenue for building networks and forging strategic alliances. LAFFAZ being the strategic media partner for Venture Central, got the chance to launch their agency model at the 5th #BrandFusion B2B Entrepreneurship Series.

    “We are immensely delighted to be acknowledged by Venture Central. While we are already working with a number of Indian brands and startups, getting represented at the Market Intelligence Congress will unlock business opportunities for us in the UAE, and that’s a milestone for us.” – Mohammed Haseeb – CEO, LAFFAZ

    “The tech era has brought huge disruption and competition. Most of the traditional digital marketing practices have lost impact. Our ideation and purpose is aligned with today’s marketing ecosystem. That’s why we have come up with personalized services, flexible support and new methodologies to help our clients position themselves in the market. We are confident that we could serve our foreign clients in the same manner and vigor like we do in India” – Pradeep Singh – CTO, LAFFAZ Media

    “We value the partnerships forged through the curation of our monthly #BrandFusion Entrepreneurial Series with highlights on Mentorship Talks, Brand Open Mic Presentations, Masterclasses & Business Meet-Ups. Our partnership with LAFFAZ Media & Digital Mafias marked a new milestone in our journey reinforcing Venture Central’s value as an Entrepreneurial Event Hub in the UAE & Beyond proving that digital age knows no boundaries bringing entrepreneurs together from all corners of the globe.” – Jan Bangayan – Managing Partner, Venture Central

    Having worked with a number of startups, the founders of Digital Mafias, Pradeep and Haseeb observed the rigidity that most of the businesses undergo while seeking services from digital marketing agencies, thus come up with Digital Mafias to provide top-notch services with flexible support and maintenance.

  • Content catalogue, brand awareness major achievements of Hoichoi: Vishnu Mohta

    Content catalogue, brand awareness major achievements of Hoichoi: Vishnu Mohta

    MUMBAI: The opportunities for OTT players to flourish in the regional market may be huge. But challenges still keep players out. In the Bengali field, we have SVF-backed Hoichoi, nearing its one year anniversary.
    At the new juncture, it is strengthening its presence in other potential markets with enough Bengali speaking population. Hoichoi(http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/hoichoi-to-double-original-content-to-100-hours-this-year-180521) co-founder Vishnu Mohta sees its content catalogue and brand awareness as the biggest achievements in the first year.
    Bangladesh and the UAE are two markets Hoichoi is looking at for international expansion due to the Bengali speaking crowd as well as diaspora. The apps have been present there for a while but awareness is being done now.
    Mohta thinks it has not done enough local activity, local marketing and personalisation to enable people to know about the platform. To get the pulse of the market he mentions the importance of proper local teams. “We have got an office in Bangladesh and already recruited a few people over there. We plan to do the same thing in the Middle East. So a combination of our own team, the right set of partners will help Hoichoi to reach as many people as possible in that local market,” he said.
    The head of SVF’s new media section also mentions the need for on-ground activation, specific targeting, and influencer marketing in local markets. The two new markets demand different strategies. For Bangladesh, he thinks producing local content is a smart move, while for UAE they plan to work more on marketing, distribution. In UAE they want to be more precise, have local press releases, take help from biggest telcos for larger data and communication network.

    For Bangladeshi market, it has already announced Dhaka Metro, a show directed by renowned Amitabh Reza Chaudhuri. Though Mohta did not reveal too much, he indicated that it might come up with more such shows. Accepting the fact that Bengals from the two sides of the border have different taste in content, he says the uniformity in language will let the problem not be critical.
    In the one year of launch, Mohta realised the difference in Hoichoi not being available in Bengali. The lack of pay per view option was another issue. For a platform backed by SVF, having an option to watch movies on a-la-carte basis could bring huge money.
    Now Hoichoi wants to take its content to other language speakers through dubbed versions. Though the plan seems very optimistic, it’s still in the ideation stage. Dubbed versions could be available on platforms like Airtel TV. After testing the water with a selected number of people, it will take it to a larger level.
    Byomkesh, Dupur Thakurpo, Japani Toy, 6 and Holy Faak have emerged as the most popular shows in the last year which are returning for season two. Among the 30 originals, most of them will be released for binge watching while few, based on the nature of the show, will be launched in two-three episodes together.

    Last year, Hoichoi(http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/bengali-ott-players-prioritise-market-growth-over-competition-180705) created a buzz in the market with #Hoyejak campaign during Durga Puja. On 1 October, the platform is set to launch another campaign on the same lines to reap benefits from the festive season of Durgapuja again. The platform has a remarkable trend to create witty hashtag campaigns which go viral easily. “We are called Hoichoi(non-stop excitement) , if we don’t get Hoichoi, we are doing injustice,” Mohta says in a light mood giving credit to the in house social media team for the campaign.
    While SVF’s magnitude in terms of financial profit is unquestionable, the young digital arm of it has a long way to go break even. Mohta says it brings a new energy to the parent company.
    “SVF, the leader in this business, has been in the market for 22 years. We are still very young. It infuses that energy and newness to the overall ecosystem allowing us to constantly innovate and renew our content strategy. A film might release every month and Hoichoi has to be updated every day, every week. So that vibe transcends to SVF as a team and keeps the DNA very healthy today,” he commented.

  • Hoichoi to introduce pay-per-view, offline payment method

    Hoichoi to introduce pay-per-view, offline payment method

    MUMBAI: SVF, the big name in Bengali entertainment industry, last year launched its Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi riding the wave of digital growth.  In the second season of its journey, it is expanding its footprint into Bangladesh and UAE market. Though dependent on the SVOD model since birth, it will now introduce pay per view model as well. Moreover, in a first of its kind move in the industry, it has launched Hoichoi Top Up card which will be available in nearest retailers or upcoming Hoichoi kiosks. Given the preference for cash payment, this is an offline payment method.

    Along with a new payment method and business plans, it has the ambition to add more than 100 hours of original content in the upcoming year. The new content pipeline includes 30 original shows, some of which are second seasons of popular web series already aired on the platform. While SVF, the parent company has a rich history in the Bengali film industry, the digital venture aims to add 12 original films.

    Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta mentioned the high user engagement of the app though kept mum on subscriber numbers. He claims the average time spent in-app is one hour per day. It is not certain how the company has been able to get its return but the awareness of Hoichoi has been created.

    Like other OTT platforms, Hoichoi is also seeing traffic from tier-II and III cities. In addition to that, almost 40 per cent of the audience comes from non-urban areas and Hoichoi director and co-founder Mahendra Soni mentions this as the rationale behind introducing offline payment method.

    While Bengali industry makes many good films, the natives living outside Bengal don’t get the chance to watch them in theatres often. The plan of digital premiere is aimed to bridge this gap. “In yet another first in the Bengali entertainment space, we are now introducing the ‘pay per view’ feature as part of the TVoD model. We will be releasing movies on Hoichoi very soon after their theatrical release and the viewers will have the option to pay for the content on an a-la-carte basis,” Hoichoi director and co-founder Shrikant Mohta said.

    A partnership with Airtel TV in India, Robi in Bangladesh and Etisalat and du in UAE have also been struck.

    There is also a plan for a Bengali app and website interface making it more comfortable for users. Simultaneously, Hoichoi wants to dub the shows into other languages like Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. To position it more strongly as a brand, the platform also start merchandising.