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Tag: Vinit Karnik

  • BrandVid 2018: Hyperlocal content a new opportunity for brands

    BrandVid 2018: Hyperlocal content a new opportunity for brands

    MUMBAI: Time spent and attention levels are sliding down for digital as there is so much content to offer that if the content doesn’t have some uniqueness nobody will show interest. The answer to change this is branded content.

    Speaking at Indiantelevision.com’s new video economy event BrandVid powered by Colors, Y&A Transformation co-founder and MD S Yesudas said, “Content is king because people don’t watch platforms, people watch content. So the belief system changed to 'content is king' but instead of meaningful content, distribution actually became god.”

    The event was organised by Indiantelevision.com on 30 October 2018, for the brands, agencies, marketers, broadcasters, publishers and producers to understand how to work closely and create short form and long form content which will connect with the audience directly.

    There is an ocean of opportunities for brands today to not just be extremely confined to certain predefined norms of looking at integrating brands with videos but start looking at the whole arena that hyper-local has to offer.

    Talking about the difference in distribution channels from a traditional media perspective, Jagran Prakashan COO digital media Rachna Kanwar said, “We create content for nine websites which spans across news, media, lifestyle, education and many more. We being of the print legacy, are today competing with a lot of TV content put on digital platforms. How you are able to catch the user's attention is important and therefore distribution is very important. It is the key to give your content to the user. As content creators we have to reach wherever the user is and today actually the user is on search, social media on YouTube.”

    According to Lokmat Media senior EVP and head- digital business Hemant Jain, content technology and distribution when synced in the right proportion will deliver growth to any business aspiring to attain scale in the digital space. The early belief of putting print onto a website is not exactly how an online publishing business typically works. Even the e-paper formats of today are a low hanging fruit according to him. From e-paper the traditional publishers went on to a journey which is now called as a very hyper competitive environment of news publishing.

    GroupM business head- entertainment sports and live events Vinit Karnik said, “Content has always been the king and distribution is the god but the missing link between content and distribution is data. Data is the new oil.”

    “I don’t think that the way you define your content strategy is going to remain the same which is very important for the creators and brands to take notice of. While video would definitely give a much better brand impact but you can’t keep distributions in isolation," Jain added. He even highlighted that Pune is a very important market for Lokmat. 50 per cent of traffic which is close to 4 million monthly active users comes from Pune.

    The attention spans are increasingly reducing and one size fits all is not the norm anymore. From a one channel and couple of print mediums, the market has got into cluttered environment.

    Talking about the tech interventions, Karnik said, “Tech interventions are absolutely important you just can’t ignore it, shorter the content size better ability for it to register. Today if you look at e-paper or app of the Lokmat or Jagran, the good old days of you going back to the audience to do a research to understand what they will consume is out of the park. Today, every app gives a consumer an option to choose the kind of interest level he/she has right there on the app and the owners will get the data in real time. Today news is also served to everyone based on their preferences,” Karnik added.

    “Today it’s not like we are giving a big overview to the client or the buyer, we are slicing our data and giving them specifics about which is the time of the day that audience is going to be more receptive for a particular kind of content,” Kanwar added.

    “From a content strategy perspective 20 per cent of the resources go into content creation and conveying and the remaining 80 per cent goes into distribution,” Yesudas added.

    “Distribution is more complex now, if you want to optimise it right. Within the 80 per cent today you have to over emphasis on which platform to choose,” Jain concluded.

  • Sports sponsorship in 2017 up by 14%: SportzPower-GroupM report

    Sports sponsorship in 2017 up by 14%: SportzPower-GroupM report

    MUMBAI: SportzPower, in association with GroupM’s sports arm ESP Properties, has released its 2018 report on sports sponsorship in India.

    Ground advertising was up from Rs 6400 crore in 2016 to Rs 7300 crore in 2017. Another GroupM report said that Indian advertising expenditure in 2017 was Rs 61,263 crore out of which 12 per cent was contributed by sports. The year also saw sports other than cricket gain traction. India’s second biggest sport by participation and attendance, football, grew by a considerable 64 per cent. India hosted its first ever FIFA U-17 world cup that became the most attended in the history of the event. Attendance for this football world cup was a record 1,347,133, surpassing China’s 1985 audience of 1,230,976.

