ITV

Tag: World Cup

  • GEC, regional channels’ viewership to dip further this year due to IPL, Elections

    GEC, regional channels’ viewership to dip further this year due to IPL, Elections

    MUMBAI: This summer, India is set to witness two major events, the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the much awaited General Elections, clash for votes and viewership. For the broadcast industry, those with general entertainment channels (GECs) are likely to see even further dip in eyeballs because of this.

    With Star India introducing several regional feeds for its first edition of IPL last year, the regional channels also saw a slight change. As per reports, viewership share of regional language telecast was reported to be 23 per cent followed by English with 22 per cent and Hindi dominating with 55 per cent.

    IPL telecast has also shown significant impact on viewing habits for other genres. While mapping viewership of various genres during IPL and non-IPL weeks, it was found that the share of the GEC genre declined marginally in all 3 years under review (2016-18), as viewers tuned in to IPL matches during primetime.

    According to Viacom18 Hindi mass entertainment and kids TV network head Nina Elavia Jaipuria, these events, no doubt, work well with audiences but that doesn’t mean that people stop watching GECs. She said, “What happens in any country when there is large mass viewership, there is one television, and the viewership time gets divided. But like I told you that the power of content is so much that there is no viewer who is going to stay without television for two months and without their characters. It’s the eleventh IPL and Hindi GECs have always done well. It is not that people stop watching GECs. So to my mind, there will be some division of time and little more time given to different genres of channels. But people will not stop watching their favourite shows and characters.” She is confident that Viacom18 has a very strong line up and there’s no reason that it will be losing viewership on the channels.

    Zee TV business head Aparna Bhosle claimed that Zee saw growth during IPL last year. She added that when the content offering is strong, viewership invariably grows. Media planners spoke to Indiantelevision.com and said that the loss of viewership will be little more than the previous year. On the contrary, while reports suggested that regional channels are expected to grow double digits, this year regional broadcasters felt that there could be a decrease.

    Fakt Marathi Enterr10 MD Shirish Pattanshetty said that it wouldn’t be the case with Hindi GECs as against regional channels. “Trend shows that regional could see 8 to 12 per cent decline,” he said.

    According to Dishum Broadcasting COO Partha Dey, the viewership on news and sports genre will definitely be high but rooted entertainment and spike programming on regional channels will cushion much of the impact.

    Talking about the growth of viewership on television, the impressions for IPL 2018 witnessed a growth of 41 per cent over the 2016 season and 16 per cent over the 2017 season. Even the average time spent went from 28 minutes in 2016 to 34 minutes in 2018. 

    Stratagem Media founder-director Sundeep Nagpal said that the loss of viewership can be expected to be a little more pronounced this year. Moreover, Carat Media SVP Mayank Bhatnagar explained that IPL viewership has been growing year-on-year. He added, “In 2018, GEC and movies genres’ viewership drop was 3-5 per cent. This year, there are back-to-back cricket events with IPL first and then the World Cup. So it’s imperative to have counter strategies to mitigate the risk.”

    As far as ad rates are concerned Pattanshetty said that overall it is likely to increase due to the mega events and regional especially may see double-digit growth.

    With the new TRAI tariff regime also set, there is likely to be fluctuations in the viewership pattern as well. The industry is giving time for viewership patterns to stabilise and is likely to see it happen before these events take place. 

  • Share all World Cup, T-20 feeds with Prasar Bharati, rights holder told

    Share all World Cup, T-20 feeds with Prasar Bharati, rights holder told

    NEW DELHI: The telecast of all official one-day and Twenty-20 matches played by the Indian Men’s Cricket Team will henceforth have to be shared by the rights holder with the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007.

    A Gazette notification issued on 22 October 2016 and placed on the Information and Broadcasting Ministry website today also states that this includes “such Test matches as are considered to be of high public interest by the Central Government.”

    In addition, the notification says this also includes semi-finals and finals of Men’s World Cup and International Cricket Council Championship Trophy will also figure among the the sporting events of national importance with respect to cricket.

