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Tag: IPL

  • With more people at home and the possibility of disruption in primetime content on GECs because of shooting restrictions, IPL 2021 is likely to be one of the most-watched seasons too, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: IPL 2021: Cricket without Controversy

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorThe rapid escalation of the Covid-19 crisis in India has dominated headlines over the last week in particular. The ‘second wave’ has pushed the health infrastructure to its limits, and beyond. Mixed messaging from the governments, both at the Centre and in the various states, is not helping the cause. Instead of talking about vaccination and masking, our leaders are busy managing elections and overseeing religious events. It doesn’t make any sense. But that’s how it is.

    A medical emergency, when combined with political apathy, can make for a grim picture. And lockdowns and economic disruptions don’t help either. In this atmosphere, a very unlikely candidate that emerged as a mood-uplifter: The Indian Premier League!

    IPL has been ridden with endless controversies over the years. The league has been badgered, often justifiably so, for being obscenely commercial. Fixing, corruption, legal battles… IPL has seen it all. It’s hugely popular, but not unblemished by any stretch of anyone’s imagination.

    Last year, BCCI managed to pull off a season in the UAE about six months after the scheduled season was canceled, which led us to a unique scenario of two IPL seasons within six months. Earlier this year, when England toured India and the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was inaugurated with much fanfare, spectators were allowed in. Images of 65,000 spectators packed in that stadium in a T20 International, with no social distancing at all, became a huge talking point on social media, even at a time when our Covid situation didn’t seem like a crisis.

    The decision to hold matches to empty stadia may have come in too late in that series, but there has been no such indiscretion with IPL 2021. Well before the current Covid wave came in, BCCI was clear that this IPL season will be held without in-stadia spectators, and with minimal team travel.

    Absence of in-stadia spectators makes the IPL come across as highly Covid-appropriate. Coming from a league not always known to be mature and sensible in the past, this has turned out a mightily wise move. Home stadia and gate money are key components of the sports franchise model, and any compromise on them is hard on the league and the franchise owners. Thankfully, such commercial temptations have not coloured sound judgment this time.

    So, we are in the middle of the most controversy-free IPL season of all time, it seems. With more people at home and the possibility of disruption in prime-time content on GECs because of shooting restrictions, it is likely to be one of the most-watched seasons too. Now let’s hope BCCI does not do something silly between now and the end of the IPL.

  • The ad campaign will be aired throughout the Indian Premier League

    Disney+ Hotstar joins CoinSwitch Kuber to back cryptocurrrency

    By Our Staff

    CoinSwitch Kuber, India’s largest cryptocurrency investment platform for retail investors, has announced the launch of its new ad campaign, Trade Kar, Befikar.  With this, CoinSwitch Kuber becomes the first player in the Indian cryptocurrency space to launch a campaign to evangelise cryptocurrencies as an alternate asset class and build equity amongst Indian investors. The company is also the Associate Sponsor with Disney+ Hotstar for the Indian Premier League.

    Created by Nihilent, the campaign consists of three interconnected ad films. Actor Kunaal Roy Kapur has been roped in to play all the roles in the ad films. The campaign will be aired on Disney+ Hotstar throughout the Indian Premier League and will also be amplified using social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

    Said Ashish Singhal, CEO and Co-founder, CoinSwitch Kuber: “Millennials and GenZ are emerging as the biggest backers of cryptocurrencies in India. With our new ad campaign we aim to showcase how it is a smart move to invest early in cryptocurrencies. Crypto has been the fastest growing asset class of the last decade and the momentum is only growing stronger now. Through our partnership with Disney+ Hotstar, we aim to amplify this message to millions of young and upwardly mobile Indians. It is time to join the crypto revolution by investing in cryptocurrencies through CoinSwitch Kuber – the safest and most friendly platform for crypto investments.”

    Added KV ‘Pops’ Sridhar, Global Chief Creative Officer, Nihilent: “The CoinSwitch Kuber ad films are special for us as they give us an opportunity to involve our audience into experiencing a completely new investment category that most of them may not be familiar with. We therefore decided to go for stories which not only highlight the utility of this new asset class but also place it firmly within the Indian family context as something that everyone can invest in and which is not a domain of the elite.”

     

     

  • Since there are enough and more new ads around IPL 2021, Vikas Mehta comes up with a bonus add-on to his weekly column

    AdsOnIPL21: Akal Badi ki Ads?

