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Tag: Indian Premier League

  • It's that time of the year when the country's getting set for IPL fever. Here'a a trendwatch from GroupM ESP

    Top 10 trends of IPL Season 8

     

    According to GroupM ESP, the entertainment and sports partnerships unit of media buying house GroupM, the sports industry has come of age in addressing sponsorship sales and integrating technology to drive audience engagement and advertising deals. “From selling tickets to selling an experience, Indian Premier League has come a long way,” said Vinit Karnik, National Director, GroupM ESP.

     

    In 2015, while teams will continue to beef up the in-stadium experience, there is an additional focus on technology integration. “It makes sense because if fans aren’t in the stadium, they’re watching it somewhere else – at work or home or in a café. And we also see a lot of new generation brands jump onto the IPL bandwagon,” he added.

     

    Here are the top 10 trends of IPL season 8, says GroupM ESP:

    1. E-commerce brands will dominate ad spends on broadcast platform. Top e-commerce companies including Amazon, Quikr, Flipkart, Paytm, Go-Daddy and Car Dekho have signed up for IPL 8

     

    2. Realistic sponsorship pricing strategies resulting in repeat purchases and a stable sponsor ecosystem Brands including USPA, Flying Machine, Ed Hardy, Ultratech, Videocon D2H, Sansui, Aircel, Etihad, HDIL, Tata Prima, HTC, Huawei and Idea Cellular have renewed contracts

     

    3. Increased dependence on crowdsourcing to create excitement around brands. Pepsi’s main summer campaign that will break during IPL 8 is crowdsourced and made by consumers

     

    4. Apparel is an emerging and popular sponsor category among franchises. Top brands like USPA, Flying Machine, Ed Hardy, Jack & Jones have committed to spending with various IPL teams

     

    5. IPL Fan Park idea to heighten interest and involvement in smaller cities and towns. IPL has launched Fan Parks – to create a stadiumlike experience by showing matches on giant screens – in 14-15 cities

     

    6. Enhanced broadcast production quality with regional language feeds. Sony Max is expected to broadcast the match in at least five regional languages including Tamil, Telugu and Bengali

     

    7. Digital platforms to create sustained and deep engagement with real-time analytics. All sports apps including those owned by Multi Screen Media, the cricket board and IPL teams are going to be active on Facebook and Twitter and other platforms to grab fan attention. This will also help with interactive data analysis

     

    8. Technology to enhance spectator interactions and engagement inside stadium. Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders are planning Wi-Fi inside stadiums

     

    9. Surround content to drive social conversations. The cricket board and all IPL teams have planned to release behind-the-scene content and is planning contest around IPL 8

     

    10. Smart talent acquisition by franchises has increased competitiveness with teams evenly matched. Post the auction in February, all IPL teams look equally competitive in Season 8.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Industry estimates say the broadcaster could make up to Rs 950 crore from advertising this year

    MSM makes most of IPL ‘mauka’, nets 9 sponsors

    By Ravi Teja Sharma

     

    Multi Screen Media, the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League, has managed to sign up nine sponsors for season eight even as the ongoing Cricket World Cup is giving it stiff competition. The league has signed up Amazon and Vodafone as presenting sponsors this season and advertisers including Hero MotoCorp, Intex Mobiles, Cardekho.com, Pepsi, Vimal Pan Masala and Paytm as associate sponsors, according to Rohit Gupta, president of Multi Screen Media.

     

    Rohit Gupta

    “We had eight sponsors last year but this year we might have to increase our sponsorship slots to 12,” said Gupta. Although Gupta declined to comment on the revenues that Multi Screen Media expects to get from IPL 8, industry executives indicated that the broadcaster could make up to Rs 950 crore from advertising this year, coming close to its revenue figure in 2013, when the league had 76 games.

     

    With 60 games, IPL made about Rs 800 crore last year. IPL has been riddled with controversies over the past few years, especially the spotfixing and betting scandal that rocked it in 2013. However, Gupta said such controversies do not impact viewership.

