Tasmayee Laha Roy Moneycontrol News
IPL continues to attract new viewers, and add to the broadcaster’s coffers.
Star India, the beneficiary this time after its jaw-dropping Rs 16,347.5 crore bid to get the telecast rights of the annual extravaganza, has seen a jump of almost 40 per cent from the levels notched up by its rival Sony Pictures Networks India, the previous rights holder.
Star has reaped the benefit of riding the smartphone wave through its hot-selling app Hotstar. “Star had made around Rs 2,000 crore till date from advertising revenues against Sony’s Rs 1,200 crore in the whole of last season,” said an expert from the advertising industry.
Of the Rs 2,000 crore revenue, about Rs 200 crore has come from Hotstar, said the official quoted above.
Star’s impressive collections once again proves cricket’s appeal remains unmatched. Leaving the sceptics and purists aside, IPL’s winning formula of city-specific teams, shorter grounds making massive sixes a child’s play and the colourful attire and surroundings continue to grab a dominant share of the advertisers’ wallets.
Anil Jayaraj, the executive vice president and head of ad sales at Star Sports released an official statement before the start of IPL. “We are delighted with the response for the VIVO IPL 2018 from the brands across sectors. Brands are actively choosing VIVO IPL 2018 as the marketing vehicle to deliver their business ambitions in 2018 as they have a single media property which can appeal to demographics across geographies,” he said.
The response has seen brands queuing up. While initially 34 brands, including Vivo, Colgate, Amul and Coca-Cola had signed up, the number has now gone up to 100. The recent brands joining the line up include Asian Paints, Blue Star, Ceat Tyres and Crompton.
The regional strategy
What did Star do different this time? “The regional touch has done the magic. Commentary for the matches are available in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali and it has added to its viewer base,” the expert added.
But does that justify Star’s asking price of Rs 10 lakh (per 10 seconds). Perhaps. “New entrants in the advertisers list clearly shows the interest among the lot."
To put things into perspective, Jayaraj said: “All brands that have come in so far have chosen to up their investments significantly over past years – this is because of their belief in the delivery of the combined power of TV as well as digital. These brands will get to leverage the power of multiple screens, multiple languages and broaden their reach and engagement like never before. 2018 VIVO IPL will be an un-missable platform to build brands.”
The return of two-time champion Chennai Super Kings after a two-year ban and with it Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain could have only creamed the bucks away a little more. However it is also tightening the format that has helped Star earn some brownies.
“What Star has done is it has brought the focus back on the game. The distractions like the animations on the screen during the match has been done away with. Thus, Star with its experience in cricket broadcast, has tried to brand IPL as a serious cricketing experience as opposed to the 'crickatainment' model followed by Sony,” said R Venkatasubramanian, senior vice president, Initiative Media( India) Pvt Ltd.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
