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Tag: Vinit Karnik

  • GroupM ESP Properties'  Entertainment Marketing Report in India throws up some interesting findings

    Showbiz rules, and how!

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    ESP Properties, the sports and entertainment programming specialist arm of GroupM, has released the first edition of the entertainment marketing report Showbiz, The Indian Superpower. Segmented into three parts – film marketing, the celebrity aspect and content licensing – the first edition of the Showbiz report includes viewpoints of those who work to maximize brand value through film promotions.

     

    The film entertainment industry is growing at 10% year-on-year in terms of the number of films released. This opens numerous marketing opportunities for brands through alliances and content licensing. In India, marketing budgets for films have grown from 5-6% of production budget, to 10-15%, which is closer to the global average. 20% of films released include brand associations, where brands also share a part of the marketing budget. There is close to 56 hours of entertainment promotion films playing cumulatively through the day across channels. Today producers are working closely with agency partners that help them achieve their marketing objectives efficiently, and drive footfalls into the theatres.

     

    Vinit Karnik

    Said Vinit Karnik, Business Head, ESP Properties: “The film entertainment industry is an integral part of India’s marketing landscape and drives revenue for film production and exhibition. Traditional film studios and production houses now increasingly rely on advertising and digital media interaction, coupled with research, data analytics and innovation to market movies. At ESP Properties, we bring our client brands and movie marketing together to engage an audience that is spoilt for choice with 1000 movies released every year. Targeted marketing to the consumer has therefore become critical, and this report will give brands and film producers some insights into movie marketing in a media landscape that is so disruptive.”

     

    India, as a nation, attracts a large film audience, given the popularity of the medium. As the film market grows, the audience too has moved from linear, one dimensional advertising to a multi- channel and interactive dialogue with the film and brand communities. To create deeper engagement with the audience, brands and producers are exploring content licensing as an avenue to bring film characters and storylines into true life experiences. In India content licensing is growing at 7.4% year on year, which a higher than developed markets like the USA, UK and Canada (source: The top 150 Global Licensors report, License Global 2017)

     

    Another data point that the ESP entertainment report brings out is on Celebrity endorsers. In the last 10 years, 25% of brand advertising on television feature a famous face. While we have seen peaks in ad creatives with celebrities during the summer and festive seasons, this trend is fast moving with the influx of digital avenues. And we see celebrities playing the role of active influencer to the brands rather than just endorsing them.

     

    As cinema remainsthe No.1 choice of entertainment in the country, the ESP Properties the entertainment marketing report is brief glimpse of the trends, ideas and insights into what will drive the industry.

     

    Executive Summary of the report

    Brand Alliances:

    • Total co-marketing media spends for Hindi films have reached approximately INR 100 crore around a year, with more co-branding than in-film
    • Keeping aside lack of digital boundaries and the reality of a global village, a regional film artiste still has the ability to converse directly with a specific demographic in a local language.

    That is why 25% of Hollywood films, 15% of south India films, 16% of Marathi films have brand associations

    • FMCG, Apparel and E-commerce for instance, are categories that are most active in in-film integrations and co-branded associations

     

    Film Marketing:

    • The ‘now-generation’ idea is to create a (film) product that generates positive word of mouth; ‘attracting’ audiences as well as ‘satisfying’t hem
    • Placement in terms of a healthy media-mix accounts for 10-15% of the film’s marketing budget
    • It is vital to identify and amplify the positioning of a film. Once it is identified exactly what kind of audience the film is made for, a marketer can then amplify “positioning elements” that highlight and reflect in all promotions for the film
    • A well-defined promotion plan must be put into place for personifying the cast and then promoting them. The build-up to the characters and creating a sense of one-ness with the audience is the crucial trick (without over-exposing the team)
    • Strategic PR and managing the millions of media outlets is the backbone of a film’s success

     

    • Partnering with emotion rather than pragmatism is what drives the business of entertainment
    • A typical, full-fledged marketing campaign begins with a teaser and takes the next five to eight weeks to position its stars, music etc. to the target audience

     

    Media Effectiveness:

    • Making accurate predictions about the scale of a film depends not just on its cost of production but also on how the film utilizes mainstream and ‘new media’ in an effective manner
    • On TV and digital, the song and dialog promotion dispersion is seen at 70:30. Assets related to music still form an integral part of film promotion, with 24×7 music channels assuming importance as vehicles of publicity
    • The film’s promotion budget is higher on television (45-50%) and lower on print (10-15%).

    Digital is getting added (10-15%) and activation is steady (25-30%)

    • The shelf life of a film in theatres is limited to two-three weeks after release (that too, only for big films), the release weekend gets heavy focus. The first weekend is also when production houses expect over 70 per cent of the total collection of the film

     

    Influencers:

    • Brand chooses endorsers and influencers for multiple reasons- launch, sustenance and revival
    • In a celebrity endorsement, the celebrity is the face of a brand message. In influencer marketing, the influencer is perceived to be ‘creator’ of the entire message
    • Woman power made it to the ‘top three’ of brand endorser list for the first time in 2017
    • Shah Rukh Khan and MS Dhoni have consistently been among the top endorsers in the past decade
    • An influencer’s social media presence is a huge pull for a brand or a film’s promotional plan. It also enables brands to amplify and measure the effectiveness of a campaign

     

    Licensing the Content:

    • Industry sources predict India’s licensing growth at 7.4 per cent, which is higher than the growth in USA, Canada and UK combined
    • Significant players in the market that represent international and Indian IPs Green Gold who is the market leader among the others who are Disney, Dream Theatre, Viacom, Bradford Licensing, AI Licensing and Sony

     