     

    Since there are enough and more new ads around IPL 2021, Vikas Mehta comes up with a bonus add-on to his weekly column

     

    By Vikas Mehta

    Vikas MehtaTrust my Gen Z single sample to ask me a pointed question during the IPL. How do the Indian  cricketers get to shoot ads? Aren’t they in some bubble and get transferred from one bubble to another? We hear them moaning about the mental agony of the bubble, but every few months, they do manage to somehow augment their incomes with new ad campaigns. Bubbles notwithstanding.

    This re-view is dedicated to the new ads during the IPL featuring our cricketers. Past and present.  Last weekend the match between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings was touted as the match between guru and shishya. Dhoni vs Pant. I carried this imaginary rivalry into the ad world while watching the ad for Indigo Paint with Dhoni and then the one with JSW Steel bars (boring, uninvolved, irrelevant category) with neither me nor my Gen Z sample being the intended target. Frankly, the brand decision in both categories, paints and steel bars, is heavily dependent on the middle men and of course our budget, but paints has come a long way and why can’t steel bars hope to go the paint way. Specially when JSW is one of the main sponsors of DC.

    For me, this battle was won by the shishya. The two JSW ads have managed to not only exploit Pant’s personality but have also communicated the brand benefit woven into an involved storyline. The guruji’s ad unfortunately was a damp squib which was content with the typical celebrity formula. Show Dhoni in the ad and the rest will follow. And this in an ad for floor paints. Usually all paint ads are about walls. I think so much more could have been done with Dhoni and floor paint. My Gen Z sample  made another pertinent comment. So many Dhoni ads, he is an old man now (I guess I am vintage for her) shouldn’t the brand make his ads about his experience or his knowledge. Clearly the Gen Z sample is totally influenced by the Gen Z shishya.

    I did re-view Dream 11 last time but as has been the case always, I am now swamped with more fantasy team ads. So, I turned to my Gen Z sample for help. Let it be known that she is an expert on fantasy team contests having participated and won in some EPL contests. For her Dream 11 was the Indian cricket team, My Circle 11 was Dada, MPL was Virat Kohli and Howzatt.com was Yuvraj. Phew! Some clarity.

    MPL though have not used Kohli this time. They have done a literal interpretation of the Hindi proverb “Akal badi ki bhains” (is the brain better or a buffalo! No disrespect to both, please!) and it seems that currently the bhains is winning. I liked the ad because it clearly implies that making your fantasy team is so easy that you do not need to use your brains  to make the team. And it in its own way does take a dig at those short ads for Dream 11 which have Dhoni asking people to use their brains not on buttering your boss or your father but on choosing a fantasy team on Dream 11. Nicely done. My Gen Z sample though did not agree with me. Because she had never heard of the Hindi proverb. You cannot win them all, I say.

    My Circle 11 has roped in Ranveer Kapoor. Maybe Dada did not have enough time with his health issues, so Ranveer is now the co-anchor. And I do think I saw Rahane in one ad too. And me thinks that the ads have been done in a rush. Looked tacky and depended on Ranveer to announce a new promotion. But I do think that in the next few weeks we shall have more ads from My circle 11. I do hope so. Cannot re-view the current ones. What a waste of Ranveer, is the only comment from my Gen Z sample.

    The Yuvraj led Howzatt.com ads sounded familiar. Trust Gen Z sample to come to my rescue. She gently reminded me that the promotion was similar to My Circle 11 ads of beating the teams chosen by Dada, Watson, Rashid etc to win more money. Guess somebody has got me in plumb. Howzatt?

    And before I sign off I thought I saw another fantasy team ad for a new brand which was being endorsed by K Rahul. My head is now totally spinning with so many fantasy team ads, all around cricket. All using cricketers, ex and present. But my Gen Z sample had the last word, better than watching phone ads or ecommerce ads or those perpetually smiling Dhoni ads.

  • Tanmay Bhat and team think out of the box once again

    Cred gets Jackie Shroff for next ad film

    By Our Staff

    Big bang advertiser (and also a payment convenience provider) Cred has launched a new campaign in continuation with its official sponsorship with IPL 2021. After the first ad film went viral featuring Rahul Dravid in an angry avatar, the next ad film has Jim Sarbh and Jackie Shroff in a never-seen-before personas.