    The notification has been issued by the Government under Section 2 (1) of the Act read with Rule 6(1) of the Sports Broadcast Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Rules 2007. The notification issued by the joint secretary Anju Nigam, says this is in supersession of the notification of the Government of 23 August 2012.

    A Ministry source told indiantelevision.com that the notification had been issued in view of some cases filed earlier in the different courts and to avoid further litigation with regard to sharing the feed with All India Radio and Doordarshan with regard to cricket.Motion Pictures Association, MPA, Netflix, RedBull Media House, torrent, forensic watermarking, online piracy

  • Share all World Cup, T-20 feeds with Prasar Bharati, rights holder told

    Share all World Cup, T-20 feeds with Prasar Bharati, rights holder told

    NEW DELHI: The telecast of all official one-day and Twenty-20 matches played by the Indian Men’s Cricket Team will henceforth have to be shared by the rights holder with the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007.

    A Gazette notification issued on 22 October 2016 and placed on the Information and Broadcasting Ministry website today also states that this includes “such Test matches as are considered to be of high public interest by the Central Government.”

    In addition, the notification says this also includes semi-finals and finals of Men’s World Cup and International Cricket Council Championship Trophy will also figure among the the sporting events of national importance with respect to cricket.

    The notification has been issued by the Government under Section 2 (1) of the Act read with Rule 6(1) of the Sports Broadcast Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Rules 2007. The notification issued by the joint secretary Anju Nigam, says this is in supersession of the notification of the Government of 23 August 2012.

    A Ministry source told indiantelevision.com that the notification had been issued in view of some cases filed earlier in the different courts and to avoid further litigation with regard to sharing the feed with All India Radio and Doordarshan with regard to cricket.Motion Pictures Association, MPA, Netflix, RedBull Media House, torrent, forensic watermarking, online piracy

  • Delhi HC directs Stracon India to pay Rs 7.31 crore to DD for Sharjah Cup 1999

    Delhi HC directs Stracon India to pay Rs 7.31 crore to DD for Sharjah Cup 1999

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has affirmed that Stracon India Ltd owes a sum of Rs 7.31 crore to Prasar Bharati towards revenue earned for the Sharjah Cup 1999 between India and Pakistan.

    Although an arbitrator had announced an award and a single judge had given a decision, the matter came before a division bench because of an appeal by Stracon India.

    Dismissing the appeal, Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Mukta Gupta in their order of 14 March 2016 made available to indiantelevision.com today noted that: “If the learned Arbitrator who authored the award dated 14 March 2014 or the learned Single Judge who has pronounced the decision dated 1 October 2014 had been clear in their reasoning, a simple issue would not have seen so complicated.”

    The Court noted that the Arbitrator had awarded Rs 7.31 crores. However, the judges regretted that the Arbitrator had not done the simple analysis of the pleadings but “left the award with the pleadings being simply noted”.

    The Court said: “In this context it assumes importance that the appellant had issued cheque No.945977 on 20 May 1999 in sum of Rs 7.31 crores which was dishonoured when Prasar Bharati presented the same for realization”.

    Prasar Bharati and Stracon India had entered into an agreement on 5 June 1997 whereby Stracon became the accredited agent for Prasar Bharati concerning Doordarshan Commercial Service. Stracon was to be paid commission of 15 percent. It had a credit facility of between 45 days to 60 days. Indo-Pak one day test series was to be held between 7 April and 16 April 1999 in Sharjah, popularly known as the Sharjah Cup. Pertaining to the Sharjah Cup, an agreement of 22 January 1999 having therein an arbitration clause was executed between the parties.

    But the World Cup had to be held in May of the same year. Another party, Nimbus, obtained an order in its favour from the Bombay High Court in this regard.

    However by that time, certain amounts realized by Stracon concerning the World Cup from advertisers had been credited in an account maintained with Canara Bank, the benefit whereof was taken by Prasar Bharati together with the liabilities concerning the amounts. Amounts realized by Stracon from the Sharjah Cup and expenses incurred were credited and debited in the same account. In other words, amounts relating to both the World Cup and the Sharjah Cup were credited in the same account and amounts paid out were debited in the same account.