    • Hollywood properties dominate the licensing market. Superhero franchises and character-led entertainment takes up bulk of licensing deals. Films such as Captain America and Batman series are windfall for F&B and apparel brands
    • The top 150 global licensors (which include non-film brands too) reported total retail sales of INR 1,751,200 Cr worldwide in 2017. India’s share in the global licensing pie is 5-7%
    • Start-up licensing agencies now eyeing the big millions with popularity of TV series such as Game of Thrones, Indian characters such as Chhota Bheem and Japanese anime such as Doraemon

     

    Digital Marketing & Strategy

    • The total number of YouTube channels in India at the end of 2016 was 13,99,000+, the views clocking in a neat 22375 crore, our subscribers standing at 4118.5 lakhn and uploads at a staggering 97.5 lakh. Not surprisingly, the top YouTube channel in India across categories is the one that thrives on launching some of Hindi films’ biggest assets – T-Series, followed by SET India and the children’s animation channel Chu Chu TV
    • In the decade of 2007-2017, digital media strategy played a lead role in the industry making a departure from a ‘single-event’ launch or press interaction to an entire campaign spanning weeks or months
    • Hindi films’s most successful digital teams use analytic tools such as ‘Vidooly’ (for video intelligence), Lexalytics (for sentiment scores) and Buzz Engine for film promotions
    • The capabilities of command centers and content analytics will increase exponentially and thus, content (shows, films, events, etc.) will be able to meet larger audiences

     

    Please click here for detailed PDF

     

     

  • According GroupM’s ESP Properties-SportzPower report, spendson sports sponsorship accounted for 11.5% of AdEx

    Sports Sponsorship Industry grew 19% in 2016

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sports sponsorship spending grew by a little over 19%. Spending via sports sponsorship accounted for 11.5% of the Indian AdEx (AdEx numbers from GroupM This Year, Next Year 2016 report) in the Indian market. While media spends contributed to the largest chunk of the pie, followed by ground sponsorship, the total size of sports advertising rose to INR 6400 crore / $941 million, a big jump up from the INR 5363.3 crore / $825 million garnered in 2015. All this and more is part of ‘Sporting Nation in the Making’, the four fourth edition of the sports sponsorship report compiled by ESP Properties- the sports and entertainment programming specialist arm of GroupM, and leading sports portal SportzPower.

     

    The report delves into the evolution of technology and its effects on the mainstream digital landscape. An important insight of this report, notes a communique, is that both cricket and non-cricket held their own trajectory, and together pushed the industry forward. The year 2016 also seemed like a make-or-break year for some leagues, with some repositioning themselves to garner greater viewership, while others launching with a hungry audience base. Indian Cricket was on a high in 2016, both on the field and off it.

     

    Said Vinit Karnik- Business Head, ESP Properties: “The report insights are the key to devising more refined viewer engagement. Gone are the days of male dominance in sports viewership. The year’s biggest chunk of spectators came from women and kids. This is ground-breaking data for brands to take that much desired leap of faith and traverse new grounds. Cricket continues to be the poster child for sponsorships, and non-cricket sports still have a fair leap to make to match revenue. However it is interesting to focus on the mushrooming of a very defined health and fitness consciousness within the country. Young digital India is breaking barriers and creating new records especially when it comes to live feeds. Their smartphones are their all access pass to the “insider world” of sports, sportsmen and their strengths and weaknesses. Sports start-ups are trending and the success achieved by league-based events across multiple sports indicates a strong potential to consume sports other than cricket.”

     

    Added Thomas Abraham, Co-Founder, Sportz Power and continues: “Demonetisation disruptions aside, 2016 was a great year for the industry and this year will be even more so. Team sponsorships may have experienced certain upheavals and newer leagues will change the sporting diaspora even more so this year. However, what remains to be seen is franchise sustenance, endorsement rates and the manner in which technology and data influence these numbers. We expect 2017 to only get bigger, not just on the back of growth from the leagues that are now up and running, but also from new kids on the block that are debuting in the year – Table Tennis being a notable one.”

     

    Sporting Nation in The Making – IV

  • 2017 will be a defining year in sports and entertainment marketing, predicts GroupM arm ESP Properties in its Top 10 Trends for the year

    Sports & Entertainment on a high

     

    For a few years now, ESP Properties India, a specialist business unit of GroupM dealing with sports and entertainment partnerships, has been publishing its Top 10 trends in, well, sports and entertainment. ESP has done it once again which predicts the following trends:

    New monetisation avenues sparked by film surround content

    While full-length features will go all out in terms of marketing associations, there will be a strategic effort to tie in pre-release, release and post-release film content to drive audience engagement. This strategy will be used more creatively for movie marketing and build up. Leveraging celebrity popularity will be closely tied to a thriving digital ecosystem; thus, creating a conducive environment for content-driven film promotions for brands to capitalise and invariably engage via a robust social media conversation.

     

    Targeted movie marketing because of digital influence

    While the past couple of years have exemplified the necessary role of big data, targeted movie marketing as an avenue benefits from the rich marketing data accumulated from both digital and traditional media. Harnessing psychographic data will essentially lead to even smaller and medium budget films to grab a precisely engaged audience. 2016 paved the way for this trend and 2017 will only define it to a cleverly adapted manner.

     

    Media rights market influenced by newer platforms for sports in India

    2017 will bring the spotlight on disruptive trends in the way bids are traditionally made for media rights; considering multiple media rights are up for renewal. As is the case in every industry and realm, digital and social platforms are expected to take long termpositions to build, engage, influence and disrupt the consumer mindscape and consumption pattern.