    ESP Properties business head Vinit Karnik said, “2017 was truly the ‘big’ year for the business of sports. With PKL emerging as the second-most popular league in India after the Indian Premier League (IPL), and the Indian edition of U-17 football world cup creating history in terms of audience attendance, has given sports sponsorship enjoyed a bull run. As popularity of sports grows in India, sports stars also expand their brand endorsement portfolios. Virat Kohli led brand endorsements with 19 brands and 150+ crore in value, while PV Sindhu leads the non-cricket endorsement space with 11 brands and 30+ crore in value.”

    Despite demonetisation and GST hiccoughs, the sports sector has been able to ride the storm with a steady and positive trajectory. All major sporting leagues managed to bring on board sponsors at a 100 per cent or more incremental value for the title sponsorship.  Specifically, the IPL has emerged as one of the top five most valuable global sports properties in the world.

    Since last year, Indian Super League (ISL) is a 10 team, 18+ week showcase, up from eight teams and 10 weeks in the last season. ISL sponsorship has grown by 22 per cent from the previous year. The report states that the gap between Pro Kabaddi League and IPL TV ratings is narrowing – PKL delivered 1.5 TVR with 312 million reach and IPL delivered 2.7 TVR with 411 million. 

    2017 also saw the birth of five new franchise based leagues – UTT, SBL, SFL, Cue Slam & P1 Power Boating. Brands are interested in emerging sports and 25 per cent increase in franchise fees came from them. Thirty-six new franchises were added across all new and existing leagues.

    SportzPower co-founder Thomas Abraham said, “With the 2017 momentum and the economy also looking up and set to grow at 7.3 per cent in 2018-19, sports is looking at an even bigger year. As the industry anticipates clarity on the structure of club football in India, among the new leagues on the horizon, volleyball seems the most promising. In the media firmament, while new revenue benchmarks are expected from television, it will be traction in the digital arena that provides real pointers to where the industry is going over the next few years.”

    Also Read:

    IPL 2018 gets a makeover with Star India

    Dsport not in the running for BCCI’s media rights

  • Himalaya Men & BharatBenz kick-start festive season with Chennaiyin FC

    Himalaya Men & BharatBenz kick-start festive season with Chennaiyin FC

    MUMBAI: ESP Properties has enabled key deals for ISL’s Chennaiyin FC by roping in BharatBenz and Himalaya Men as jersey sponsors. Through this deal, BharatBenz comes on board with an ISL team for the first time and Himalaya Men continues their path breaking campaign of – Pimple Story.

    After the successful collaboration of Himalaya Men and IPL (with RCB team), ESP Properties has continued Himalaya’s Pimple story campaign with PKL (with Patna Pirates team) and now ISL (with Chennaiyin FC team). As an activation, for the first 2 matches of Chennaiyin FC during ISL 2016, the back of jersey would have ‘Pimple’ written on it and from 3rd match onwards, it’s going to change to ‘Himalaya Men.’ A key idea which was implemented through a unique sports marketing led campaign than vanilla advertisements!

    For BharatBenz, it would be their first foray into sports sponsorships. They have crafted a unique campaign to spread their ‘Safety First initiative’ roping the kids who accompany the players to the field at the start of the game.

    ESP Properties business head Vinit Karnik said, “The strategy is being seen as a move to leverage ISL as a platform to target Himalaya’s and BharatBenz’s key consumers by associating with the Chennaiyin FC. ISL marks the beginning of the festive season in India where brands are looking to increase their share of voice need clutter breaking and engaging platform to occupy consumer mind space.”

    Chennaiyin FC co-owner Vita Dani said, “We are delighted to welcome Himalaya Men as the Co-Sponsor of Chennaiyin FC.”