    When the matter went for arbitration, Prasar Bharati claimed Rs 7,52,44,234 as the licence fee, Rs 3,33,50,000 towards withholding tax, Rs 3,48,16,159 towards revenue sharing, and Rs 3,56,01,813 towards opportunity cost as relating to the Sharjah Cup.

    The Arbitrator award rejected the later three claims on account of no proof. Thus, the Delhi High Court only confined its order to the sum of Rs 7,31,00,000. In any case, even Prasar Bharati counsel Rajeev Sharma conceded that any claim pertaining to the World Cup could not be the subject matter of the arbitration proceedings.

    The bank statement also showed that a sum of Rs 26,75,45,007 was realized by the appellant from third parties and the expenses are admittedly Rs 34,27,89,241 and even counsel on both sides did not dispute the correctness of the statement of account.

    The court said this meant that “one has to simply bifurcate the amounts concerning the World Cup and the Sharjah Cup and ignore the amounts concerning the World Cup and focus only on the amounts concerning the Sharjah Cup.”

    Prasar Bharati claimed that the deposits Rs 12,54,00,000 was for the World Cup and thus for the Sharjah event the amount would be Rs 14,21,45,007 after deducting the World Cup amount from the total of Rs 26,75,45,007. The outgoing for the Sharjah event was Rs 21,52,52,641 and this would mean the amount payable to Prasar Bharati is Rs 7,31,07,634 after deducting the sum of Rs 14,21,45,007 from Rs 21,52,52,641.

    But the court said: “It is trite that of various kinds of admissions made by a party, the strongest admission against a party is the one made in a pleading.

    The Court said: “There is a clear admission of the pleadings in first paragraph 11 of the Statement of Claim. As regards the second paragraph, the denial is vague and has to be treated as an admission because we do not find anything in the preliminary submissions wherefrom it can be deduced that as per the appellant it denied the bifurcation as pleaded by the respondent in the second paragraph numbered as 11 in the Statement of Claim.”

    The judgment said this admission is fortified from the pleading in paragraph 13 of the Statement of Claim and its corresponding reply filed by the appellant. Thus, it is apparent that there is an admission of Rs 14,21,45,007 being towards the Sharjah event.

    The court said: “The evasive denial means as admission of the fact pleaded in para 15 of the Statement of Claim that the total outgoing for the Sharjah event was Rs 21,52,52,641. If this be so, the destination is apparent. Deduct Rs 14,21,45,007 from said amount and we have the figure Rs 7,31,07,634.”

    On the subject of limitation, the court said “we concur with the view taken by the learned Arbitrator that as long as the parties discussed the issue and till when a clear denial of the liability came from the mouth of the appellant limitation would not commence.”

  • Delhi HC directs Stracon India to pay Rs 7.31 crore to DD for Sharjah Cup 1999

    Delhi HC directs Stracon India to pay Rs 7.31 crore to DD for Sharjah Cup 1999

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has affirmed that Stracon India Ltd owes a sum of Rs 7.31 crore to Prasar Bharati towards revenue earned for the Sharjah Cup 1999 between India and Pakistan.

    Although an arbitrator had announced an award and a single judge had given a decision, the matter came before a division bench because of an appeal by Stracon India.

    Dismissing the appeal, Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Mukta Gupta in their order of 14 March 2016 made available to indiantelevision.com today noted that: “If the learned Arbitrator who authored the award dated 14 March 2014 or the learned Single Judge who has pronounced the decision dated 1 October 2014 had been clear in their reasoning, a simple issue would not have seen so complicated.”

    The Court noted that the Arbitrator had awarded Rs 7.31 crores. However, the judges regretted that the Arbitrator had not done the simple analysis of the pleadings but “left the award with the pleadings being simply noted”.

    The Court said: “In this context it assumes importance that the appellant had issued cheque No.945977 on 20 May 1999 in sum of Rs 7.31 crores which was dishonoured when Prasar Bharati presented the same for realization”.