     

    Continual enhancing of sports programming

    Sports programming will keep challenging technology norms and further enhance the quality of broadcast and webcast. Sharp, interactive and trendsetter modes of sports programming will help foster fanhood on a social and individual level. While the focus is on the consumer and trending platforms of consumer engagement, sports programming will also be heavily relying on exacting media rights and ensuring that a holistic media plan is actioned that ties in all new platforms together.

     

    Major overhaul in measurement metrics for Sports & Live

    Marketers will work vigorously to challenge the current measurement metric of the singleminded focus based on media valuation. A confluence of Big Data and Technology will help transform the measurement process to capture the true potential of sports and live properties in forms of broader contours/ dimensions of consumer impact and better linkage to brand and business.

     

    Sports CSR to witness an investment of upwards of Rs 100 crore

    An amplified focus on grassroot programmes for emerging sports and talent will guarantee a boost in not only new categories for corporate investments in sports but will also open new cash reserves for sports under the head of CSR.

     

    eSports leagues to debut on the Indian scene

    With 30% YoY growth, gaming may have been an international player for quite a few years. With over 19,000 registered gaming professional players in India, 2017 will witness the launch of at least two eSport leagues that will kickstart momentum in the gaming community and beyond.

     

    The coming of age of the Indian theatrical

    Broadway is not just a cultural attribute of the West anymore. India has been absorbing and making the most of large format stage shows. The Indian audience is also willing to pay the premium for a quality experience. Since content is king, a worthy consort is production value, which the Indian theatre circuit is investing in. This coupled with a keen interest of sponsors for offbeat properties can drive positive conversation around Indian theatricals.

     

    International music icons to enhance live musical experience

    Better infrastructure, implementation of single window clearances and an established, additional support to host large format events will have an exponential effect on bigger, bolder, international music icons redirecting their routes to India to entice Indian fans.

     

    Stadium naming rights to gain momentum

    Over 200 days of live action in various arenas, especially large stadia are the evidence of the gargantuan rise in popularity of sports, musicals and theatrical live events. Over 10 million people are in attendance annually at such events; with the outcome being that stadia naming rights will announce its presence with a bang in 2017.

     

    “While 2016 saw a lot of upheaval and a change of existing norms, 2017 will be the official harbinger of change in the world of sportstainment,” said Vinit Karnik, Business Head, ESP Properties, adding: “Harnessing the reach of the digital medium and constantly reinventing  the way consumers engage and interact with the sports and entertainment realm; will not only be the highlight of the year but also the underlying driver of all marketing and revenue-led initiatives. Augmented reality is now tied into social media. Movie marketing can reap results basis a resonant hashtag. eSports will change the very fabric of Indian sports consumption and take fandom to its very zenith. The Indian theatre industry is constantly breaking new boundaries and testing newer, more experimental waters. And most importantly, consumers are keen to dig into their pockets and not compromise on missing out such an experience. 2017 is going to be the gamechanger, the year that solidifies trends that will shape, evolve and escalate the very meaning of sports and entertainment in India.”

     

  • One-tenth of Indian AdEx was spent on sports in 2015 says ESP Properties-SportzPower report on sports sponsorship

    Sports sponsorship grows 12.3%

     

    Sports sponsorship grew by 12.3% in 2015 to Rs 51,854 million in India. This number is 10.4% of the total Indian AdEx in 2015 as reported by GroupM’s ‘This Year, Next Year’ report.  This was revealed in a report sponsorship in the country presented by ESP Properties, the Entertainment and Sports arm of GroupM and leading sports news portal Sportz Power.

     

    Into its third edition now, the report on the Indian sports sponsorship market discusses the success of non-cricket leagues, fan engagement and how brands can maximise value from association from sports.

     

    Emphasising how sports can be harnessed as a successful communication medium by brands, Vinit Karnik- Business Head, ESP Properties said: “There is definitely a cultivated sense of understanding between corporate sponsors, sports teams and federations. A symbiotic marketing relationship has emerged within the sporting ecosystem in India. 2015 saw Sports accounting for 10.4% of the total media spend, which is a 12.3% increase from the previous calendar year. 2016 will be fantastic for not only players and federations, but also for brands and spectators, with a deeper engagement with sporting properties.”

     

    “Sports other than cricket have successfully established themselves in terms of revenue and fandom within the Indian sporting firmament,” added Thomas Abraham, Co-Founder, SportzPower. He added, “Sports like Kabaddi and Football have massively increased sponsorship revenues in 2015 and we saw return editions of sports like Tennis and Hockey as well. The successful launch of the Pro Wrestling League bodes well for 2016, which will see the advent of more franchise based leagues. We expect 2016 to be a good year for Cricket as well as Other Sports, generating ad spends and clocking in corporate investments at an exponential pace.”

     

    2016 is a big year for the sporting community, including emerging talent, federations, broadcasters and fans, adds the report. As the Indian market opens up to new sporting leagues and new forms of exhibition, there is great interest in sports such as Football, Tennis, and Running, to name a few. Brands that have made investments in sporting events early on are seeing greater returns on their investment over the last two years. With the advent of non-cricketing sports taking a share of the sponsorship pie, emerging talent is exposed to international players, better coaching techniques and greater interesting in their chosen game. With this kind of exposure, the next three to five years will also see heightened attention from broadcasters, as they look at newer platforms to increase advertising engagement, the report adds.