    Himalaya Men’s Ashwani Gandhi said, “Sports lends itself as a perfect platform for us to connect with our TG, the youth. After fruitful associations with IPL and PKL, we are hoping to continue our success run by associating with the Chennaiyin FC.”

    “Chennaiyin FC, the club is young, dynamic and a powerful force in the league – just like what BharatBenz is in the commercial vehicle segment. We also share a strong affinity with Chennai being our home ground,” added BharatBenz, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles general marketing manager Apar Bansal.

  • Himalaya Men & BharatBenz kick-start festive season with Chennaiyin FC

    Himalaya Men & BharatBenz kick-start festive season with Chennaiyin FC

    MUMBAI: ESP Properties has enabled key deals for ISL’s Chennaiyin FC by roping in BharatBenz and Himalaya Men as jersey sponsors. Through this deal, BharatBenz comes on board with an ISL team for the first time and Himalaya Men continues their path breaking campaign of – Pimple Story.

    After the successful collaboration of Himalaya Men and IPL (with RCB team), ESP Properties has continued Himalaya’s Pimple story campaign with PKL (with Patna Pirates team) and now ISL (with Chennaiyin FC team). As an activation, for the first 2 matches of Chennaiyin FC during ISL 2016, the back of jersey would have ‘Pimple’ written on it and from 3rd match onwards, it’s going to change to ‘Himalaya Men.’ A key idea which was implemented through a unique sports marketing led campaign than vanilla advertisements!

    For BharatBenz, it would be their first foray into sports sponsorships. They have crafted a unique campaign to spread their ‘Safety First initiative’ roping the kids who accompany the players to the field at the start of the game.

    ESP Properties business head Vinit Karnik said, “The strategy is being seen as a move to leverage ISL as a platform to target Himalaya’s and BharatBenz’s key consumers by associating with the Chennaiyin FC. ISL marks the beginning of the festive season in India where brands are looking to increase their share of voice need clutter breaking and engaging platform to occupy consumer mind space.”

    Chennaiyin FC co-owner Vita Dani said, “We are delighted to welcome Himalaya Men as the Co-Sponsor of Chennaiyin FC.”

    Himalaya Men’s Ashwani Gandhi said, “Sports lends itself as a perfect platform for us to connect with our TG, the youth. After fruitful associations with IPL and PKL, we are hoping to continue our success run by associating with the Chennaiyin FC.”

    “Chennaiyin FC, the club is young, dynamic and a powerful force in the league – just like what BharatBenz is in the commercial vehicle segment. We also share a strong affinity with Chennai being our home ground,” added BharatBenz, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles general marketing manager Apar Bansal.

  • Motivator’s ‘Pimple’ campaign for Himalaya breaks clutter this IPL season

    Motivator’s ‘Pimple’ campaign for Himalaya breaks clutter this IPL season

    Mumbai, 18th April, 2016: Motivator, India’s fastest growing media agency (in the last 3 years) as per RECMA 2015 has created a one-of-a-kind campaign for FMCG major Himalaya with close collaboration with ESP Properties, the entertainment and sports arm of GroupM. The innovative strategy for Himalaya Men’s Face Wash will see the brand let go off its logo for the very first time. The campaign rides on a single word ‘Pimple?’, thereby creating intrigue and sparking conversations amongst viewers this IPL.

    Himalaya Men’s Face Wash has doubled its market share in its respective product category to current 8% versus a year ago with a strong distribution and smart media planning processes. The brief was to build on the momentum for the brand, where Motivator’s Team Himalaya working on their Frugal Intervention thinking framework seems to have cracked something interesting in the logo attention economy. 

    The envisaged strategy is being seen as a move to leverage IPL as a platform to target Himalaya’s key consumers by associating with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team. Through the innovative campaign, the problem being addressed by the brand is stated in a single word ‘Pimple?’ visibly inscribed on the caps of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team players.
     
    All the team players will be seen sporting these caps in the ongoing matches of the tournament. This is further supported by the smart use of the lead players – Virat Kohli, Shane Watson, Sarfaraz Khan and Stuart Binny in a teaser film launched on Youtube video masthead and was timed to be played during IPL match breaks using special technology partner.