     

    “For consumers, it is the best cricket being played and till the cricket is good, viewership won’t drop,” he said.

     

    In 2014, despite the controversies, a watershed election and the first half of IPL being moved to the United Arab Emirates, the tournament saw its viewership grow 7% from that in the previous year, to 192 million from about 175 million.

     

    Ratings for IPL, according to Gupta, have been stable for the past three to four years.

     

    With the IPL coming close on the heels of World Cup, advertisers were cautious initially, Gupta said. “But we were able to convince them because we had ratings to back us.”

     

    Vinit Karnik, national director, sports and live events at GroupM ESP said it was never an either-or situation between the World Cup and IPL for advertisers.

     

    “India has an appetite for both, which is what was proven in 2011 as well,” he said, pointing out that IPL is a seasonal league and people have planned marketing campaigns around it. “It is part of the calendar for marketers now,” he added.

     

    Controversies have, however, impacted the brand value of the league.

     

    According to brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, IPL’s brand value peaked in 2010 at $4.13 billion but dropped to $2.92 billion in 2012. It picked up again in 2013 to rise to $3.03 billion.

     

    Another brand valuation firm American Appraisal India pegged the value of the IPL at $3.2 billion before the start of the 2014 edition of the tournament.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

    All Rights Reserved, Licensed to republish

     

  • World Cup 2015 is unpredictable. Not for which team would win but for marketers, brands and the media, writes Sanjeev Kotnala

    Sanjeev Kotnala: IPL is any day a better bet for brands!

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    The Indian Premier League or Cricket World Cup is a choice or problem for a few brands. You either have money to splurge on both tournaments or you don’t. Those who have money either have a campaign to run or they don’t. And brands with money and campaign, it is only the rate and ROI issue. ROI can never be guaranteed and remains a gamble. So, if you have the money and a campaign and need to advertise during these times you may want need to look at it differently.

     

    World Cup 2015 is unpredictable. Not for which team would win but for marketers, brands and the media. Success here depends on audience interest, viewership, viewer’s empathy and apathy towards the team. Oh yes, the die-hard will watch anything, but the deciders are the real consumers; the fringe audience that makes the numbers advertiser look at. Match timings are big spoiler for them. We can expect non-India matches to be completely blanketed. Unfortunately, such matches form a large percentage of the tournament. The main sponsor get these ineffective buys as a package helping them show lower ER.  Non-sponsor brands try avoiding them but are served as no-option as channel has to square off the investment.

     

    IF (a capital, bold IF) India plays well in the 1st final (India Vs. Pak) it could change the whole game. We as a nation are currently feeling low entering WC15 after a series of losses. Cricket is suffering from lack of empathy and viewers apathy.

     

    On these qualitative counts itself IPL outscores WC-15 with a high percentage of your real TG hooked on to every match.

     

    Srini or No-Srini, 12 or 8 teams, ball-tampering or fixed matches nothing changes the ground rule; IPL is a festival, a mela, a tamasha we all enjoy with a spicy tadka of regionalisation. IPL demands less of your time, give you much to discuss and is much more fun. It is realignment of interest, supports and stars. The audience loves this cut-throat high intensity not giving an inch of attitude. They smile, so can the channel and the advertisers. The patriotic feeling is understated or completely dead and that makes team losing a bit more manageable for the viewer.

     

    I firmly believe that even a low WC-15 performance by the Indian team will fail to dampen the IPL spirit. Good or near decent show will help IPL. In gambling terms, with IPL you hold the royal run. IPL is always a new beginning. With auctions, there is always a new team under every banner. It has a clearly differentiated taste and flavour.

     

    On the other hand, the hard focus on TV impact in these tournaments creates blinkers and brands end up underutilising or missing opportunities with other media. Radio and hoarding are good bets. In WC, by the time newspapers share the result of a match, the audience would be watching the next day’s match.  But if you want to add regionalised tadka in IPL making it exciting for your brand, go talk to your print guy and be pleasantly surprised with the ideas they have.