    Prasar Bharati and Stracon India had entered into an agreement on 5 June 1997 whereby Stracon became the accredited agent for Prasar Bharati concerning Doordarshan Commercial Service. Stracon was to be paid commission of 15 percent. It had a credit facility of between 45 days to 60 days. Indo-Pak one day test series was to be held between 7 April and 16 April 1999 in Sharjah, popularly known as the Sharjah Cup. Pertaining to the Sharjah Cup, an agreement of 22 January 1999 having therein an arbitration clause was executed between the parties.

    But the World Cup had to be held in May of the same year. Another party, Nimbus, obtained an order in its favour from the Bombay High Court in this regard.

    However by that time, certain amounts realized by Stracon concerning the World Cup from advertisers had been credited in an account maintained with Canara Bank, the benefit whereof was taken by Prasar Bharati together with the liabilities concerning the amounts. Amounts realized by Stracon from the Sharjah Cup and expenses incurred were credited and debited in the same account. In other words, amounts relating to both the World Cup and the Sharjah Cup were credited in the same account and amounts paid out were debited in the same account.

    When the matter went for arbitration, Prasar Bharati claimed Rs 7,52,44,234 as the licence fee, Rs 3,33,50,000 towards withholding tax, Rs 3,48,16,159 towards revenue sharing, and Rs 3,56,01,813 towards opportunity cost as relating to the Sharjah Cup.

    The Arbitrator award rejected the later three claims on account of no proof. Thus, the Delhi High Court only confined its order to the sum of Rs 7,31,00,000. In any case, even Prasar Bharati counsel Rajeev Sharma conceded that any claim pertaining to the World Cup could not be the subject matter of the arbitration proceedings.

    The bank statement also showed that a sum of Rs 26,75,45,007 was realized by the appellant from third parties and the expenses are admittedly Rs 34,27,89,241 and even counsel on both sides did not dispute the correctness of the statement of account.

    The court said this meant that “one has to simply bifurcate the amounts concerning the World Cup and the Sharjah Cup and ignore the amounts concerning the World Cup and focus only on the amounts concerning the Sharjah Cup.”

    Prasar Bharati claimed that the deposits Rs 12,54,00,000 was for the World Cup and thus for the Sharjah event the amount would be Rs 14,21,45,007 after deducting the World Cup amount from the total of Rs 26,75,45,007. The outgoing for the Sharjah event was Rs 21,52,52,641 and this would mean the amount payable to Prasar Bharati is Rs 7,31,07,634 after deducting the sum of Rs 14,21,45,007 from Rs 21,52,52,641.

    But the court said: “It is trite that of various kinds of admissions made by a party, the strongest admission against a party is the one made in a pleading.

    The Court said: “There is a clear admission of the pleadings in first paragraph 11 of the Statement of Claim. As regards the second paragraph, the denial is vague and has to be treated as an admission because we do not find anything in the preliminary submissions wherefrom it can be deduced that as per the appellant it denied the bifurcation as pleaded by the respondent in the second paragraph numbered as 11 in the Statement of Claim.”

    The judgment said this admission is fortified from the pleading in paragraph 13 of the Statement of Claim and its corresponding reply filed by the appellant. Thus, it is apparent that there is an admission of Rs 14,21,45,007 being towards the Sharjah event.

    The court said: “The evasive denial means as admission of the fact pleaded in para 15 of the Statement of Claim that the total outgoing for the Sharjah event was Rs 21,52,52,641. If this be so, the destination is apparent. Deduct Rs 14,21,45,007 from said amount and we have the figure Rs 7,31,07,634.”

    On the subject of limitation, the court said “we concur with the view taken by the learned Arbitrator that as long as the parties discussed the issue and till when a clear denial of the liability came from the mouth of the appellant limitation would not commence.”

  • Goa Fest: Rajdeep Sardesai in talks with Arjuna Ranatunga

    Goa Fest: Rajdeep Sardesai in talks with Arjuna Ranatunga

    Goa: For the first session on the day two of Goafest, the audience were amused with the presence of minister of ports and shipping and former Sri Lanka cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga in conversation with senior journalist, author and founder of the IBN Network Rajdeep Sardesai.