    Giving his views on the overall strategy, Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Business Head, Himalaya said, “Sports sponsorship has always provided an ideal platform for engagement with Men.  The Himalaya- Motivator- RCB Team however wanted to bring in innovation in this genre and developed a very engaging brand idea for IPL season. It provided us a great opportunity to build our brand in the growing men’s segment while creating excitement among the IPL fans. We are very excited with the way the campaign has shaped up, and we hope to build on the intrigue that we’ve created amongst viewers thus far.” 

    Adding on this, Ashwani Gandhi, Category Manager, Himalaya Men said, “It’s been an exciting campaign, performing beyond expectations. In this highly competitive Men’s category, we had to come up with an innovative way to communicate the core proposition of “Curing Pimples” and this idea does just that. With the various fields available for us to associate ourselves, sports was a natural choice and what better than Cricket. Cricketers are known for their performance, fitness, wellness and grooming quotient both on and off field. They become the ideal role model for young men to look upto when it comes to inculcating the habit of looking good and taking care of their skin problems. This communication blends perfectly our core proposition and this outlook towards cricketers, in helping us hit a sweet spot.”

    Commenting on the unique campaign that has been rolled out, Zahid Shaikh, Head of South Operations, Motivator said, “In today’s day and age, branding has evolved to become more than just mere flashing of a logo. Moreover, audiences are increasingly connecting with brands on a conceptual level, rather than just plainly on a logo level, as the case has been traditionally. We are thrilled to see that the campaign has received an overwhelming response, ranking up 1.135 million views in just one single day on YouTube. It is further performing well on twitter’s trending charts, after creating a series of conversations on social media.” 

    “Consumer is exposed to several messages in a cluttered environment through the IPL season. If sponsorship has to work for the brand, it needs to be on the back of an innovative idea that links back to the brands promise. This is truly a brand innovation that spawned beyond just a logo presence and media spends,”opined Vinit Karnik, Business Head, ESP Properties.

  • Motivator’s ‘Pimple’ campaign for Himalaya breaks clutter this IPL season

    Motivator’s ‘Pimple’ campaign for Himalaya breaks clutter this IPL season

    Mumbai, 18th April, 2016: Motivator, India’s fastest growing media agency (in the last 3 years) as per RECMA 2015 has created a one-of-a-kind campaign for FMCG major Himalaya with close collaboration with ESP Properties, the entertainment and sports arm of GroupM. The innovative strategy for Himalaya Men’s Face Wash will see the brand let go off its logo for the very first time. The campaign rides on a single word ‘Pimple?’, thereby creating intrigue and sparking conversations amongst viewers this IPL.

    Himalaya Men’s Face Wash has doubled its market share in its respective product category to current 8% versus a year ago with a strong distribution and smart media planning processes. The brief was to build on the momentum for the brand, where Motivator’s Team Himalaya working on their Frugal Intervention thinking framework seems to have cracked something interesting in the logo attention economy. 

    The envisaged strategy is being seen as a move to leverage IPL as a platform to target Himalaya’s key consumers by associating with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team. Through the innovative campaign, the problem being addressed by the brand is stated in a single word ‘Pimple?’ visibly inscribed on the caps of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team players.
     
    All the team players will be seen sporting these caps in the ongoing matches of the tournament. This is further supported by the smart use of the lead players – Virat Kohli, Shane Watson, Sarfaraz Khan and Stuart Binny in a teaser film launched on Youtube video masthead and was timed to be played during IPL match breaks using special technology partner.

    Giving his views on the overall strategy, Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Business Head, Himalaya said, “Sports sponsorship has always provided an ideal platform for engagement with Men.  The Himalaya- Motivator- RCB Team however wanted to bring in innovation in this genre and developed a very engaging brand idea for IPL season. It provided us a great opportunity to build our brand in the growing men’s segment while creating excitement among the IPL fans. We are very excited with the way the campaign has shaped up, and we hope to build on the intrigue that we’ve created amongst viewers thus far.” 