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala is Head Catalyst at Intradia and believes the best way forward for an organisation is to enhance the potential of  internal teams instead of depending on external resources. He is a management- marketing-media consultant and also conducts specialised workshops in the area of ‘Harvesting and Liberating Ideas’ and Innovation.  To contact email netkot@yahoo.com or tweet at s_kotnala visit www.intradia.in  www.sanjeevkotnala.com. The views expressed here are his own.

     

     

     

  • What IPL advertising badly needs is another shot of ZooZoo-like creative by many more brands

    Why hasn’t IPL blossomed into a marquee opportunity for creative agencies?

    By Shephali Bhatt

     

    One is a three-hour long football match; the other is a game of cricket played between various teams over a period of 45 days. One is a 48-year-old event, the other will conclude its seventh year in a couple of days. There’s absolutely no comparison between the US’ National Football League aka Super Bowl and controversy’s favourite child IPL (Indian Premier League).

     

    Yet, at some level, IPL is India’s answer to American Super Bowl. Purely basis the level of popularity that a single sport can enjoy in a country as diverse as theirs and ours. For marketers, these are two games that give them the golden chance of reaching out to a whole nation at once. Now would be a good time to throw in some numbers: Super Bowl XLVII had garnered 108 million viewers last year whereas IPL 6 registered 100 million viewers. This year, Super Bowl XLVIII was viewed by 112 million people on TV. Those figures are a strong testimony of why a 30-second spot for the game aired on 2 February was priced at $4 million. IPL and Super Bowl mirror each other in another aspect – there are natural breaks between the game, allowing marketers to sneak in their message. And that makes advertising around the two games supremely significant.

     

    There’s hardly any Super Bowl viewer who wouldn’t smile at the sight of a Budweiser Clydesdale or not get gooseflesh after watching Clint Eastwood in Chrysler’s ‘It’s halftime in America.’ Super Bowl ads are looked forward to as much as the game itself, if not more. Even the digital natives of our land keep scouting for Super Bowl ads during the first week of February. Why then have Indian advertisers not been able to create a similar buzz for advertising around IPL. The first year of IPL witnessed the birth of ZooZoos, a character Vodafone created specifically for the game. Post ZooZoos, one hasn’t seen any brand going an extra mile to produce an iconic piece of communication solely for an IPL season. It’s not that the ROI is weak, the numbers are for everyone to see. To add to that, IPL is one sport event that makes for family viewing.

     

    “People still remember the Max New York Life ad we released during IPL-1 (the one where a wife enters her house frantically looking for her husband Sanju, only to find him lying on a recliner in the balcony and assuming he’s dead). I don’t think it would’ve had this huge an impact on the audience had it not been released during IPL,” recounts Satbir Singh, CCO and managing partner of Havas Worldwide (India), the then agency for Max Life.

     

    What’s amiss is perhaps the euphoria among the advertisers and agencies to use this event as an opportunity to showcase their best. Time is not really a hindrance here as opposed to the regular assignments. “The slots are booked 6-7 months in advance so the agencies have enough time at hand to create outstanding ads,” states Rohit Gupta, president of MSM (Set Max and Sony Six are official broadcast partners for IPL). One thing that Stuart Elliott, ad columnist with The New York Times, observed during Super Bowl this year was that brands were releasing their ads online, days before the game. Good way of creating build up rather than keeping the suspense like the previous years. As a result, the social mentions had a marked rise – multiple Facebook shares and Twitter allowed the hashtags to thrive a lot longer than two hours post the game.

     

    Maybe there’s a lesson for Indian advertisers who fail to release their ads in time even when they have a full 45 days to leverage on. “Brands releasing their ads when IPL is 15 days into the game has become a norm now. Delay doesn’t do anyone any good,” T Gangadhar, MD of MEC India points out.