     

    Executive Summary of ESP Properties-SportzPower Report 2016

    Key Observations

    > Sports Sponsorship in India increased by 12.3% in 2015, compared to the previous year. This accounted for 10.4% of the total Indian AdEx

     

    > While cricket took a majority share of the sponsorship pie, non-cricketing sports were the growth driver in 2015

     

    > Pro Kabaddi League’s resounding success paved the way for it being slotted as a biannual event from 2016 onwards

     

    > Change in the landscape of Indian sports with the successful launch of the Pro Wrestling League. Pro Kabaddi League and the Indian Soccer League have successfully deepened their respective engagements with fans

     

    > The build-up to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in India will provide encouragement to emerging talent and investment in the sport locally, with world class infrastructure and facilities being provided in six cities

     

    > International Premier Tennis League and The Champions Tennis League delivered second editions

     

    > Hockey India League announced three new franchises to kick-start its third edition of which Ranchi Rays and Dabangg Mumbai continue to be a part of the six team league in 2016

     

    On Ground

    > On ground sponsorship for cricket in a year when IPL was the only big bang cricketing event grew a path-breaking 30% from Rs. 7,948 Mn. to Rs. 10,305 Mn.

     

    > Despite the bad publicity and the shadow of the Supreme Court looming over the BCCI, IPL viewership and engagement was unaffected. The property grew by a solid 13.9% in 2015, to Rs. 5295 Mn

     

    > Key brands that drove the cricketing upswing were Paytm, CEAT Tyres and MRF Tyres with a combined inflow of around Rs. 1,078 Mn. per year, increases the cricket spends by 14%

     

    > Football clocked in a whopping 91.6% growth in ground sponsorships from Rs. 595 Mn. in 2014 to Rs. 1140 Mn. in 2015

     

    > Hero Moto Corp for ISL at Rs. 180 Mn. as the title sponsor is the behemoth among the 17 (up from 10 in 2014) sponsors who collectively contributed Rs. 1000 Mn. + as sponsorship amounts

     

    > A 32% rise in sponsorships at Rs. 470 Mn. was seen by Tennis in 2015. While Champions Tennis League added brands like Kotak Mahindra Bank, Gatorade and Grey Goose, title sponsor for IPTL – Coca Cola – renewed its sponsorship while also becoming a 10% stakeholder

     

    > A massive 300% rise YOY, PKL revenue soared to Rs. 480 Mn. in 2015, that too without a title sponsor

     

    > With Distance Running at 53.5% YOY revenue increase, PWL and HIL also drove On Ground Sponsorship from Other Sports to close at a healthy Rs. 2230 Mn. for 2015

     

    Team Sponsorship & Franchise Fees

    > Cricket Team Sponsorship saw a marginal 1.9% drop from Rs. 3,478 Mn. in 2014 to Rs. 3,412 Mn. in 2015. Drop has come on the back of less number of matches Indian team played

     

    > 2015 also saw an increase of 48.8% in Non Cricket Sports, driving the market (despite the drop in Cricket) up by 13% to Rs. 2,170 Mn

     

    > Football by itself registered a 67% increase YOY, to close at Rs. 603 mn

     

    > PKL was the principal driver of increased Team Sponsorships in Other Sports, which saw an overall 38% upside from Rs. 855 Mn. In 2014 to Rs. 1,180 Mn. In 2015

     

    > Closing at Rs. 240 Mn, PWL made up for its chaotic, unorganised debut by claiming hearts and fans

     

    Endorsements

    > The biggest endorsement deal of 2015 was delivered by Tata Motors, which signed its first brand ambassador in global football superstar Lionel Messi onto a two-year deal at Rs. 600 Mn per year

     

    > If the triumvirate of M S Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli remain perched atop the Indian endorsement pyramid, among female sporting stars, Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza and MC Mary Kom continue to be the Big Three in 2015 as well

     

    > Virat Kohli stepped into the elite Rs. 1,000 Mn. endorsement club that Tendulkar and Dhoni already belong to.

     

    > Endorsements from other sports rose a spectacular 90% from Rs. 221 Mn to Rs. 420 Mn in 2015, with Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza and Mary Kom accounting for 40% of the endorsements pulled in by Non Cricket Sports

     

    On Air

    > Despite the challenges of time zone differences, the ICC World Cup managed to garner Rs. 5000 Mn in ad revenues in 2015.

     

    > On Air Sponsorship increased by 6.8% YOY from Rs. 25,180 Mn. in 2014 to Rs. 26,900 Mn.

     

    > Longer live content duration with league sports. Wider reach, consistent performance metrics of non-cricket sports help in garnering future spends

     

    Mobile & Social Media

    > 70% fans bring their mobile devices to share in stadia experiences

     

    > 46% mobile internet users search for sporting events and news

     

    > In IPL, CSK could not generate much online conversation despite a strong fan base, while in social media top three drivers are KKR, RCB and MI.

     

    > With six digit Facebook bases, ISL teams are more talked about than the league itself, thus highlighting a clear divergence between team buzz v/s league buzz

     

    > Likewise, PKL teams also cumulatively generate 500 times more buzz than the parent league

     

    > IPTL, HIL and PWL need to focus on building more traction on their social media assets to be able to up their social and search numbers

     

    > Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar still rules the social media with fans on Twitter and Facebook surpassing any other sports player numbers

     

    Year 2016

     

    > Sports teams and federations have developed a better understanding of marketing themselves and are in an evolving state of sync with corporate sponsors to ensure a symbiotic commercial relationship

     

    > Sports needs a mobile amplification – the ways and means to harness mobile as a direct communication medium with the sports fan demographic are limitless, progressive and extremely penetrative

     

    > IPL templated leagues for sports such as Table Tennis, Cue Sports and Volleyball are readying for their respective coming out parades

     

  • The bid amounts in the negative mean the two teams won’t get any share of revenue from the board’s central pool, but have to pay money to it. Hence they are expected to go the whole hog to minimise their losses

    Budgeted brands may join IPL bandwagon after entry of two new teams

    By Ravi Teja Sharma

     

    The entry of two new teams could offer an opportunity to brands that want to jump on to the IPL bandwagon but have limited budgets, said media planners and agencies.