    The ad films have been produced and directed by Early Man Film. The campaign was written and conceptualised by Tanmay Bhat, Devaiah Bopanna, Puneet Chadha, Nupur Pai and Vishal Dayama and executed by DDB Mudra and 22Feet Tribal Worldwide. Karan Malhotra has composed the music for the films.

    Said Kunal Shah, Founder and CEO, Cred: “We are happy to continue our association with the IPL for the second year in a row. At Cred, we believe in rewarding good financial behaviour. With this campaign, we want to instil our message of the importance of financial literacy and educating viewers on the rewarding benefits of practising responsible financial behaviour. ”

    Added Ayappa, Director and Co-Founder, Early Man Film: “It’s that time of the year when we collaborate with our favourite heroes from the 90s and make them do strange, yet wonderful things for Cred. I hope everyone enjoys these films as much as they did the last set.”

     

     

  • To launch mega marketing campaign for well-designed, high-quality home interiors

    Disney+ Hotstar partners with Livspace

    By Our Staff

    Home interiors and renovation platform Livspace has launched a campaign titled “Don’t try this at home”  to raise awareness about the importance of living in a well-designed home with great interior design. To market the campaign, Livspace has partnered with Disney+ Hotstar, as an associate sponsor for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

    Said Kartikeya Bhandari, Chief Marketing Officer at Livspace: “As market leaders, Livspace is focused on creating the organised interiors category in all its launched cities and countries. It’s our constant endeavour to introduce more and more homeowners to a professional way of getting home interiors done. This time, we have taken our brand promise of high quality and efficient design and presented it through the “Don’t try this at home” campaign. The narrative is also timely as many people have spent months cooped up at home and have started noticing the inconveniences caused by poor design. IPL has always been  a great platform for brands to present their narrative and with this season having kicked off, we at Livspace believe this is a great opportunity to reach a large audience and inspire them to improve their daily lives at home with interiors from Livspace.”

    Added Adarsh Atal, Director – Creative and Content at Tilt Brand Solutions: “As a brand, Livspace strongly believes that great interior design is not just about the way things look. It’s also about function. Taking a leap forward from our previous campaign that dealt with ‘Living with design flaws’, this time around, we decided to emphatically warn people about the implications of living in a poorly designed home. ‘Don’t try this at home’ is our tongue firmly-in-cheek way of telling people not to try stunts at home and try Livpsace to discover the joy of smart design.”

  • Features popular movie star Jiiva

    Royal Sundaram rides IPL wave to pitch for insurance

    By Our Staff

    Royal Sundaram General Insurance has launched its #BreakingNews campaign – #ClickTickDone. The campaign features popular actor Jiiva and will be rolled out throughout the 14th edition of Indian Premier League on Disney Hotstar. The ad campaign comprises five 15 second videos and will be offered in five Indian languages. The campaign has been co-created by the internal marketing team at Royal Sundaram and The Planning Room. The videos are directed by Pradeap Krishnan. The campaign will primarily air on Disney Hotstar, but would also be amplified across all digital and online platforms.

    Said MS Sreedhar, Managing Director, Royal Sundaram General Insurance: “IPL is amongst the most viewed events in the country. This is a good opportunity to educate people on the benefits of buying a Royal Sundaram insurance product. We want to demystify the terms used in insurance and make the benefits easy to understand. We therefore decided to create shorter and to the point videos, in an easy to engage creative format of breaking news. Our video ad campaign is in four regional languages-Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada along with English. The videos will appear on Hotstar during the IPL 2021 season.

    Added Vaasu Gavarasana, Chief Digital Officer, Royal Sundaram General Insurance: “We want to highlight the ease of interacting with Royal Sundaram, so we created a tagline #ClickTickDone to bring this to life. To build long term brand recall, we also created a sound logo that we are launching in this campaign. To carry our creative concept of breaking news, we needed a trusted known face with a connection to cricket. With a role in upcoming cricket movie 83, Jiiva was a natural choice. He is a popular and versatile actor with an endearing personality.”

     

     

  • Starting a new weekly series of reviews by Vikas Mehta, of ads that air around the IPL 2021, on television and OTT/mobile platforms

    Review of AdsOnIPL21: Week 1

    IPL 2021's Television Broadcast Sponsors
    IPL 2021’s Television Broadcast Sponsors. Image from Star Sports Twitter handle

     

    By Vikas Mehta

     

    Vikas MehtaWhen the IPL season is on, my evenings are booked. For two events. The match and the new commercials that accompany every new season. Actually, when I was asked to re-view them, I did a double-take as I would be re-viewing them anyways right through the season.