     

    To keep the creative fresh and unique year-on- year is a challenge, says Ronita Mitra, SVP – brand communication and insights at Vodafone India. Yet they’ve been trying to do distinctive activities on-ground which includes enabling people to nominate their fan friends and give them a chance to meet the winning captain. What would make a brand stand apart though is not offers, for there will be a dozen other brands doing the same. What IPL advertising badly needs is another shot of ZooZoo-like creative by many more brands. If IPL is India’s answer to Super Bowl, it’s only fair that advertising around it match up.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The e-commerce firms are investing heavily in the current edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for buying onair advertising space

    Amazon, Flipkart investing heavily on TV ads during IPL

    By Pritha Mitra Dasgupta

     

    A clutch of e-commerce companies are investing heavily in the current edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the country’s most glamorous cricketing extravaganza, for buying onair advertising space.

     

    Companies, including Amazon India, Flipkart and Go Daddy, have invested heavily in IPL7, confirmed Rohit Gupta, president of Multi Screen Media, the official broadcaster of the tournament. Multi Screen Media will have nine presenting and associate sponsors for this season of IPL.

     

    “This is at par with previous seasons of IPL where we had eight to 10 sponsors,” Gupta said. The presenting sponsors include Vodafone and Karbonn Mobile and the associate sponsors are Amazon India, Havells, Perfetti, Marico and TVS.

     

    According to Gupta, while the presenting sponsors have paid anywhere between Rs 50 crore andRs 60 crore, and will get airtime of over 200 seconds per match, the associate sponsors have paid Rs 25-35 crore and will get over 100 seconds of advertising time per match.

     

    “We will be signing two more associate sponsors next week,” he added. The channel has already sold 60-70% of its on-air inventory at Rs 4.75-5 lakh for a 10-second spot.

     

    Amazon India, which launched its operation in India 10 months ago, will be launching its first Indian television commercial during IPL 7. The company’s print and online campaigns have been created by Taproot and the media mandate is being handled by IPG Group company Initiative Media.

     

    “Amazon.in is working across platforms for the IPL season. In line with our vision to be the most customer-centric company, we have spent the last 10 months building on our favoured, trusted and reliable global brand,” Amazon India’s spokesperson said, but declined to divulge the details of the TV commercial. “As our target customers around the country will be watching IPL, we hope to entice and delight them with our trusted online shopping experience.”

     

    Sharing the advertisement space with the e-commerce firms is first-time entrant and two-wheeler maker TVS.

     

    According to Gupta, the Supreme Court verdict helped iron out the initial hiccups in signing the deals. “There was a lot of skepticism and apprehension in the beginning whether the tournament will happen or not and therefore we faced a lot of challenges in closing the deals with advertisers. But once the Supreme Court verdict came in favour of the tournament within 7-10 days, we closed most of the deals,” he said.

     

    A senior media planner attributed the surge in advertiser interest to the IPL brand. “Good or bad, there is no other property on television which can give the kind of mileage that IPL can deliver. And the tournament has built so many brands over the last six years, especially mobile handset brands like Micromax, which has now become aglobal player,” the media planner, who did not wish to be named, said. Multi Screen Media is expecting a spike in viewership to over 200 million, according to Gupta.

     

    “Firstly, the number of matches has come down to 60. Secondly, this year, there are fewer afternoon matches, which tend to get low viewership. Finally, because of the player auction, there are no clear favourites. Anyone can win the tournament. We believe all these factors will culminate into high viewership this year.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The FL is a digital league that debuted last year and created an immediate impact, with over 5 lakhs players across the globe participating during IPL 2013

    Second edition of IPL’s Fantasy League announced

    By a correspondent

     

    With the stage set for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League, the event would also mark the unveiling of the second edition of IPL Fantasy League. The IPL FL is a digital league that debuted last year and created an immediate impact, with over 5 lakhs players across the globe participating during IPL 2013.

     

    “We are extremely excited about the league this year. When we approached IPL last year, we were confident about the appeal of a Fantasy league, as well as how it will help grow the craze of IPL beyond the traditional boundaries. However, what caught us by surprise was the momentum it gained in its debut year itself. With half a million participants, the league became the largest fantasy cricket league ever. This year, we have packed in lots of new stuff to fuel the awareness and engagement for IPL further. We expect a million players to play the league this time, taking the IPL fever to the next level globally,” said Ramesh Srivats, Digital Marketing Guru and founder of TenTenTen Digital Products, the company that created and manages the IPL Fantasy League.