     

    Each of the two teams will have 10 sponsorship slots to sell on the jersey – on the cap, shirt and trouser. None of these is pre-committed to any brands, unlike in the case of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan (RR), the teams that have been suspended for two years.

     

    In the reverse auction conducted by the Indian cricket board earlier this week, industrialist Sanjiv Goenka’s New Rising won the Pune team with a bid of minus Rs 16 crore and handset maker Intex got Rajkot with a bid of minus Rs 10 crore.

     

    The bid amounts in the negative mean the two teams won’t get any share of revenue from the board’s central pool, but have to pay money to it. Because of this, these teams are expected to go the whole hog to minimise their losses.

     

    Vinit Karnik, national director at ESP Properties, a sports and entertainment consultancy of media management giant Group M, said the two new teams might not be able to charge a premium immediately. But since they would be getting top players from both CSK and RR, they might still be able to ride on these players to gain traction.

     

    Among the eight original IPL franchises, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings (before they were suspended) earned Rs 40 crore to Rs 50 crore a year from sponsorship deals. Other teams such as Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore get around Rs 30 crore. The new teams could make around Rs 20-25 crore from sponsorship a year, media planners said.

     

    Melroy D’Souza, chief operating officer at sports marketing firm Professional Management Group, said Pune would do better than Rajkot on sponsorships, especially with the possibility that New Rising, which got Pune with the lower bid among the two winners, would get to pick the first player from the draft.

     

    That could probably be MS Dhoni, who remains the most sought after player in IPL.

     

    “For the audience in small towns (such as Rajkot), there will be limited amount of brands that will be interested,” said D’Souza. Karnik, however, said Rajkot would be the real hotspot among the two new teams.

     

    “This is the first time that an IPL team has come from Gujarat. The state is a passionate follower of cricket and it has a big base of local business houses, who would love to leverage on the opportunity.”

     

    Large businesses and local brands from Gujarat include the likes of Adani, the tile manufacturers of Morbi, large watch manufacturers such as Ajanta and Orpat and diamond trading houses of Surat.

     

    On air and on ground sponsorship in IPL is very expensive and out of the reach of brands with smaller budgets, said Basabdatta Chowdhuri, chief executive at Madison Media Group’s Platinum Media. “But there is still considerable visibility to be had by signing up with newer teams. In a limited budget, you can get decent mileage through a new team as well. In that same money, a brand will only get a few spots on television during IPL,” she said.

     

    A media planner who did not wish to be named said the other advantage with newer and relatively smaller teams is that brands can negotiate that much more and get more bang for their buck.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The badminton star has signed a Rs 1.5 crore deal with Kellogg

    Saina Nehwal outpaces Sania Mirza & Mary Kom in top female sports endorser race

    By Ratna Bhushan

     

    Kellogg, the world’s largest breakfast cereal maker, has signed badminton player Saina Nehwal to an endorsement deal pegged at close to Rs 1.5 crore, two people aware of the development said.

     

    The two-year deal makes Nehwal – the world No. 2 in women’s singles — the highest paid female sports endorser in the country ahead of tennis player Sania Mirza and boxer Mary Kom.

     

    A Kellogg India spokesperson confirmed the association with Nehwal but declined to give details of the deal. Darshan Machdar, director at Spoment Ventures, the sports marketing firm that represents Nehwal, was unavailable for comment.

     

    “Kellogg is looking for a repositioning exercise with Saina… the advertising is likely to break next month,” one of the persons quoted earlier said.

     

    The 25-year-old already has endorsement deals for Yonex, Bajaj Nomarks cream, Iodex pain reliever, Indian Overseas Bank and the Sahara group, which, sources said, were signed for least 20% less.

     

    Vinit Karnik, national director, sports and live events at GroupM ESP, the sports marketing division of media buying group GroupM, said, “In the current scenario, Saina is the highest paid woman sportsperson in the country. Sania Mirza’s endorsement fee used to be the highest till about five years back. But Saina has been far more visible on the circuit, which is what brands look for.”

     

    Nehwal had topped the women’s world ranking list in March this year. Some talent managers, however, believe that Nehwal has remained under-marketed when it comes to endorsement fee. Also, the gap between what male and female sports persons earn outside of the sports arena remains wide.

     

    According to industry executives, cricket captain MS Dhoni charges upwards of Rs 10 crore for brand endorsement while Virat Kohli’s fee is Rs 5-6 crore. However, endorsement rates can vary as they depend, to a large extent, on the relationship the celebrity has with the brand.

     

    Talent management firm Kwan’s promoter Anirban Das said, “It’s a reflection of the popularity of the sport rather than a function of gender.

     

    The reach of cricket still hugely overshadows any other sport in India.” He pointed out that in Bollywood, the gap between what men and women earn has seen a lot of correction over the recent past. “Someone like Deepika Padukone earns a lot more than many other popular actors now,” he said.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Media planners and industry sources say sponsorship rates have risen 10-15% over last year, when the eight teams put together made just over Rs 250 crore from sponsorship

    IPL teams to mop up Rs 300 crore in sponsorship deals as most brands stay committed

    By Ravi Teja Sharma & Nandini Raghavendra

     

    That the Indian Premier League (IPL) has emerged as the choicest new brandbuilding opportunity can be gauged from the sheer stickiness that brands have displayed with the teams, and this year too most of the sponsors have decided to renew their contracts for at least the next two years. Together, the eight teams in the T20 league are estimated to mop up close to Rs 300 crore from kit deals — sponsorship on shirts, trousers and caps of players – with existing as well as some new sponsors this season.