     

    But first some disclaimers. For those who do not agree with my re-view, I am not the target audience, as hardly any ad is targeted at 50-plus Tier 2 city resident! But those who agree with it must give the credit to my Gen Z daughter (my advisor for such re-views) as many ads nowadays seem to be targeted to them.

     

    Ok, forget the second disclaimer for this re-view. The new series of Dream 11 ads. I think they are actually targeted at the nostalgic millennium generation and even 50-plus like me. To me, Dream 11 has always captured the essence of gully cricket. And so does this new series. It’s about the fun of working in a team. And what has really worked for me is how this time all the star cricketers have seamlessly blend in as gully cricketers. The cricketers are so natural and so unstarry. And such skilled performances. Usually, the cricket stars cannot spare much time for such shoots, so they come across as uncomfortable or unprepared. But here, Messrs Dhawan, Dhoni, Sharma, Pandya appear so natural and part of the script. Plus, the choice of the background songs: nostalgic and so apt. I can review these ads just for the songs.

     

    And then you watch the same people, Messrs, Sharma, Hardik etc in the ad for Jio Fiber and you hope that this one should not be re-viewed. But I suspect many more such avatars with more stars will be reviewed before the season is over. I have always felt that Jio is a great product which has thrived inspite of its advertising. And, yes, my total sample size one, of Gen Z, also washes its hands off this ad.

     

    Now this is a new one. I had never heard of this brand before Upstock, no, Upstork, no, no… Upstox… no, yes, my Gen Z sample says yes. So, is this ad targeted to them? Irrespective, it’s a cliched one. So difficult, so easy routine (must be very difficult to do such ads). But I did like the escalator one. Three decades ago, when I first one to Heathrow, I faced a similar dilemma, albeit on a horizontal walkway. I did get my Gen Z audience giggling when she heard my travail. But the ad??

     

    The last IPL had ads from a new brand, Cred and they were noticed and created waves (Upstox, are you listening?) They used film stars whom Gen Z has hardly heard about and it reminded me of a term that I always associated with porn. Self-flagellation. I mean why would Messrs Bappi Lahiri, Anil Kapoor or Madhuri Dixit enjoy being portrayed as caricatures of themselves? But the brand was noticed. As was the message. Forget all song and dance, just remember a good product. Much was written about the ads and soon the brand and its purpose were well-recalled. Also, they did a nice tie-up of actually showcasing people who received 100% cashback on credit card bill by using Cred, across the matches. Jargon-speak: it was believable testimonials (another disclaimer: I did try Cred and paid a whopping bill through them… but guess I am destined only for GPay Rs 3-Rs 5 cashback). So, I deduced that the Cred strategy (sounds important) is free publicity and going viral (tip: going viral can never be strategy).

     

    I therefore did a double-take when I saw an ad with the cool Mr Rahul Dravid becoming the Monster Man. But what is the message? Our product is as unbelievable as Mr Dravid’s anger? And when I opened the local Hindi daily on Saturday morning (reminder: I live in a Tier-2 town in the Hindi belt), it had an article on Mr Dravid losing his cool. Guess viral as a strategy does work.

     

    If you liked this re-view, do share and like the article so that the editor allows me to do another review next week.

     

    Vikas Mehta is a former marketing communications professional who has worked in India and abroad on many local and MNC brands. Currently, based in Dehradoon, he has his own consultancy and is also associated with some B-schools. His views here are personal

  • Will sponsor Action Replay bug across all IPL matches and multiple feeds of Star Sports

    TV9 Network bags sponsorship of KKR, bets big on cricket

    By Our Staff

     

    TV9 Network has extended its partnership with Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL 2021) team Kolkata Knight Riders for the second consecutive year. The TV9 brand will be on the Kolkata team’s jersey starting April 9 and until May 30, when the final match will be played. Last year, TV9 Network had also sponsored Trinbago Knight Riders, KKR’s sister franchise in the Caribbean Premier League.