    Adding on this, Ashwani Gandhi, Category Manager, Himalaya Men said, “It’s been an exciting campaign, performing beyond expectations. In this highly competitive Men’s category, we had to come up with an innovative way to communicate the core proposition of “Curing Pimples” and this idea does just that. With the various fields available for us to associate ourselves, sports was a natural choice and what better than Cricket. Cricketers are known for their performance, fitness, wellness and grooming quotient both on and off field. They become the ideal role model for young men to look upto when it comes to inculcating the habit of looking good and taking care of their skin problems. This communication blends perfectly our core proposition and this outlook towards cricketers, in helping us hit a sweet spot.”

    Commenting on the unique campaign that has been rolled out, Zahid Shaikh, Head of South Operations, Motivator said, “In today’s day and age, branding has evolved to become more than just mere flashing of a logo. Moreover, audiences are increasingly connecting with brands on a conceptual level, rather than just plainly on a logo level, as the case has been traditionally. We are thrilled to see that the campaign has received an overwhelming response, ranking up 1.135 million views in just one single day on YouTube. It is further performing well on twitter’s trending charts, after creating a series of conversations on social media.” 

    “Consumer is exposed to several messages in a cluttered environment through the IPL season. If sponsorship has to work for the brand, it needs to be on the back of an innovative idea that links back to the brands promise. This is truly a brand innovation that spawned beyond just a logo presence and media spends,”opined Vinit Karnik, Business Head, ESP Properties.

  • India’s sports sponsorship grew to Rs 51,854 million in 2015; PayTM, Hero, CEAT and MRF emerge as big spenders

    India’s sports sponsorship grew to Rs 51,854 million in 2015; PayTM, Hero, CEAT and MRF emerge as big spenders

    MUMBAI: For those you are into sports, be it for the love of the game or love of the business that revolves around it, the welcome news is that  India has set itself to become a sporting nation that thrives not only on cricket but number of other sports as well. India with a thriving culture around sports is not a distant mirage but a near reality. The figures in the  3rd edition of Sporting Nation In The Making – III is a testament to this growth.

    This comprehensive report compiled by GroupM’s entertainment and sports arm ESP Properties and SportzPower shows that sports sponsorship in India has grown from Rs 46,165 million (Rs 4,616.50 crore) in 2014 to Rs 51,854 million (Rs 5,185.40 crore) in 2015 accounting for 10.4 per cent of the total Indian advertising expenditure. That is a  whooping 12.3 per cent growth.

    ESP Properties business head Vinit Karnik emphasised how sports can be harnessed as a successful communication medium by brands. He said, “There is definitely a cultivated sense of understanding between corporate sponsors, sports teams and federations. A symbiotic marketing relationship has emerged within the sporting ecosystem in India. 2016 will be fantastic for not only players and federations, but also for brands and spectators, with a deeper engagement with sporting properties.”

    Despite the challenges, ICC World Cup managed to garner Rs 5000 million (Rs 500 crore) in advertising revenues in 2015. On air sponsorships over all increased by 6.8 per cent YoY from Rs 25,180 million (Rs 2,518 crore) to Rs 26,900 million (Rs 2,690 crore). Out of which, 30 to 35 per cent was contributed by the emerging sports in India, while cricket took the bulk of the share.

    Interestingly, only  30 percent of the growth came from On Air deals, while the rest of the 70 percent came from  on ground sponsorships, team sponsorships, franchise fee and athlete’s brand endorsement deals, with on ground seeing  most of the action. It grew by 30 per cent from Rs 7948 million (Rs 794.80 crore) to Rs 10,305 million (Rs 1,030.50 crore).

    Though cricket bit the biggest chunk off this sponsorship pie, emerging sports leagues were the real growth drivers. Going by the figures roughly 51.38 per cent of the on ground sponsorship share was cricket’s contribution while the rest was all emerging sports.

