MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has broken new ground by unbundling its sponsorship rights, securing Unilever as the first dedicated partner for women’s competitions, ICC chief commercial officer Anurag Dahiya told SportsPro.
In a deal announced on International Women’s Day, the consumer goods giant said it would promote its Rexona and Dove brands across all ICC women’s events over the next two years. The partnership covers the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup, Women’s T20 World Cup, U19 Women’s T20 World Cups and the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy in 2027.
Dahiya told SportsPro the move reflects the “standalone commercial value” of women’s cricket, with Unilever “jumping at” the opportunity to sponsor these tournaments.
“Women’s cricket is no longer an add-on or a freebie attached to men’s cricket,” Dahiya said. “It’s a distinct product, has its own unique cultural resonance, commercial potential, and has its own ability to stand on its own.”
Unilever’s existing involvement in women’s sport – including partnerships with WSL clubs Chelsea and Manchester City, plus sponsorship of this year’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup – “absolutely facilitated” discussions with the ICC.
Beyond tournament branding, the partnership extends to digital initiatives, fan experiences and the ICC’s flag bearers programme. Unilever will also support Criiio festivals, grassroots events introducing women and girls worldwide to cricket.
Dahiya confirmed that while the deal specifically covers women’s cricket, revenue won’t be ring fenced exclusively for the women’s game but added to central funding.
“If you restricted women’s cricket to only revenue they were making, that would be a gross injustice,” he explained. “The commercial size of men’s sport outweighs women’s sport by factors of probably like 100.”
The ICC has committed to maintaining equal standards across men’s and women’s competitions, including event presentation, facilities and prize money.
“We’ve taken a very conscious decision that we’re not going to deliver to the competing teams and our fans any less than what we would for men,” Dahiya added. “Many times more will go into women’s cricket than just that money.”
Mumbai: Fantasy cricket app, My11Circle, has launched a campaign featuring the ‘Women in Blue’ titled Lalkaar Ladkiyon Ki dedicated to promoting and building momentum for the Women’s T20 World Cup. Set in the backdrop of prominent women cricketers like Harmanpeet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, and Smriti Mandhana practising & preparing for the tournament, the 45-second video narrates how these women have shown resilience and grit to leave a mark in the field of cricket. My11Circle is also the proud official sponsor of Women’s T20 Challenge 2022 – a tournament to showcase women’s representation in the largest cricket league in the world.
On the sidelines of the digital campaign launch, My11Circle senior vice-president Saroj Panigrahi spoke to Indiantelevision.com about the importance of this sponsorship that goes beyond being just sponsors, towards bringing gender neutrality to the world of sports, especially cricket.
India is the biggest market for fantasy sports globally, with more than 130 million users playing across over 200 platforms. Launched in 2019, the My11Circle platform has created a distinct spot for itself witnessing a 100 per cent growth in user base last year. The brand was also the official title sponsor of Lucknow Super Giants during this season’s IPL. However, it hasn’t been a cake walk for the fantasy sports platform which had to go through its fair share of trials during the pandemic with live sports coming to a halt. Panigrahi also shared inputs on the future of online skill gaming in India and the roadmap ahead for the brand.
Edited excerpts:
On the objective behind sponsoring the Women’s T20 Challenge 2022
Cricket has always been a strategic investment for us. As an organisation, we strongly believe in gender parity. Our title sponsorship of the Women’s T20 Challenge 2022 was not only a great opportunity to demonstrate that belief, but also the perfect stage to associate with the finest batters, bowlers and fielders in the cricket world. We have consistently been striving to encourage women’s participation in games and sports that have traditionally been dominated by men, as we acknowledge the dedication and quality they bring to sports.
This partnership has strengthened our connection with millions of cricket fans throughout India, and will inspire more women to take up the sport. It has also certainly helped us in generating more visibility for the My11Circle brand.
On the recent spurt in growth in the online gaming industry
As per industry reports, the Indian gaming industry is currently pegged at $2.2 billion and expected to be a $7 billion industry by 2027. Live interaction, end-to-end encryption, payment gateways, freemium formats, hyper-personalised experiences, and other features have made the gaming environment safer and more entertaining for players. Mobile phone-based gaming applications continue to dominate the market, accounting for 86 per cent of all gaming experiences.
