ITV

Tag: XOLO

  • Nimbus Sports and the million dollar deals

    Nimbus Sports and the million dollar deals

    MUMBAI: Many will agree that with new sporting leagues making in-roads in the country in 2014, the business perception towards each of these sports have also changed. The size of ticket sales has swelled up and so has the viewership patterns on TV- at least for a few.  There have also been some interesting million dollar sponsorship deals that sports management companies have been brokering for tournaments and franchises, beyond cricket. One such company is Nimbus Sports which is the sports marketing division of Nimbus Communications.

     

    Nimbus Sport has been involved in managing rights transactions worth over US$ 2 billion to date, claims its website. According to sources, it currently has an extensive golf portfolio worth $3.5 million which includes the Hero National Open. The National Open which will be in its 51st edition in 2015, will be moving towards the European tour for the first time, making it the only European Championship in the South East Asia region.  

     

    The championship will have prize money of $1.5 million. Nimbus has signed the deal with Hero as the title sponsor for three years and is valued at close to $3 million. The tournament will be held from 16 to 22 February 2015. Ten Sports is the broadcaster for the European tour in India. The championship will have 50 global broadcasters delivering 650 plus broadcasts with a combined excess reach of 530 million household across six continents, says a source close to the development.

     

    Other sponsors who have come on board for the Open are international brands like Emirates, Rolex, and EP World through three season deals.  Industry experts peg these deals at quarter million dollar each.

     

    Adding to this is another golf property, the Vodafone Tee Walk. In January 2014, the business arm of Vodafone India, Vodafone Business Services appointed Nimbus Sport to manage the corporate golf series. It was held across four cities and is currently in its sixth edition. To enhance the overall experience, the company introduced mobile apps and swing analysis. The series was telecast on Neo Sports.

     

    For the ongoing Hero Indian Super League, the company was the official representative of commercial negotiations for Atletico de Kolkata. As part of the deal it helped the team gain a principal sponsor with telco Aircel. This deal is pegged at $1 million for a single year with the right to renew it further.

     

    On the international front, early this year, Nimbus claimed to be the first Indian agency to broker an international deal with premier football club, Liverpool FC and XOLO.  This was the clubs first regional marketing partnership in India. According to sports experts, it is a two and a half season deal worth $1 million per year. The deal offered Indian fans to enjoy content from the club on their handsets, merchandise and the chance to meet former and current players from the club.

    Says a brand consultant  who comments on this deal, “XOLO could have partnered with better known club like Manchester United but by partnering with Liverpool it wanted to be seen as a challenger to the existing order.”

     

    Speaking on the nature of such deals, an industry expert on condition of anonymity comments, “These are not just plain vanilla deals but custom made opportunities for brands to invest. The Aircel deal indicates a region wise targeting, as the brand seems to push for a local connect. The landscape clearly is seeing business goals being integrated into better platforms not just for cricket, but other sports which are becoming popular.”

     

    The company plans to work with leagues like Champions Tennis League, International Premier Tennis League and Formula 1 teams in the coming years.  Some of the deals could see bearing fruit by 2015 or 2016. Sources say, it was approached by Pro Kabaddi League teams this year but much could not be done as they were offered a turnaround time of 15 days which was too short. But in the coming years it seeks to tap on the growing ecosystem.

  • Sony Six set to redefine prime time viewing with 2014 FIFA World Cup

    Sony Six set to redefine prime time viewing with 2014 FIFA World Cup

    MUMBAI: Beginning 12 June, Sony Six, the official broadcast partner for 2014 FIFA World Cup, will redefine prime time viewing of Indian audiences. Being hosted in Brazil, the event is getting ready to capture the imagination of millions of sports enthusiast and hard-core football lovers. With an estimate of over 65 million viewers in the Indian sub-continent itself, the World Cup hopes to rival even the biggest of sporting events in India.

     

    With the world talking of the big sporting event, Sony Six is all set to tap into the prime time slot featuring the live games from the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The channel will exclusively broadcast nearly 38 per cent of the total live games in the prime time slot of 9.30pm across the Indian subcontinent (24 games in the 9.30pm time slot out of the total 64 matches).

     

    The telecast will begin at 8pm with one of a kind studio show, leading up to the match kick off at 9.30pm, where popular anchors and guests will provide the most interesting and unique insights about the players and the tournament.

     

     The 9:30pm slot will showcase some of the most exciting match-ups of the group stages including Germany vs Portugal. Viewers can also catch some of their favourite teams including Spain, England, Uruguay, Netherlands and few of the most exciting knock out stage games in the same slot.

     

    Last time around, of the total viewer demography in India, the tournament had attracted 38 per cent viewership from the 15-34 year audience category presenting a unique opportunity for advertisers and marketers to invest in.

     

    Commenting on the estimated viewership for this year tournament, Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan said, “The projected reach during the tournament is incomparable, given its value as well as time convenience, the viewership numbers account for a wide geographic spread as well as a significant proportion of the world’s population.”