    “Sports other than cricket have successfully established themselves in terms of revenue and fandom within the Indian sporting firmament,” SportzPower co founder Thomas Abraham shared. “Sports like kabaddi andfFootball have massively increased sponsorship revenues in 2015 and we saw return editions of sports like tennis and hockey as well. The successful launch of the Pro Wrestling League bodes well for 2016, which will see the advent of more franchise based leagues. We expect 2016 to be a good year for cricket as well as other sports, generating ad spends and clocking in corporate investments at an exponential pace,” he added.

    Infact, football saw an amazing 91.6 per cent sponsorship growth from the previous year valuing it at Rs 1140 million (Rs 114 crore) in 2015.  The biggest success story is perhaps Pro Kabaddi League, which grew by 300 per cent YoY and clocked at Rs 480 million (Rs 48 crore) in on ground sponsorship deals without a title sponsor. As per Karnik, it was a clever strategy by the broadcaster to not lock down their title sponsor and raise the bar for the next season.

    eCommerce brands took the lead as top spenders in the total ad spends on sports in 2015, followed closely by automobile brands. PayTM, CEAT Tyres and MRF Tyres together contributed Rs 1078 million (Rs 107.8 crore) per year, increasing cricket’s on ground ad spends by 14 per cent.

    Endorsements played a huge role in upping the sponsorship ante in 2015 with the sector seeing 27 per cent growth. The biggest endorsement deal was undoubtedly Tata Motors’ bringing Lionel Messi onboard on a two year deal of worth Rs 600 million (Rs 60 crore) per year. 2015 also saw Virat Kohli entering the Rs 1,000 million (Rs 100 crore) endorsement club that God Of Cricket Tendulkar and MS Dhoni earlier ruled.

    “Women are ruling the endorsement game when it comes to non-cricketing sports,” said Karnik. “Between Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza and MC Mary Kom, the ladies share almost 40 per cent of the endorsement spends in the market with over 10 brands in each player’s kitty.” Abraham credited their sophisticated and enthusiastic engagement of fans over social media to be the driving factor apart from their continued  good performance throughout the year.

    The stress on digital, and social engagement is reiterated by both Abraham and Karnik as critical to players and teams as stats show that 70 percent of fans bring mobile phones to the stadium to share their experience, while 46 percent of mobile internet users search for sports related news and content online.

    Karnik calls 2016 to be the year of the fans and points out two key trends that will drive growth in the sector. “Now that we have sowed the seeds of a sporting nation in India, 2016 will see a great synergy between broadcasters, association’s, franchise owners, players and all other stakeholders to come together to build a culture around sports and build the fanbase. Secondly longer seasons or play for they sport will give more opportunities for brands to engage with the fans,” shared Karnik, adding that Pro Kabaddi League will see two seasons this year. Abraham on the other hand names volleyball to be the next big entrant in emerging sports league scene, which will launch with three separate sub-leagues to its name — beach volleyball, men’s volleyball and women’s volleyball league.

  • India’s sports sponsorship grew to Rs 51,854 million in 2015; PayTM, Hero, CEAT and MRF emerge as big spenders

    India’s sports sponsorship grew to Rs 51,854 million in 2015; PayTM, Hero, CEAT and MRF emerge as big spenders

    MUMBAI: For those you are into sports, be it for the love of the game or love of the business that revolves around it, the welcome news is that  India has set itself to become a sporting nation that thrives not only on cricket but number of other sports as well. India with a thriving culture around sports is not a distant mirage but a near reality. The figures in the  3rd edition of Sporting Nation In The Making – III is a testament to this growth.

    This comprehensive report compiled by GroupM’s entertainment and sports arm ESP Properties and SportzPower shows that sports sponsorship in India has grown from Rs 46,165 million (Rs 4,616.50 crore) in 2014 to Rs 51,854 million (Rs 5,185.40 crore) in 2015 accounting for 10.4 per cent of the total Indian advertising expenditure. That is a  whooping 12.3 per cent growth.

    ESP Properties business head Vinit Karnik emphasised how sports can be harnessed as a successful communication medium by brands. He said, “There is definitely a cultivated sense of understanding between corporate sponsors, sports teams and federations. A symbiotic marketing relationship has emerged within the sporting ecosystem in India. 2016 will be fantastic for not only players and federations, but also for brands and spectators, with a deeper engagement with sporting properties.”