     

    The Fantasy league is quite popular with cricket lovers across the globe. The site saw nearly 15 million visits and over 100 million page views in a space of two months last year. It also created tremendous involvement and social buzz with lakhs of tweets and Facebook updates. Users were given the ability to create private leagues and play IPL Fantasy with their friends and colleagues, for bragging rights. Several ‘office leagues’ came into being as a result of this! Encouraged by the success, the Fantasy League was extended to the Champions League T20 2013 with TenTenTen handling all responsibilities for the same.

     

    The League allows a player to own and create a team with name, emblem and motto. Each player is then given 10 million Fantasy Dollars using which he or she can pick a virtual squad of 11 players. Players then earn points based on their squad’s actual performance in IPL matches. The Fantasy team with the most points wins the league.

     

    Many new features have been added to the IPL Fantasy League this year like ‘Stealth mode,’ which lets players hide one’s squad changes from opponents; ‘Scheduled Substitutions’ that let players schedule changes one match in advance; ‘All Star’, where fantasy cricket meets blockbuster entertainment and lets users create their own star-studded fantasy squad. Apart from this, ‘Facebook Leagues’ will allow players to check their rank among their Facebook friends and ‘Dishooms’ will allow players to send fun messages to members within their league.

     

    The league is also better optimized for mobile this year. The winners of the IPL Fantasy League 2014 stand a chance of winning tickets to the matches and exciting IPL merchandise.

     

  • PepsiCo already has pouring rights of seven of the eight teams in the IPL, besides title-sponsorship rights for the cash-rich league

    No Coke at IPL stadia as Pepsi likely to be beverages partner of Mumbai Indians

    By Ravi Teja Sharma & Ratna Bhushan

     

    PepsiCo is close to signing a deal to become the beverages partner of Indian Premier League team Mumbai Indians, potentially shutting out rival Coca-Cola’s products from stadiums hosting the country’s most popular sporting event.

     

    The US beverages and snacks maker is expected to shell out close to Rs 11 crore for a three-year pouring rights deal with Mumbai Indians, an official closely involved with the developments said. It gives the firm exclusive rights to serve its beverages at teams’ home matches.

     

    PepsiCo already has pouring rights of seven of the eight teams in the IPL, besides title-sponsorship rights for the cash-rich league. Coca-Cola, which had been holding the pouring rights for Mumbai Indians for three years till last season, has also been in talks to renew its contract with the team.

     

    “But Coca-Cola is unwilling to pay a premium for the rights and since PepsiCo is already associated strongly with the IPL as title sponsor and with the rest of the teams, PepsiCo has been more keen on the rights,” the official quoted earlier said. A spokesman for Mumbai Indians declined to comment on the potential deal with PepsiCo.

     

    Spokespersons for PepsiCo and Coca-Cola too declined comment. Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who retired last year, represents Mumbai Indians and is also associated with Coca-Cola’s social campaigns. But his contract with the firm is up for renewal this year.

     

    The firm did not comment on whether it would continue its association with him. Coca-Cola had paid about Rs 5 crore for its three-year deal with the Mumbai franchise.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

     

  • What has shown improvement is the cumulative reach for the 73 matches in IPL 5 that stands at 161 million

    73 matches on IPL5 get an average TVR of 3.36

    By A Correspondent

     

    Despite delivering the lowest television ratings in the history of the tournament, the weekly data released by TAM sports has shown some consistency in its overall IPL 5 viewership. According to the latest numbers released by TAM Sports for the first 73 matches (CS 4+ All India), IPL 5 recorded a TVR of 3.36 per cent, which is slightly lower than the first 73 matches of season four which received a TVR of 3.51 per cent.

     

    These ratings do not include the final match played between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders on May 27. A total of 76 matches were played in season five, the highest so far in the entire tournament, and out of the 76 matches played, two matches were abandoned due to rain.