     

    Media planners and industry sources say sponsorship rates have risen 10-15% over last year, when the eight teams put together made just over Rs 250 crore from sponsorship. “A lot of companies today want to invest in sports. Those who were already there felt the tournament has given them a good bang for their buck,” says Mohit Burman, co-owner of Kings XI Punjab.

     

    Among the newcomers to the IPL party this year is Chinese mobile handset maker Gionee, which will be seen on the front of the shirt of Kolkata Knight Riders’ players, replacing longstanding sponsor Nokia. The brand believed to have paid between Rs 15 crore and Rs 18 crore a year for the three-year deal. Another brand that has come in this year is Japanese air conditioner maker Daikin, which has signed up with Delhi Daredevils for an estimated Rs 10-11 crore.

     

    Among those who have renewed, Aircel’s deal with Chennai Super Kings is the most expensive at Rs 22 crore a year. For Mumbai Indians, Videocon d2h has renewed sponsorship at Rs 15-16 crore a year. Huawei has renewed with Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 10-12 crore, while Ultratech logo will again be seen on Rajasthan Royals shirts at Rs 9 crore.

     

    “Even the ground sponsors for teams look closely at ratings and reach of the tournament. These aspects have done well in recent years and that is what they see value in,” says Rohit Gupta, president of Multi Screen Media, official IPL broadcaster.

     

    The cumulative reach of the IPL has risen from about 100 million in its first edition in 2008 to 191.4 million in 2014.

     

    Last year, rating for the tournament grew to 3.6 from 3.2 in 2013 despite a part of the tournament being played in the UAE and stiff competition from Lok Sabha election. “In early years of the tournament, rating was over 4 but it has now stabilised which is attractive for sponsors,” says Gupta.

     

    Rajasthan Royals has added a new sponsor in Kalasalingam University from Chennai, which is advertising for the first time in the IPL. “They see this as the right platform for visibility within other states of India,” says team Chief Executive Raghu Iyer.

     

    Venky Mysore, the chief executive of Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders, says they have seen a 15% increase in pricing. “Brands evaluate the value they see and the fan base, which for KKR has grown hugely, which is why we can command a premium,” says Mysore.

     

    One of the most high talked about franchisees, Royal Challengers, has seen a churn in the last few years. While initially most of its sponsors were in-house brands of the UB Group — Royal Challenge, Whyte & Mackay, McDowell’s No. 1, White Mischief — over the last few years they have been replaced by outside brands. Huawei India, Tata Motors Bolt, Britannia and Kingfisher Beer have renewed their deals.

     

    Vinit Karnik

    While the World Cup viewership didn’t exactly set record, IPL, experts feel, will be a different ball game. “Fatigue levels for prime time cricket viewing is not there because the World Cup was not prime time,” says Vinit Karnik, national director, sports and live events at GroupM ESP. “What is also helping is the realistic pricing despite a slight increase in pricing this time.” IPL teams can be put into two buckets. The three top teams — Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders — are in a different league when it comes to pricing of their kit deals.

     

    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

     

  • Less than a week for the biggest cricketing event to start. Vinit Karnik kicks off MxMIndia's week-long Big Story specials on the Cup

    What makes the World Cup a win-win

     

    By Vinit Karnik

     

    Vinit Karnik

    The countdown to this year’s biggest sporting spectacle, the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup 2015 is drawing near and more than a billion hearts are pinning their hopes on Team India winning the Cup that counts this time too. This edition of the tournament to be jointly co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, promises to be much bigger than previously held editions of the tournaments. For advertisers and brands, this will be 2015’s biggest moneyspinner and provide an opportunity to jump on the brand bandwagon in order to reach their audiences and there is a lot that one needs to watch out for during this year.

     

    Advertisers on ground and on air:

    Traditionally we all have been used to seeing on ground sponsors taking sponsorship slots on air as well. But there is all likelihood that we might see a change in this strategy during this World Cup. On-ground ICC partners that are ‘evolve’ brands may look at the digital media environment and surround content to effectively engage with their respective target audience. This might give way to new and emerging categories like e-commerce and newer brand launches to take the television route to gain visibility.

     

    Linear TV:

    Official broadcaster Star India will air the World Cup in six languages in Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada, apart from English and Hindi – making it far more inclusive than any other sporting tournament on television. The network has revamped its programming around the World Cup across platforms in a manner presenting brands opportunities to associate with the tournament at various levels. While brands with deeper pockets will definitely look at investing at the national level, smaller brands who could previously not associate with the World Cup, will be able to put in their money at the regional level thus targeting their markets specifically. The strategy of using geo-targeting will allow local brands to avoid spillover. The network has taken a step to broadcast select matches in 4K or Ultra High Definition production ensuring a change in the television viewing quality habits for the better.

     

    Surround Content:

    Lot of surround content around cricket will be a part of channel programming. This will be pre-/post-match analysis by cricket experts, celebrities, social influencers and fans. Surround content will also extend itself to digital medium for convenience of viewing anytime anywhere. The commentary panel will feature 13 World Cup captains, 20 World Cup winners and 26 World Cup semi-finalists. The likes of Allan Border, Kapil Dev, Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Graeme Smith, Ian Botham, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Saurav Ganguly among others will be sharing their expert insights and analyses.

     

    Social Layer:

    The dynamic social media space will be hyperactive around World Cup with live and non-live action. Cricket experts, ex-players, celebrities, social influencers and fans will keep the conversations active all the time. We may see advertisers effectively leveraging this trend and stay relevant through the World Cup. User- and fan-generated humour content is to be watch out for including pre- and post-match reviews this World Cup. Most of the trends on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter will be dominated by the World Cup.