We are a technology company with a passion for gaming. We specialise in artificial intelligence and behavioural science. From pioneering the first online monetised skill gaming platform in India to becoming the most valued multi-gaming unicorn with over 100 million users, Games24x7 has witnessed tremendous growth in the last few years. Our fantasy platform My11Circle is India’s fastest growing fantasy sports platform, and we witnessed a 100 per cent increase in our user base last year.
On overcoming the impact of the pandemic on the company’s business
Just as the Covid pandemic wreaked havoc on every industry, the fantasy sports business also took a hit. As a platform, we are completely dependent on live sports, which came to an indefinite halt during the lockdown. However, things started to pick up after the restrictions were lifted. Our fantasy platform, My11Circle saw a 100 percent increase in its user base last year, and recorded stellar growth of over 30 per cent during this year’s IPL season.
On the industry trends you see emerging in the near future
Cricket is an important part of India’s cultural fabric and people’s interest in cricket directly translates into their interest in fantasy cricket. By associating with tournaments like the Women’s T20 Challenge, we have seen a huge growth in female user engagement on our app. We aim to maximise women’s participation in competitions that will promote the growth of sports in India by bringing to the fore new skills, talents, perspectives, standards, and idols. This will also impact women’s digital engagement patterns and the way they participate in fantasy sports.
On My11Circle’s association with the Lucknow Super Giants during this IPL
My11Circle is the official title sponsor of Lucknow Super Giants, and the brand enjoys a position of prominence on the team’s jersey. India’s central region did not have an IPL team until 2021, so it was a great opportunity for us to associate with Lucknow Super Giants. Since our fan base is spread across different regions, we have witnessed an amazing response. There has been strong support for the team from users which has been reflected in their engagement on our platform.
Our association with the Lucknow Super Giants has played a key role in the expansion of our user base. While the team was a new entrant to the fray, their performances were nothing short of remarkable. The brand of cricket that LSG played, and their involvement till the final stages of the tournament piqued the fans’ interest, and gave us exceptional visibility, translating into many new users joining our platform.
On the future of fantasy sports and online skill gaming in India
Owing to the increasing internet penetration, we see a lot of opportunities for user expansion in the coming years. If we look at data, mobile gaming is poised to surpass $136 billion in 2022. Technology will help us diversify narratives, create immersive storylines, and build more realistic gaming experiences for our players.
The fantasy sports industry is poised to play a huge role in creating highly skilled jobs, generating revenue, attracting FDI, propagating sporting culture, and contributing to India’s socioeconomic status. As a sport of national value, cricket garners a lot of buzz in the fantasy ecosystem. However, in the coming years, other sports like kabaddi, football and hockey will be gaining traction in the fantasy space. The ever-growing fan base of fantasy sports is further redefining the love for gaming as a mainstream recreational activity.
MUMBAI: The recently concluded ICC Women’s T20 World Cup saw unprecedented growth in the consumption of T20 women’s cricket, resulting in the official broadcaster Star Sports setting new records. Consumption rose three times to 5.4 billion minutes during the tournament.
The tournament has reached at a historical high of 74.9 million up 200 per cent. On the digital platform, Hotstar viewership grew 180 per cent while consumption per user rises 80 per cent and social conversations grew by 2.5 times compared to ICC Women's World Twenty20 2018.
The finals, which witnessed hosts Australia square off against India, recorded 9.9 million average impressions, the highest ever for any women's T20 match. However, Australia beat India by 85 runs to win their fifth Women’s T20 World Cup crown in front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground with 86,174 fans in attendance during a final.
Star Sports, through its campaign #TakeOnTheWorld, which featured the 16-year-old Indian opening batswomen, Shafali Verma, brought alive her single-minded focus and passion for the game. The same passion was seen in Shafali’s game throughout the tournament – her talent and pure power took the cricketing world by storm.
Even though the teenage sensation ended up on the losing side, her performance during the tournament left many fans of the game in awe and eulogizing her prodigious talent despite her young age. The campaign generated 1.3 million interactions across social platforms, 5.2 times increase over the last ICC Women's World Twenty20 2018.
The overwhelming response from fans not only inspires a generation of young girls to take up the sport but also attract brand and advertising interest to further fuel the growth of women's cricket in India.