    The session kick-started with Sardesai asking Ranatunga about ICC World Cup win in 1996, at a time the country was faced with internal issues. Recalling the mindset at the time of the tournament, “I wanted a team of 14 cricketers who would give their life and dedication to the country. Winning the World Cup did not happen overnight. I asked my players if they wanted to win. I only picked committed players and not the best players. We didn’t care about the money. I led the team like a school principal. I would order my players to get back to their rooms at 10 pm, even if they couldn’t get sleep early, said Captain Fantastic.

    It could be well remembered that during the Sri Lanka-Australia final of the World Cup, Ranatunga hit Shane Warne for a six and then stuck his tongue out. A puzzled Sardesai asked the reason behind his reaction and whether the captain is supposed to be this aggressive. Putting blame on his size which makes him pant, pretending to be innocent he riddled, “I don’t remember sticking a tongue out to Warne. I walk between the wickets”.

    He further noted that this issue was created by two Indian journalists who had come to interview him. “Two journalists met me post our semi-finale win and said ‘Rana you need to give Australia a short before you start. The two guys told me where they’ll be sitting in the audience, during the press conference and told me to answer their questions. One of them asked me about Shane Warne. I said he was mediocre bowler, highly rated in his country and I don’t think he’s a match winner against us.Then the other asked me about the Waugh brothers. I said the same about them and said that there were better cricketers in Asia”.

    Ranatunga used to analyse all his reactions and believes that a captain has to be aggressive. “If they push us, you have to push them twice or thrice. If I do something like that now, I would be suspended. At that time, we did not have such realistic rules at that time. I knew if all of us left, the match would be abandoned and they’d win. I don’t want young guys to do this. I love and respect the way Kapil Dev and Imran Khan managed their teams. I have learned a lot from them. Even they were aggressive captains.”

    Going further, Sardesai asked Ranatunga whether a captain in the subcontinent needs to be a politician. “We have created unhappiness to a lot of western teams but that did not hamper my credibility back home.”

    When asked about which job is the most challenging that being a captain for a cricket team winning a world cup or a minister who ensures policy change. He asserted, “Being a minister is the toughest assignment. Ports is one of the most corrupt industries with more than 90 per cent people being corrupt. But I love challenges and want to have them in life; to go on bad roads and not the highways”.

    The question on different ways to deal with corruption has never been answered. Rana strongly opposes any kind of corruption done by the 10,000 people working in the industry. “I’m not going to go to the past and drag things out. But from the day I join, I want you to be clean. Don’t make me push you to the wall. I feel I can get things right provided I don’t get shot”, he said.

    A buddhist follower by nature, Ranatunga trusts that Buddhism does bring calmness to him despite all the controversies and pressure. “When I was struggling or went through pressure, I used to talk to the top priests and still do that. I do a bit of meditation. It’s not just Buddhism. All religions have enough good areas where you can learn and observe.”

    Majority of the players endorse brands which could affect a cricketers game. A question that often strikes our mind is whether endorsements affect performances. “I have never done an ad.”

    Recalling his first test at the at of 18, he said that a boss from a leading company had approached him for a commercial. Going back to that time, he remarked, “I don’t know anything about this; why don’t you talk to my mum? My mother was a teacher and listened to him for half an hour. Her answer was ‘sorry Michael, my son is not for sale.’”

    One thing that my mother told me at that time was, “Don’t sell your talent or body for money.”

    “There are players who are interested in sacrificing play time or family time to do ads. I believe you need to identify what you are good at. Don’t do toilet ads to earn more. I’ve done three charity ads. I may have lost a lot of money not doing ads but these are the things that kept me going”, asserted the minister.

    At the end of the session, the table was made open for Q&A sessions. One of the questions asked was on the T20 format. Ranatunga compared 20-20 to a brand of instant noodles. “T20 matches are quick, and filling but not healthy. Test cricket is what a mother cooks. It’s healthy, but might not be very filling.”