     

    World Cup Format:

    Team India’s fitness concerns are not going to be much of a concern. Two pools of seven teams will be playing in a round-robin format. The top four teams from each pool will proceed to the knock-out stage of the tournament, which will comprise quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. Unless an extremely massive upset takes place, this format will almost ensure all top teams play in the quarter-finals. This will definitely keep the viewers and advertiser interest alive at least this stage of the World Cup.

     

    Vinit Karnik is National Director, GroupM ESP

     

    Image courtesy: ICC

     

  • With the rise of leagues across various sporting formats, the opportunities for brands to associate with movies and sports are also increasing

    GroupM ESP releases top 10 trends of entertainment and sports marketing for 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    GroupM ESP (Entertainment & Sports Partnerships), a specialist business unit of GroupM has unveiled their top 10 trends for 2015. It is well known by now that sports in India, is undergoing a transition. With the rise of leagues across various sporting formats and with increase in cobranded promotions, the opportunities for brands to associate with movies and sports are also increasing.

     

    Uniquely positioned at the intersection of media and marketing, GroupM ESP predicts the following trends:

    1. Increased role and usage of celebrities as digital influencers

    2. Sporting entities will evolve by building digital and social assets to drive their valuation

    3. Blurring gap between Entertainment & Sports

    4. “Associative” to “Associative + Integration + Surround + Social”

    5. From Advertisers to Sponsors

    6. New avenues for traditional licensing – ex. branded real estate

    7. TV fiction characters as Brand Ambassadors

    8. Non-cricket sports to expand sports business ecosystem

    9. Sports businesses to build strong grassroots engagement through experiential programs

    10. Music concerts to grow bigger than award shows

     

    Commenting on the trends Vinit Karnik- National Director, GroupM ESP said, “As we scale up our practice, 2015 will see a change in the way consumers interact with the sports and entertainment category. Sporting entities will evolve by building digital and social assets to drive their valuation and brands will increase role and usage of celebrities as influencers especially across digital assets. We have strategically positioned ourselves to embrace this change and are confident that it will help us achieve our clients’ objectives by offering innovative brand solutions.”

     

    Adding further he said, “Celebrities have been using the digital space extensively for their work. From promoting their movies to inviting fans to attend a social cause, celebs make use of the digital platform in a great way. With millions of followers, celebrities have the power to influence their fans and effectively get their message forward.”

     

    “Digital and social assets are used by sports entities to keep their fans up to date. In order to increase the fan base, sporting franchisees and leagues will develop fan following around them by efficient use of digital medium. With immense focus on digital rights of sporting leagues, digital video sites will be competing with television broadcasters for eyeballs in the near future.”

     

  • GroupM ESP has been a key enabler for clients and their brands to leverage the SIIMA sponsorship platform

    GroupM ESP executes key campaigns for SIIMA

    By A Correspondent

     

    GroupM ESP has executed key sponsorship deals for SIIMA 2014 including AskMe.com, Havells, RedBus.in and Chola MS. GroupM ESP has been a key enabler for clients and their brands to leverage the SIIMA sponsorship platform thereby providing end-to-end SIIMA related solutions.

     

    Last week, the city of Kuala Lumpur played host to the South Indian film fraternity a midst much fanfare. SIIMA (South Indian International Movie Awards), the biggest South Indian movie awards platform globally, saw the presence of prominent stars of the fraternity in full attendance.

     

    Vinit Karnik

    Commenting on the achievement, Vinit Karnik- National Director of Sports and Live practice, GroupM ESP says “SIIMA is one of the best awards covering all 4 states in South India delivering high impact and value to advertisers. SIIMA as a property offers compelling content in the native language for the audience to watch it on Television. We believe brands can leverage the celebrity and entertainment appeal of the property by seamlessly integrating in the content. Content integrations in SIIMA can help brands break the clutter this festive and effectively communicate their proposition.”

     

  • A massive marketing campaign, a new fan dance move from Farah Khan, a bigger panel and lots of Extraaas… will IPL 2013 thrill again, asks MxMIndia

    IPL 6: In the mood for Extraaa

    The nine IPL team captains line up after signing the MCC Spirit of Cricket board at the Pepsi Indian Premier League opening ceremony held at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on April 2. Copyright: BCCI. Photo by Ron Gaunt/SPORTZPICS

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    The opening ceremony of one of today’s most popular and expensive sporting properties may have matched its impressive track record over the years. And the organisers could thank celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, rapper Pitbull et al who were joined in force by cricket legends as they steered their way into winning the hearts of the audiences. In fact, the viewership numbers being predicted from the opening ceremony this year is expected to exceed 55 million, a fact that is being reported extensively even across foreign media.

     

    There’s no doubting the effort that has been put in by the organisers and broadcast partner Set Max as the task facing them this year was winning back the audiences that had gone adrift over past few seasons. Apart from a string of new measures and a high-profile marketing campaign, the buzz that was created around IPL 6 was dubbed as being the loudest so far, or so is the claim. Much of the credit to that is being owed to ace choreographer Farah Khan who bought in an element of newness this year with some signature moves involving cricket.

     

    Highlighting the experience this year, Neeraj Vyas, Business Head, Max said, “Firstly, the sentiments have been very positive around the IPL. It follows India’s recent performance against Australia which has kind of boosted cricket sentiments in the country. The other thing about the IPL is that it is cricket of the highest quality and degree and is extremely competitive and edgy, but there is also a lot of entertainment value attached to it. For example, the IPL campaign that we did around IPL this year is very entertainment-led and had director-choreographer Farah Khan playing host. As you’ll observe she is advocating everyone to not just sit but to be a part of the game by dancing to three key moves commonly associated with cricket – fours, sixes and falling wickets.”