     

    The inaugural IPL season (IPL1) however continues to remain the most watched tournament till date with a TVR of 4.81 per cent for the 58 matches whereas IPL3, which celebrated the home coming season, witnessed the second highest viewership for the first 60 matches with a TVR of 4.65 per cent; IPL season two which was played in South Africa received a TVR of 4.17 per cent for the first 57 matches.

     

    What has shown improvement is the cumulative reach for the 73 matches in IPL 5 that stands at 161 million. This is nearly the same for IPL 4 where the reach was 162 million and far better than IPL 3, 2, and 1 where the reach measured was 143 million, 122 million and 102 million respectively.

     

    It may be recalled that for the first 59 matches IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.33 per cent and during the first 48 matches, IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.40 per cent whereas for the first 36 matches IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.41 per cent, for the first 27 matches, it delivered a TVR of 3.53 per cent and the first 16 matches, a TVR of 3.65 per cent.

     

    Mr Janardhan Pandey, Associate Vice-President, DDB Mudra Max said that he was not disappointed with the ratings as season five was expected to deliver lower ratings than last year, although he did expect the ratings to be closer to season four. On the factors that might have affected the viewership, Mr Pandey said: “I feel that on the face of very high expectations, too much confusion before the start of this season along with poor Indian team’s performance in last one year and overdose of cricket did impact the IPL season five viewership. I am also of the view that certain IPL teams are weak with few relevant star players as compared to many other teams, so the matches involving them delivered low ratings, thus impacting the overall score.”

     

    “I believe that the game is extremely popular and audiences are still around. Only the crowd needs to swell further. The weaker teams must get boost up with inclusion of adequate star players” he added.

     

    Source : TAM Sports, TG : CS 4+ yrs, Market : All India, Channel : MAX, No. of Matches analysed : As mentioned in the table

    * In IPL 1 one match (47th) was abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 2 two matches (7th & 13th)were abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 4 one match (20th) was abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 5 two matches (32th & 34th) were abandoned due to rain

     

  • Every Thursday, Ranjona Banerji will write about a grouse. Either spewing venom or tongue-in-cheek

    Wanted: translators for press conferences

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    This is targeted at TV newswallahs. They have a tendency to show us live press conferences that they deem to be important, from across the country. This week, we had Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal, after the victory of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. Then we had Kiran Reddy, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, on the arrest of his predecessor’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

     

    All very commendable, bringing us the news when it happens. The grouse? Banerjee spoke in Bengali and Reddy in Telugu. This of course makes it virtually impossible for anyone to understand what they’re saying. The on-screen translation process was extremely slow and then, only paraphrased their remarks. Which means for about 3 minutes of someone talking, you got about two lines of material. The reason I know this is because I understand Bengali and have a smattering of Telugu.

     

    If anyone is old enough to remember, it was a bit like the scene in Charlie Chaplin’s Great Dictator where the typist is taking dictation from the Adolf Hitler character, Adenoid Hynkel. Hynkel talks and talks and the stenographer types two words.

     

    On the BBC and al Jazeera this week, a live press conference with the British foreign secretary and Russian foreign minister on the Syria issue was also covered.

     

    When the Russian minister spoke there was a live voice translation. One understands that the translations were provided by the governments concerned and not the TV channels but it is a process which a multilingual country like ours needs to understand.

     

    It might be more sensible for a reporter present to provide a paraphrasing of events rather than subject people to listening to something they cannot understand. Neither press conference, it has to be said, was particularly scintillating.

     

    * * *

     

    There were few scuffles and a lathi-charge in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens when the celebrations were being held. All afternoon, Times Now behaved as if it was covering a major riot and hundreds had been badly injured. Even if you dislike Mamata Banerjee and Shah Rukh Khan, some perspective please. NDTV called it a “mild lathi-charge” which is an unfortunate choice of words but perhaps a more appropriate sentiment.