    Despite the challenges, ICC World Cup managed to garner Rs 5000 million (Rs 500 crore) in advertising revenues in 2015. On air sponsorships over all increased by 6.8 per cent YoY from Rs 25,180 million (Rs 2,518 crore) to Rs 26,900 million (Rs 2,690 crore). Out of which, 30 to 35 per cent was contributed by the emerging sports in India, while cricket took the bulk of the share.

    Interestingly, only  30 percent of the growth came from On Air deals, while the rest of the 70 percent came from  on ground sponsorships, team sponsorships, franchise fee and athlete’s brand endorsement deals, with on ground seeing  most of the action. It grew by 30 per cent from Rs 7948 million (Rs 794.80 crore) to Rs 10,305 million (Rs 1,030.50 crore).

    Though cricket bit the biggest chunk off this sponsorship pie, emerging sports leagues were the real growth drivers. Going by the figures roughly 51.38 per cent of the on ground sponsorship share was cricket’s contribution while the rest was all emerging sports.

    “Sports other than cricket have successfully established themselves in terms of revenue and fandom within the Indian sporting firmament,” SportzPower co founder Thomas Abraham shared. “Sports like kabaddi andfFootball have massively increased sponsorship revenues in 2015 and we saw return editions of sports like tennis and hockey as well. The successful launch of the Pro Wrestling League bodes well for 2016, which will see the advent of more franchise based leagues. We expect 2016 to be a good year for cricket as well as other sports, generating ad spends and clocking in corporate investments at an exponential pace,” he added.

    Infact, football saw an amazing 91.6 per cent sponsorship growth from the previous year valuing it at Rs 1140 million (Rs 114 crore) in 2015.  The biggest success story is perhaps Pro Kabaddi League, which grew by 300 per cent YoY and clocked at Rs 480 million (Rs 48 crore) in on ground sponsorship deals without a title sponsor. As per Karnik, it was a clever strategy by the broadcaster to not lock down their title sponsor and raise the bar for the next season.

    eCommerce brands took the lead as top spenders in the total ad spends on sports in 2015, followed closely by automobile brands. PayTM, CEAT Tyres and MRF Tyres together contributed Rs 1078 million (Rs 107.8 crore) per year, increasing cricket’s on ground ad spends by 14 per cent.

    Endorsements played a huge role in upping the sponsorship ante in 2015 with the sector seeing 27 per cent growth. The biggest endorsement deal was undoubtedly Tata Motors’ bringing Lionel Messi onboard on a two year deal of worth Rs 600 million (Rs 60 crore) per year. 2015 also saw Virat Kohli entering the Rs 1,000 million (Rs 100 crore) endorsement club that God Of Cricket Tendulkar and MS Dhoni earlier ruled.

    “Women are ruling the endorsement game when it comes to non-cricketing sports,” said Karnik. “Between Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza and MC Mary Kom, the ladies share almost 40 per cent of the endorsement spends in the market with over 10 brands in each player’s kitty.” Abraham credited their sophisticated and enthusiastic engagement of fans over social media to be the driving factor apart from their continued  good performance throughout the year.

    The stress on digital, and social engagement is reiterated by both Abraham and Karnik as critical to players and teams as stats show that 70 percent of fans bring mobile phones to the stadium to share their experience, while 46 percent of mobile internet users search for sports related news and content online.

    Karnik calls 2016 to be the year of the fans and points out two key trends that will drive growth in the sector. “Now that we have sowed the seeds of a sporting nation in India, 2016 will see a great synergy between broadcasters, association’s, franchise owners, players and all other stakeholders to come together to build a culture around sports and build the fanbase. Secondly longer seasons or play for they sport will give more opportunities for brands to engage with the fans,” shared Karnik, adding that Pro Kabaddi League will see two seasons this year. Abraham on the other hand names volleyball to be the next big entrant in emerging sports league scene, which will launch with three separate sub-leagues to its name — beach volleyball, men’s volleyball and women’s volleyball league.