     

    In addition to KKR sponsorship, TV9 Network has signed a deal with Star Sports for sponsorship of the Action Replay Bug across all the IPL matches and multiple feeds of Star Sports. The Action Replay Bug will showcase logos of the network’s key channels, including TV9 Bharatvarsh, TV9 Telugu, TV9 Kannada, and TV9 Bangla. TV9 Bharatvarsh, the network’s Hindi news channel which made television history by catapulting itself to the top 3 position in record time, will also be taking spots on Star Sports during the two months of IPL.

     

    Barun Das
    Barun Das

    Speaking on the network’s aggressive growth plans, CEO Barun Das, said: “We became the biggest TV news network less than a year ago, and now it’s the turn of our digital business. To have grown at this dizzying pace feels great but, honestly, we have just begun. You can expect a series of globally benchmark-setting moves from the network in the months ahead.”

     

    Welcoming TV9’s return as a sponsor, Venky Mysore, CEO of KKR said: “TV9 is a perfect partner for KKR because it is a rapidly growing brand across television and digital, with a phenomenally strong regional footprint to boot. So, we are glad to have them on our jersey in IPL 2021 as well. The recent launch of the Bangla news channel, TV9 Bangla from the network is sure to add tremendous value to both our brands by building a connect with the spirit of Kolkata. We look forward to continuing this association for years to come”.

     

    TV9 Network is also the only news brand to leverage IPL 2021 on Star Sports with strategically deployed commercials, notes a company communique. Said Arshad Shawl, Director, Alliance Advertising & Marketing, the agency that facilitated the deal: “IPL provides the perfect platform for high visibility in the right frame of entertainment and sports. TV9 is already a formidable player in the TV News genre, coupled with fastest growing digital news platform in India in the recent months. The positive associations & reach from IPL will help TV9 increase the channel footprint nationally and respective regional feeds as a part of their envisaged growth trajectory.”

     

     

  • BCCI has to firefight for holding IPL 14, writes Indrani Sen

    IPL 2021: The Show Will Go On, but…

     

    By Indrani Sen

    Indrani SenThe second wave of the pandemic has hit India, record number of cases have been reported across the country just a week before the IPL 14 scheduled to take off at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 9, 2021, Maharashtra has been declared as one of the worst affected states by the second wave, night curfew has been declared in Mumbai, Pune and other cities of Maharashtra, yesterday a lockdown over weekends has been announced in Maharashtra, at the same time the BCCI has announced that IPL matches will be held as per schedule.

    On April 3, a total of 18 people connected with IPL tested Covid positive, 2 players, 10 groundsmen of Wankhede Stadium and 6 members from IPL Event Management Team. BCCI has already arranged to replace the groundsmen, which was not easy as five IPL teams are currently in Mumbai training on different grounds. Alternative venues in other cities have been lined up in case matches cannot be held at the Wankhede stadium. Huge logistical issues will arise in case last minute changes are made in venues. In order to hold night matches and matches over the weekends in Mumbai during night curfew and weekend lockdown, BCCI must have sought special permissions from the state authorities.

    The show must go on as too much is at stake financially not just for BCCI, but also for all the IPL franchisees, the players playing in the teams, the official broadcaster of the tournament on TV and OTT platforms – Disney Star India, many advertisers and ad agencies who have already invested in the property and have planned marketing activities accordingly and last but not the least the viewers who are eagerly looking forward to watching again the annual festival of live cricket and provide the currency for justifying the rates charged by the broadcaster to the advertisers.

    It is estimated that in 2020, Star Sports and Hotstar together earned around INR 3000 crore in ad revenue from IPL 13 held in Dubai in 2020. This year, they are apparently eyeing a target of INR 3600 to INR 3800 crore. A more conservative estimate also envisages a 17% to 18% growth over last year’s ad revenue. As per the recent TVC released by Disney Star India, the broadcaster has bagged 17 sponsors for IPL 14. Disney+ Hotstar has already acquired 14 sponsors and are negotiating with couple of others. Altogether more than 100 brands across different categories are expected to advertise on TV and OTT platforms riding on the band wagon of IPL 14.

    As per industry estimates, co-presenting sponsorship on Star Sports is priced at Rs 110-Rs 125 crore and associate sponsorship at Rs 65-70 crore. While the cost of 10 seconds is pegged in the range of 13.2 lakh to 13.6 lakh for sponsors and cosponsors, the same for spot buyers is charged at the rate of Rs 14 .3 lakh. Traditionally 50% of the total time available for advertising is allotted to the sponsors and the other 50% is sold to the spot buying deals. The broadcaster has already announced that from April 1, 2021 the remaining ad inventory will be sold at 20% higher rate as apparently 90% of the total time available has already been sold. Usually, before the semi-finals and finals, IPL spot buying rates on TV are hiked again for last minute spot buying deals, so a further hike may be expected.