    He further added, “We will lose our identity because of T20. India and Pakistan were among the best at hockey but now they play on artificial grass, it’s all about power. These days you don’t need brains and technique. Behind the walls they are creating another sort of cricket for them to go to the top”.

    A question was thrown at Sardesai whether he will choose to become a cricketer or continue with being a journalist. Answering the question, he commented, “Cricket needs talent, journalists don’t need talent.” Ranatunga added further, “If you have money, you can be the president but cricket needs talent.”

    The session concluded with Sardesai questioning Ranatunga whether he would endorse a brand ever to which he replied, “Only if you convince the three important ladies in my life i.e. my mother, wife and daughter, I will do anything that you want me to do.”

  • Goa Fest: Rajdeep Sardesai in talks with Arjuna Ranatunga

    Goa Fest: Rajdeep Sardesai in talks with Arjuna Ranatunga

    Goa: For the first session on the day two of Goafest, the audience were amused with the presence of minister of ports and shipping and former Sri Lanka cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga in conversation with senior journalist, author and founder of the IBN Network Rajdeep Sardesai.

    The session kick-started with Sardesai asking Ranatunga about ICC World Cup win in 1996, at a time the country was faced with internal issues. Recalling the mindset at the time of the tournament, “I wanted a team of 14 cricketers who would give their life and dedication to the country. Winning the World Cup did not happen overnight. I asked my players if they wanted to win. I only picked committed players and not the best players. We didn’t care about the money. I led the team like a school principal. I would order my players to get back to their rooms at 10 pm, even if they couldn’t get sleep early, said Captain Fantastic.

    It could be well remembered that during the Sri Lanka-Australia final of the World Cup, Ranatunga hit Shane Warne for a six and then stuck his tongue out. A puzzled Sardesai asked the reason behind his reaction and whether the captain is supposed to be this aggressive. Putting blame on his size which makes him pant, pretending to be innocent he riddled, “I don’t remember sticking a tongue out to Warne. I walk between the wickets”.

    He further noted that this issue was created by two Indian journalists who had come to interview him. “Two journalists met me post our semi-finale win and said ‘Rana you need to give Australia a short before you start. The two guys told me where they’ll be sitting in the audience, during the press conference and told me to answer their questions. One of them asked me about Shane Warne. I said he was mediocre bowler, highly rated in his country and I don’t think he’s a match winner against us.Then the other asked me about the Waugh brothers. I said the same about them and said that there were better cricketers in Asia”.

    Ranatunga used to analyse all his reactions and believes that a captain has to be aggressive. “If they push us, you have to push them twice or thrice. If I do something like that now, I would be suspended. At that time, we did not have such realistic rules at that time. I knew if all of us left, the match would be abandoned and they’d win. I don’t want young guys to do this. I love and respect the way Kapil Dev and Imran Khan managed their teams. I have learned a lot from them. Even they were aggressive captains.”

    Going further, Sardesai asked Ranatunga whether a captain in the subcontinent needs to be a politician. “We have created unhappiness to a lot of western teams but that did not hamper my credibility back home.”

    When asked about which job is the most challenging that being a captain for a cricket team winning a world cup or a minister who ensures policy change. He asserted, “Being a minister is the toughest assignment. Ports is one of the most corrupt industries with more than 90 per cent people being corrupt. But I love challenges and want to have them in life; to go on bad roads and not the highways”.

    The question on different ways to deal with corruption has never been answered. Rana strongly opposes any kind of corruption done by the 10,000 people working in the industry. “I’m not going to go to the past and drag things out. But from the day I join, I want you to be clean. Don’t make me push you to the wall. I feel I can get things right provided I don’t get shot”, he said.

    A buddhist follower by nature, Ranatunga trusts that Buddhism does bring calmness to him despite all the controversies and pressure. “When I was struggling or went through pressure, I used to talk to the top priests and still do that. I do a bit of meditation. It’s not just Buddhism. All religions have enough good areas where you can learn and observe.”