     

    Alliance Advertising, the media buying agency of XOLO, the first official advertiser for 2014 FIFA World Cup on Sony Six, director Arshad Nizam said, “2014 FIFA World Cup is the most anticipated event this year and associating with an event of such magnitude gives XOLO a great opportunity to reach out to the key target audience who will be glued to Sony Six to catch the best footballing action. Considering majority of the matches are slotted for 9.30pm, which is prime time television viewing, gives advertisers a great platform to connect and engage with their audience.”

     

    Not limiting the reach through in-home viewing, the channel feels there will be a continued increase in viewership through out-of-home set up’s including pubs, bars, restaurants, clubs, hotels and official FIFA Fan Fests etc. from metros as well as other emerging markets across the country.

     

    Oxygen Entertainment & Media Solutions director Sajjad Meherally said, “2014 FIFA World Cup has created a huge stir across India with everyone cheering for their favourite team – planning parties and getting geared for the biggest sporting extravaganza. Clients are planning Brazilian themed viewing parties with international performances for their guests. We are getting a lot of inquiries from smaller towns like Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Indore, Nashik and Ludhiana too.”

     

    Besides India, the channel will also broadcast the tournament exclusively to audiences across Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives. 

     

    The tournament will be in two stages; group stage will feature 32 nations and will be played from 12 June-26 June. The knockout stage will start from 28 June and conclude with the FIFA World Cup final match on 13 July.

  • Ten Sports hits a six with India-SA series ad inventories

    Ten Sports hits a six with India-SA series ad inventories

    MUMBAI: So what if Indian cricket lovers are yet to recover from the loss of their God – Sachin Tendulkar?  Ten Sports is pulling out all the stops as the world’s best cricketing nation gets ready to battle with the world’s No 1 test team – South Africa.

    India’s great performance on the cricket field in almost every tournament recently has resulted in Ten Sports selling out almost 90 per cent of its inventory three days before the action starts with the Proteas. And it seems as if there’s a lot many more advertisers waiting to sign up in what is being billed as ‘Clash of the Titans.’

    Says Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi: “Post the departure of Sachin from the national side, I feel this will be the true test of the young brigade that we have against the fierce pace attack of the South Africans in their backyard. We are looking at this series as speed vs skill and the feedback on social media has been really encouraging for this series.”

    Big names are associated with the tournament, what with Kent RO the title sponsor and iBall the co-presenting sponsor for the studio show; Micromax as co-presenting sponsor for the series along with associate sponsors Xolo, Vodafone, Havells, Go daddy, We Chat, Daikin, Tata Motors and ITC.

    We are targeting nearly Rs 120 crore in terms of ad revenues from this series, says Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi

    Sethi further reveal that for the ODIs, ad slots have been sold at Rs 4.25 lakh for every ten seconds and for test matches, they’ve been sold at Rs 1.25 lakh for every ten seconds.

    “We are in a very comfortable position with just 10 per cent of our inventories remaining to be sold and with three days still remaining for the highly anticipated series to commence, we are planning on hiking the rates by 20 per cent.” he laughs. “We are targeting nearly Rs 120 crore in terms of ad revenues from this series and I am confident of hitting that mark.”

    The 360 degree marketing campaign has cost the channel nearly Rs 10 crore, which includes above the line (ATL) with a wide outdoor campaign as well as below the line (BTL) activities, with road shows in key cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. “Apart from this, we have also carried out an innovative campaign on the digital platform with a Hindi jingle that has gone viral on social platforms for the high octane series,” informs Sethi.

    Giving his perspective on the channel’s claim, Madison Media COO Karthik Laxminarayan says: “Big sporting events such as these generally sell out 80 per cent of their inventories and make the most of the remainder of the same. Ten Sports on its part has surely garnered a sizable amount for the series.”

    Madison Media COO Karthik Laxminarayan feels Ten Sports on its part has surely garnered a sizable amount in ad revenues for the series

    On Twitter, Ten Sports has over 43,850 followers while on Facebook, it has got 2.3 million likes with fans continuously interacting about the upcoming series.

    Between 5 and 30 December, the series will be shown live on Ten HD, Ten Cricket and Ten Sports. On Ten Sports, there is Hindi commentary while on Ten HD and Ten Cricket the ball by ball action will be narrated in English.

    Explains Sethi: “With the viewer becoming more and more demanding like any other nation, and rightfully so, there is a viewer base that is looking forward to Hindi commentary and then the usual English commentary feed. Thus, we are only trying to reach out and satisfy the needs of our viewers and keep everyone glued to the action being played out on their screens in the language of their preference.”

    Ten Sports has over 100 million viewers across the market, and will be sharing the telecast of the ODI series with the public broadcaster Doordarshan. Like the last India vs West Indies series, this series too is expected to grab eyeballs.

    “Each property has its own traction and there are different reasons for each event to have the kind of viewership it had, as we all know the main reason for the series being followed was the last two test matches of Sachin’s career; but having said that, with two of the best in the sport locking horns on the field and with the injection of fresh blood in the Indian squad, cricket lovers are surely in for a treat,” Sethi signs off.