     

  • Now that the IPL is over however, it will be interesting to see how our perpetual moaning machines in the media will fill up their time…

    [MJR] IPL symptomatic of the end of civilization

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    There’s only one newsmaker this morning and that’s the IPL. As Manoj Tiwary hit a four over Chepauk stadium winning the title for the Kolkata Knight Riders, season five of a very successful Indian Premier League comes to an end.

     

    And what a season it has been – a film star team owner fights with a security guard, another film star team owner castigates a third umpire for being unfair to one of her players, a player assaults a woman at a party, five players are exposed for spot-fixing and the management is exposed for unfair processes in the buying and selling of players… have I left anything out?

     

    And then there’s been the cricket. The drama over Saurav Ganguly now being with the Pune Warriors, the expectation that Sachin Tendulkar would soon reach his 1000th Test century, the thrilling last ball finishes, the sentiment attached to Rahul Dravid and all the news finds.

     

    And of course, the media. For some, like the ultra-bore Boria Majumdar parked in the Times of India stable, the IPL is symptomatic of the end of civilisation. The erudite Ram Guha doesn’t like it either. A player misbehaves at a party and a couple of former players threaten to go on a hunger strike – which I don’t think happened. Or at least, everyone forgot soon after. The TV channels also decided that IPL was the thin end of the wedge before the human race sinks into an irreversible path of iniquity. I would say the same thing about TV news as far as the fate of the media in India is concerned but…

     

    Sharda Ugra in The Indian Express lauds the good things, hopes the BCCI will fix the bad things and then focuses on what was really wrong with the IPL – the terrible pre and post shows on Sony’s SET Max, Extra Innings. I think there may be an extra ‘a’ in there for some inexplicable reason. Having dispensed with the dispensable Mandira Bedi, we have had the unpalatable and hysterical Gaurav Kapoor and those two girls foisted on us. Isa Guha, since she understood cricket and took it seriously, was a rare breath of fresh air. Why those two badly dressed, screeching and oddly accented girls had to interview minor starlets on the grounds was not explained to us. The cheerleaders in the studio were the worst available. I cannot understand a word Navjot Singh Sidhu says so I was spared tearing my hair out. My only concern was that he needed to go on a diet. Ever since Harsha Bhogle had a hair transplant, I cannot but concentrate on his new fringe to the exclusion of his platitudinous and fatuous observations on cricket.

    Ugra, I have to confess, was not this nasty.

     

    Mid-Day’s headline “Ra.Won” is the winner of the day. The Hindustan Times gave us a sort of truncated report, obviously written in a hurry and the reporter clearly did not like Shah Rukh Khan. The Times of India had a better report – a real surprise since its sports coverage has sunk to new lows recently – but its reporter is clearly no fan of MS Dhoni’s and called him out for his “standard tricks”, in this instance, slow over rate towards the end of the match.

     

    Now that the IPL is over however, it will be interesting to see how our perpetual moaning machines in the media will fill up their time…

     

  • It has been clear to the protectors of both cricket and Indian society from year one that the IPL was BAD NEWS. The very fact that so many people were interested was proof enough

    [MJR] News TV declares IPL root of most evils

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The Indian Premier League has now been declared responsible for all India’s problems. This has been unequivocally stated on our TV news channels, and is thus now the incontrovertible truth. This cricket tournament has destroyed our sense of morality, taken us down a road of sex, drugs, violence and betting, not to mention completely killed cricket. These evils, so far unknown and unseen in Indian society, will soon become widespread.

     

    Look at what the IPL has done:

    Item: Made a film star fight with a security guard (violence).

    Item: Made a cricketer molest a woman (sex).

    Item: Made two players go to a rave party (drugs).

    Item: Made five players work out spot-fixing deals with bookies (betting).

    Item: Made players restrict matches to 20 overs a side and then made this version popular with – shudder – cheerleaders (killing cricket).

     

    Against all these charges, the IPL does not stand a chance. It has been clear to the protectors of both cricket and Indian society from year one that the IPL was BAD NEWS. The very fact that so many people were interested was proof enough. And then, all those film stars, starlets, dancing girls, rich people, money, parties – my word, what is the world coming to?