    Majority of the players endorse brands which could affect a cricketers game. A question that often strikes our mind is whether endorsements affect performances. “I have never done an ad.”

    Recalling his first test at the at of 18, he said that a boss from a leading company had approached him for a commercial. Going back to that time, he remarked, “I don’t know anything about this; why don’t you talk to my mum? My mother was a teacher and listened to him for half an hour. Her answer was ‘sorry Michael, my son is not for sale.’”

    One thing that my mother told me at that time was, “Don’t sell your talent or body for money.”

    “There are players who are interested in sacrificing play time or family time to do ads. I believe you need to identify what you are good at. Don’t do toilet ads to earn more. I’ve done three charity ads. I may have lost a lot of money not doing ads but these are the things that kept me going”, asserted the minister.

    At the end of the session, the table was made open for Q&A sessions. One of the questions asked was on the T20 format. Ranatunga compared 20-20 to a brand of instant noodles. “T20 matches are quick, and filling but not healthy. Test cricket is what a mother cooks. It’s healthy, but might not be very filling.”

    He further added, “We will lose our identity because of T20. India and Pakistan were among the best at hockey but now they play on artificial grass, it’s all about power. These days you don’t need brains and technique. Behind the walls they are creating another sort of cricket for them to go to the top”.

    A question was thrown at Sardesai whether he will choose to become a cricketer or continue with being a journalist. Answering the question, he commented, “Cricket needs talent, journalists don’t need talent.” Ranatunga added further, “If you have money, you can be the president but cricket needs talent.”

    The session concluded with Sardesai questioning Ranatunga whether he would endorse a brand ever to which he replied, “Only if you convince the three important ladies in my life i.e. my mother, wife and daughter, I will do anything that you want me to do.”

  • Star Sports’ ICC World T20 ‘Taiyaari’ campaign draws mixed response

    Star Sports’ ICC World T20 ‘Taiyaari’ campaign draws mixed response

    MUMBAI: Come March and cricket mania is all set to hit the country yet again. The ICC World Twenty20 will kick-start on 8 March, 2016 and official broadcaster Star Sports has come up with a campaign to pull in viewers.

    While last year’s catchy ‘Mauka Mauka’ campaign for the ICC World Cup was a clear winner, the latest one for the ICC World Twenty20 with the tagline ‘Taiyaari Kar Lo’ has drawn mixed reactions from creative heads from the advertising fraternity.

    Star Sports had rolled out teaser ads on television in December last year playing somewhat on the lines of superstition or good luck charm… call it what you may. The teaser ad saw a tenant returning to his previous landlord’s house wanting to rent the place as it was there that he had lived when India won the ICC World Cup 2011. The ad ended by asking viewers to get ready – Taiyaari Kar Lo – for the upcoming tourney.

    The latest ad in the campaign to hit screens featuring none other than the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his celebrity stylist Sapna Bhavnani also plays to the same tune. The ad has created quite a buzz among the digital audience as well.

    The ad shows Dhoni brainstorming with Bhavnani over his next hairstyle and look for the upcoming tournament. Bhavnani plays around with some extreme and some quirky looks for the sports star, each time getting a raised eyebrow or a witty retort from Dhoni on how it won’t work with his fans. Until finally, Bhavnani draws out a wig for Dhoni, asking him to maybe sport the ‘Mahi’ look from the World Cup when India won.

    The campaign lives up to its name, asking the audience to get ready  for the tournament that will ensue from 8 March, 2016.

    The ad is a must watch for all Dhoni fans, who follow his style funda, and also get some insight from the lady who does the ultimate magic.

    When asked about their take on the new Star Sports campaign for the tournament, several creatives from the industry felt that it’s a refreshing new way to treat a cricket tournament. Not going the ‘anthem’ way definitely poses limitations and challenges to come up with ways to connect with the audience with the same fervour.

    Given that it is a campaign on ICC World T20, one can’t help compare it to the magnus opus that Bubblewrap Film’, ‘Mauka Mauka’ was. It not only won several awards but also won millions of hearts.