    Ever since the IPL 14 was announced, we have seen many articles based on various advertisers’ experience of advertising with earlier IPLs, particularly IPL 13 and the returns which they got on their investments in terms of growth in awareness and consideration scores. IPL has established beyond doubts that there is no other TV property which can deliver the leap in awareness and consideration scores within the span of 8 weeks. It is the ability of IPL to connect with target audiences across age, sex, education, occupation, income groups and states which attracts advertisers to invest in the property.

    Many women-centric brands have been considering the option of advertising with IPL 14 as the popularity and viewership of IPL among women has seen an increase over the last few years. As per the BARC Report, women viewership of IPL 13 grew by 23% over 2019 while the male viewership grew by 22%. In 2020, IPL 13 registered 171 billion viewing minutes of female audience, while in 2019 IPL 12 registered 139 billion viewing minutes of female audience. From 2018 to 2020, the share of male viewing has dropped from 58% to 57% while the share of women viewing has increased from 42% to 43% in the total IPL viewing minutes.

    Most industry sectors are now on a path of recovery after the disastrous year of 2020, as discussed earlier many advertisers have already invested in IPL 14, ad agencies have been hoping to earn relatively better fees from their clients advertising in IPL 14, when the increasing fury of the second wave of pandemic is threatening to upset all the plans. Postponement of a cricket tournament of the scale of IPL and finding another slot of 8 weeks in the international cricket calendar is not an easy task. Cancellation of the tournament at this stage is not desirable as it will amount to huge loss for all concerned. BCCI needs to get ready for firefighting on a day-to-day basis to hold the tournaments of IPL 14 on home grounds in 2021.

  • Will be the official sponsor for KKR this season

    RR Kabel joins IPL bandwagon

    By Our Staff

    RR Kabel, a part of RR Global’s USD 850+ million conglomerate and a leading wire and cable manufacturer in India, has marked its debut this IPL season. The company is the official sponsor for Kolkata Knight Riders this year.

    Said Kirti Kabra, Director, RR Global: “We are elated to be a part of a magnanimous celebration like IPL and about our partnership with Kolkata Knight Riders. The Eastern region markets are critical for RR Kabel where we are strengthening our market position further. And what better way to execute this than an association with a religion like cricket. This strategic collaboration gives us a great opportunity to promote our brand to a larger audience. RR Kabel shares the same brand sentiments as KKR team which makes our partnership more meaningful with them. We are confident that this alliance will be fruitful for both the teams and we are definitely rooting for KKR’s big win this season.”

    Added Kaustubh Jha, Marketing Head, Kolkata Knight Riders: “RR Kabel is one of the most prestigious brands globally and we are elated that they chose to partner with KKR for their first IPL. We aim to forge a strong partnership and create great value for the brands who collaborate with us. KKR looks forward to having a successful season with RR Kabel on board.”

     

     

  • The co-existence of cricketing formats also reflects upon the crossroads cricket administrators, including ICC, find themselves at, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Leagues Over Legacy: The Future of Cricket

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorIt’s been a bizarre cricket week. A Test match that didn’t last even two full days. The shortest Test match ever since World War II. Test cricket needs exciting games like tone at Gabba. It needs higher batting run rates to attract more audience. It needs innovations like pink-ball, day-night Tests. But a Test that gets done in about 10 hours is no advertisement for a format that’s meant to last four days, if not five. After that spectacular Australia series, this one runs the risk of becoming a tad farcical, though India’s qualification to the World Test Championship finals will mask that conversation fairly quickly.

    The much-hyped Narendra Modi Stadium was inaugurated less than two days ago. Its first-ever Test may have seen India on the right side of the result, but it hasn’t flattered the cricketing media. The venue, however, has its hands full. There’s another Test and then five T20s, all at the same stadium.

    Which brings me to the itinerary of this England tour. When the T20 format was first introduced about 15 years ago, a solitary match on a tour was all it merited. Over time, that one match became two matches, but Tests and ODIs remained the primary competitive formats for nation vs. nation cricket.