With this, Star Sports proudly supports 100 per cent cricket, the ICC’s yearlong campaign to grow the visibility of the women’s game, celebrate the players and their passion, and reinforce cricket’s position at the forefront of the women’s sports movement.
MUMBAI: The Indian women's cricket team may have failed to lift the T20 world cup at Melbourne, but definitely have turned the eyeballs of the audience, by putting up a tough fight during all the league matches.
In the first 12 knock-out matches, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India reports: “Out of the 2548 million viewing minutes, Indian women’s matches dominated the television screen with a staggering 72 per cent to 1842 million viewing minutes.”
According to BARC India, “The ongoing ICC Women’s T20 world cup garnered a total of 2548 million viewing minutes for the first 12 league matches played between 21-28 February. Of which 61 per cent of the male audience watched these matches.”
“The 12 matches played during the tournament, achieved a cumulative reach of 46 million viewers, of which 27 million viewers were in the male category and 19 million were in the female,” reports BARC.
For the first time in history, the International Cricket Council had organised the women’s T20 world cup as a standalone event unlike last season in 2016. The last edition of women’s T20 world cup was bundled with the men’s T20 world cup, which is scheduled later this year in October.
According to the ICC, the first 12 matches of T20 world cup saw a growth of 213 per cent and attracted 2.46 billion viewing minutes in India versus 787 million viewing minutes for the same matches in the previous event in the same format.
ICC also said that the opening match between India and Australia saw a reach of 20 million and an average audience of 3.55 million, which is 39 per cent higher than the most-watched match in the previous edition. Star Sports is the official global broadcast partner of ICC. In India, all the matches were shown in five languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu.
Similarly, across ICC’s digital and social media platforms, fans have engaged in greater numbers than ever before with an unprecedented 701 million video views to date compared to previous best in 2017 for the women’s ODI cricket world cup, which netted a total of 100 million views from the whole event.
MUMBAI: The decline in the viewership pattern of sports broadcasters continued in week seven (15-21 February) of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India ratings. Sports channels, this week, tumbled by over 60 per cent as compared to week six (8-14 February).
Star Sports 1 Hindi of Star India group dragged the viewership of overall sports channels to the lowest level this year. The channel alone fell substantially by over 76 per cent in the current week of BARC.
Despite significant fall in viewership, Star Sports 1 Hindi topped the list of top five sports channels. The channel received 78,298 weekly impressions in week seven as compared to 3,31,536 weekly impressions in week six of BARC.
Star Sports is the official broadcaster for all international matches played in India and New Zealand. It’s also an official partner to telecast limited over matches of the World Cup and Asia Cup across genres.
Cricket is the majorly favoured and watched sport by the Indian audience, followed by World Wrestling Entertainment, soccer, and tennis. However, week seven was dull in terms of any India-specific cricket matches except women’s T20 world cup and the domestic tournament Ranji Trophy.
Dethroning the government-owned channel, DD Sports, from the top five channels’ list completely, Star Sports First bagged the second position. The channel posted a positive show with a marginal rise in viewership of over 6 per cent, by securing 49,263 impressions in week seven as against 46,244 in the previous week of BARC.
Despite being low in numbers as compared to rival broadcasters, Sony Pictures Sports Network channels have put a tough fight in week seven. This week, the group’s two sports channels, Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 3, grabbed the third and fourth spots in the list of top five most-viewed channels.
Sony Ten 1 turned green after reeling under a negative space for the last two weeks. The channel improved its performance by gaining over 1 percent to 31,573 weekly impressions as compared to 31024 impressions in the previous week. The channel, in week six, was down by over 50 per cent.
Replacing Star Sports 3 from its position at number four, Sony Ten 3 has been featured for the first time in the top five sports channels list with 25561 weekly impressions in the current week. All thanks to the UEFA: Champions League – Round of 16, a football tournament that began from 19 February, the channel has successfully made a mark in week seven of BARC.
Meanwhile, Star Sports 2, for the first time this year, got featured at the fifth spot in the list of top five channels in terms of viewership. The channel secured at least 20,383 eyeballs in the week seven of BARC. The channel broadcasts the domestic cricket tournament, Ranji Trophy, which has come to its last leg of semis and features many important cricketers that represent Team India at the international level.