    “Seldom are there advertisements that touch our hearts and instil that natural feel, which ‘Mauka Mauka’ did. It captured everyone’s imaginations very quickly and the catchy jingle was on everyone’s lips. While ‘Taiyaari Kar Lo’ has handled the subject in an entirely different manner, it does seem a bit low key placed against ‘Mauka Mauka,’” shared an advertising industry veteran.

    Industry insiders, however, also feel that it’s unfair to pit one against the other. “‘Mauka Mauka’ was an instant hit. Ideas like that come very rarely and when they do, they create a legacy of sorts. Hence it becomes extremely challenging to do something in the same category and one up it. But this constant comparison may also blind us from looking into the charm of the new campaign,” opines another executive from an ad agency.

    Nonetheless, giving the new campaign the benefit of doubt, he also added, “But it’s too early to comment on it. This could be a warm up to a more elaborate campaign, which may culminate in an anthem like creative as well. So we should wait and watch for now.”

    How this creative saga pans out over the next couple of months remains to be seen.

  • Rentrak acquires social media tracker SponsorHub

    Rentrak acquires social media tracker SponsorHub

    MUMBAI: Rentrak has acquired SponsorHub, the Big Data platform for the sports and entertainment industry, offering proprietary social media measurement for sports, political and advertising brands.

     

    SponsorHub offers the most trusted industry benchmarking for top brands in the sports technology and entertainment space. Its tools measure and track brand engagement in sports and branded entertainment initiatives, ranging from the Olympics and World Cup, to TV and movies.

     

    Rentrak’s acquisition of SponsorHub advances its mission of providing unprecedented audience measurement and targeting to enable marketers to reach the right audience at the right time. Through its acquisition of SponsorHub, Rentrak will offer products that measure the effect of social media on television, dynamic ad insertion, online video advertising, movies and branded content integration.

     

    “TV continues to be more social and our industry-leading analytics greatly complement Rentrak’s services. The combination of Rentrak’s current products with SponsorHub’s social media SaaS platform will provide the most precise set of tools to measure the effect of social media. We’re looking forward to the new products that will be developed through this acquisition,” said SponsorHub CEO Robert Johnston.

     

    “We are excited to add social media measurement to our TV Everywhere products, as it will give additional transparency and purchasing flexibility for brands and agencies through SponsorHub’s social media products,” added Rentrak vice chairman & CEO Bill Livek.

  • Star India ropes in new brands; hikes ad rates for World Cup

    Star India ropes in new brands; hikes ad rates for World Cup

    MUMBAI: As Dhoni and team prepare to face Australia and book a berth in the final of the biggest cricketing event, Uday Shankar and his team at Star India have roped in more brands as partners to make the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 one of the biggest revenue generating sport event in India.

     

    Before the start of the semi final rounds, Star India roped in many new sponsors across categories like Amazon, Snapdeal, indiaproperty.com, OLX, Voltas, Dell, Panasonic and Toyota.   

     

    Sources in Star told Indiantelevision.com that the ad rates have also seen a substantial hike. “A 10 second slot during India VS Australia bout will cost around Rs 18 – 22 lakh and the later the brand comes in, the more it pays,” the source added.

     

    The cumulative reach of the tournament soared up to 576 million viewers and is expected to grow further if India qualifies for the finals. 

     

    In the other semi final, New Zealand face South Africa. While both teams played numerous semi finals, neither have managed to qualify to the final of the flagship tournament. A highly nail biting match is expected and hence the ad rates have been hiked to Rs 14 – 16 lakh for a 10 second slot.       

     

    Star had a slow start to the tournament as Indian performances prior to the tournament was below par and fans had low expectations from the team. However in a way, this did Star a big favor as circumspect brands endorsed till certain stage predicting limited progress of Indian team. “People thought India won’t qualify for the final stages and bought slots till certain rounds instead of the full tournament. Due to that, in the later stages there are slots available, which is enabling Star to rope in brands at such high pricing,” said a media buying and planning expert.