    But times have changed. IPL is a huge hit, finding new benchmarks of success with each passing season. Attention spans have dropped anyway. A three-hour format is well-suited to the times, and highly inclusive compared to the other two formats.

    But this co-existence of cricketing formats also reflects upon the crossroads cricket administrators, including ICC, find themselves at. It seems they want to keep all three formats alive, and nurture them with nearly-equal priority. For a sport that’s primarily restricted to a dozen nation, a strategy that doesn’t make a conscious choice cannot be a growth strategy.

    In my opinion, ICC and its national affiliates are trying to avoid the unavoidable. They are only buying time by keeping all three formats alive. Of the three, the Test format is fairly secure. It’s the niche, connoisseur-endorsed format that can doesn’t need to make much money, as long as it can broadly earn for itself. But it’s the 50-overs format that could have been retired a while ago. It’s an in-between thing that achieves nothing in particular, except keeping a legacy going.

    From a broadcast perspective, one would expect the leagues to get stronger with each passing year. Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL) can do well with some Indian players, as its quality of play and telecast makes it one of the most watchable cricket tournaments across the world. The match timings are not India-friendly, but weekends double-headers can take care of that, if India (read BCCI) decides to play a more active role in BBL, say from a talent pool perspective.

    Other leagues, like those from Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, England and Sri Lanka, are in initials stages of building some traction among the T20 audience base. But it’s almost certain that this is the direction the viewership will move to, over the next decade.

    All that is still a thing of the future, though. The next season of IPL is fast approaching, and one can sense that a blockbuster is in the offing again. So, brace yourself for the most popular cricketing gala, even as a rather bizarre International series plays out before it.

     

     

  • Unlike the West, we cannot use “TV” for a medium that does not look or behave like classic television at all, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Divergence over Convergence: The Uniquely Indian Story

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh Kapoor

    The week that was saw India win a Test series in Australia, despite all possible odds stacked up against them. In India’s 89-year Test cricket history, this has to count as the most memorable and cherished win.

     

    Will this huge cricketing achievement reflect in viewership numbers when they come in next week? Almost certainly not. If the peak viewing of the Gabba test touches even 50% level of the weakest IPL 2020 match, it will be a surprise. While the non-prime timings contribute to limiting the viewership, the wider ‘issue’ with Test cricket, of being able to engage large sections of the audience, especially the youth, remains.

     

    As a result, while T20s and even ODIs are profitable formats, Test cricket is a struggle to monetise. The upcoming India-England series in India has five T20s lined up. The money they will take will be enough to fund the four Test matches. A new format (T10) has come up in recent times, and there’s a well-promoted T10 tournament in Abu Dhabi scheduled from January 28. The duration of the ‘perfect’ cricket match for the masses will continue to shrink with time, till it reaches the soccer level of 120 minutes from start to end, including the breaks.

     

    Which brings us to the larger question: Where does content like Test cricket, which has a niche but very loyal following, sit in the scheme of things? Cricket may find its way through, because even the ‘niche’ numbers are in millions, but what about niche content in other genres such as GEC, movies or news? It virtually has no chance to survive in a viewership system that is designed around the lowest common denominator (LCD). And because our television models continue to be ad-dependent in major part, the subscription-only route is not viable too.

     

    Here’s where digital comes in. It may be time to reconcile that unlike the West, where “TV” has two branches, linear and on-demand, India will see two very distinct and divergent categories emerging more clearly over the next five years. Linear television will continue to become more and more aligned to the LCD, while SVOD services will get more and more specific in the niches they will target.

     

    The abbreviation “OTT” has emerged as a uniquely Indian one. But there’s a good reason why that’s happened. Because unlike the West, we cannot use “TV” for a medium that does not look or behave like classic television at all.

     

    All this while, convergence has dominated discussions around the growth of different content distribution options in India. Catch-up television and sports are good examples of convergence, as are reality shows like Bigg Boss and KBC. But a lot of that, except sports, is AVOD. AVOD is essentially like YouTube, which ends up being LCD-aligned more often than not. But it’s the SVOD end where convergence with other distribution platforms, especially linear, family-viewing-based television will be impossible to believe.

     

    A relevant question then is: Which is a bigger opportunity – a huge LCD monolith of millions of people, or the sum of several smaller, niche offerings to a divergent set of taste segments? The answer would vary for the content creator, the distributor and the advertiser. But this divergence, rather than convergence, is inevitable. And that’s an exciting story to look forward to.