     

    Each year, the IPL, our TV channels have found, has gotten bigger and thus by conclusion it has become worse.

     

    Just look, for instance, what it has done to Shah Rukh Khan: Forced him to fight with a security guard and with Mumbai Cricket Association officials. This is unacceptable behaviour and absolutely no way for film stars to behave. It is one thing to run over people, help gangsters bomb the city or beat up your wife (or even wives). For these crimes, if you’re unlucky, you will get a few newspaper editorials and maybe even go to jail but you will just be seen as a lovable rogue. But fighting with a security guard? That is the end of civilisation as we know it.

     

    It is hard to know what to do to save India after this. No doubt, the TV channels will tell us. A beginning has been made by former cricketers Kirti Azad and Bishen Singh Bedi, who have apparently gone on a hunger strike to save India from the IPL. The TV channels do not appear to have given this hunger strike the 24-hour coverage they granted to Anna Hazare’s hunger strike. But they do assiduously cover the cricket part of the IPL in their sports programmes. Come on, now, the whole country watches the IPL!

     

    * * *

     

    Having made it to the TIME magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most important people, West Bengal chief minister is now planning to top the list and every other list which will ever be made. This is the link to her latest dramatic act – storming out of a CNN-IBN audience meeting in Kolkata, leaving even the formidable Sagorika Ghose, TV anchor and event host, at a loss for words. The CM was furious because the students in the audience were “CPM cadre and Maoists”. That is, they asked questions she didn’t like.

     

    The other link is to the reply written by the erring student.

     

    Enjoy.

     

     

    http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/259724/question-time-didi-watch-the-show-that-mamata-walked-out-of.html

     

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120520/jsp/frontpage/story_15509625.jsp#.T7nCA1In3Vq

     

     

  • What has shown improvement is the cumulative reach for these 57 matches in IPL 5 that stands at 155 million

    Loyalty factor is the key to consistency in season 5 IPL viewership

    By A Correspondent

     

    Although the Indian Premier League season 5 (IPL5) delivered the lowest television ratings as compared to the previous seasons, the weekly data released by TAM sports has shown some consistency in its overall IPL 5 viewership.

     

    According to the latest numbers released by TAM Sports for the first 57 matches (CS 4+ All India), IPL 5 recorded a TVR of 3.33 per cent, which is slightly lower than the first 58 matches of season four which received a TVR of 3.44 per cent.

     

    The inaugural IPL season (IPL1) however continues to remain the most watched tournament till date with a TVR of 4.81 per cent for the first 58 matches whereas IPL3 which celebrated the home coming season witnessed the second highest viewership for the first 59 matches with a TVR of 4.65 per cent while IPL season two which was played in South Africa received a TVR of 4.17 per cent for the first 57 matches.

     

    What has shown improvement is the cumulative reach for these 57 matches in IPL 5 that stands at 155 million. This is nearly the same for IPL 4 where the reach was 157 million and far better than IPL 3, 2, and 1 where the reach measured was 143 million, 122 million and 102 million respectively.

     

    It may be recalled that for the first 48 matches, IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.40 per cent whereas for the first 36 matches IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.41 per cent, for the first 27 matches, it delivered a TVR of 3.53 per cent and the first 16 matches, a TVR of 3.65 per cent.

     

    Mr Ajay Rao, Vice President, Dentsu noted: “There has been consistency in the ratings, which is good and this consistency, I believe, is because of the loyal viewers who watch IPL matches, come what may and also those audience who continuously surf channels but, return to the game to check the scores. However, as we head towards the semi finals and the finals, we will see an increase in the ratings.”

     

    Source : TAM Sports, Period : First 59 matches of all IPL Seasons, TG : CS 4+ yrs, Market : All India, Channel : MAX

     

    * In IPL 1 one match (47th) was abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 2 two matches (7th & 13th)were abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 4 one match (20th) was abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 5 two matches (32th & 34th) were abandoned due to rain