     

    In fact the campaign has been a huge hit on the online space where it has crossed the 2 million mark on YouTube. “So the whole scale around IPL is much bigger this year than last year. It definitely has managed to arouse enough hype and curiosity. In fact if you see our marketing budgets, we have invested 15 per cent more than last year. There has been a substantial effort that has gone behind the marketing campaign this year. The same can be reflected through the huge buzz and reach that can be sensed everywhere and across all platforms.”

     

    Not to be left behind in the production department, Set Max has gone the extra mile this year where its studio and expert panelists are concerned. Affirmed Mr Vyas, “We have a brand new set of Extraaa Innings this time around; it is a set that is bigger than any other set that you’ll see in recent times. And joining Gaurav Kapur and Samir Kochhar will be two new hosts, Karishma Kotak and Rochelle Maria Rao. The there’ll also be big names associated with cricket like Navjot Sidhu, Harsha Bhogle, Ajay Jadeja and Sunil Gavaskar. What we’ve also done is added new names to the roster like Kapil Dev and Rameez Raja. They’ll primarily be driving the show in Hindi. So it’s also the best line-up that we have where studio names are concerned.”

     

    Not wanting to stop at that the broadcasters sensed immense opportunity in reaching out to the masses beyond the metros and tier 2, 3 towns and who until now were denied their share of voice in the affair. The wishes of the many Indians who reside in far-off towns and rural belts will be realised as they can enjoy the matches in Hindi as well. Asserted Vyas, “Another new addition this year is the airing of content in Hindi. That was done to essentially reach out to interior pockets of India who are more comfortable with Hindi commentary. Also, if you saw our coverage last year we had upped our quotient of Hindi usage on XIDs. So there was a lot of Hindi banter that happened between the expert panellists which was a decision that was taken intentionally. And this year we have just expanded that by having a dedicated Hindi feed. So the idea was to reach more and more people.”

     

    Number-crunching affair

    It has been widely reported on how the IPL this year has heeded the demands of the marketers and have offered them advertising value worth a steal. According to estimates, the channel expects to earn close to Rs 900 crore overall this year and much of this will come from top clients like PepsiCo, which is the title sponsor for the tournament, having signed a deal in the range of Rs 50-60 crore. Set Max has also sealed associate sponsor deals with eight clients including Godrej, Havells, Panasonic, Karbonn Tabs, Usha International, Cadbury, Tata Docomo and Samsung Mobiles.

     

    Highlighting the response received from the clients this year, particularly new entrant PepsiCo, Mr Vyas said, “The response from the clients goes to show that IPL is still a massive brand and secondly, as I said earlier, it is the reflection around the positive buzz surrounding Indian cricket at the moment. So there has been an extremely positive sentiment from the viewers as well as the advertisers.”

     

    He added, “Client-wise if you ask me, the best thing to have happened is Pepsi’s association with IPL – who are the on-ground as well as on-air partners. Given their past history, they will naturally bring in their own flavour to the tournament. I know for a fact that they are planning some special campaigns that will begin during the IPL. In a sense, Pepsi probably understands cricket better than most other brands as they have been associated with the sport for around 15-20 years. So one can expect them to bring in their own creativity around cricket, which is always entertaining to say the least.”

     

    Confirming Mr Vyas’ sentiments, Vinit Karnik, Head of Sports and Live practice at GroupM ESP said through a statement, “We’ve been part of IPL since its inception and we strongly believe that IPL is India’s biggest and the most powerful marketing platform for brands to leverage the combined appeal of cricket and entertainment. This season has been a busy and fruitful season. We had the opportunity to work closely with the Sun Group’s Sunrisers and have enabled the new franchise get off to strong start with 10 on-ground official partnership/sponsorships including Make My Trip, 7UP, Garnier, Kingfisher, Live In Jeans, Manyavar, Sheltrex, RN Sports etc…. We also advised Vodafone backed by a comprehensive valuation exercise based on proprietary data and insights which helped them build a case to renew their on-ground associate sponsorship for another 5 years. Other high profile deals which we managed to facilitate this year included Bajaj Allianz and Mumbai Indians, Flying Machine and Royal Challengers Bangalore among others.” The total value of all the on-ground deals enabled and activated by GroupM ESP in IPL 6 is estimated at US $ 15 mn.

     

    On to another important number that’s watched closely by all, the ratings for IPL 6 is expected to outdo that put up by the previous season. According to statistics released by MEC-Meritus, average TV rating for the league stage is expected to go up from 3.8 last year to 3.9 – an increase of 2.6% (15+ years, Male/Female, SEC ABC). Also, MI (23%), Chennai (19%) and KKR (14%) are the most popular teams while support for Hyderabad has gone up by 200% (2% to 6%). Further, the study notes that Sachin Tendulkar (80), MS Dhoni (79), Yuvraj Singh (76), Virat Kohli (74) and Virender Sehwag (73) are the most popular Indian players in the League while Chris Gayle (60), Ricky Ponting (55), Brett Lee (51) and Kevin Pietersen (50) are the most popular foreign players.

     

    T Gangadhar

    T Gangadhar, Managing Director, MEC India, said, “Our study suggests that the IPL seems to have matured as a property. The study clearly establishes that ratings in the first phase (first 18 games) impact the fate of the entire league. With Pepsi activating their title sponsorship in a big way, the BCCI launching the IPL Fantasy League and India’s strong performance against Australia, the first stage of the league could get further momentum.”

     

    According to Mr Vyas, in terms of ratings expectations, “People need to realise that IPL is now a mature and a long tournament that last 76 games spanning 54 days. Nothing of this scale ever exists in the country. In fact about 30 per cent of the games are played in the afternoon…so despite all these ground realities it sustained an average rating of 3.5 last year, which according to me is nothing short of a miracle. If you look at GEC shows today, no one manages to retain audiences over such long periods. And this despite the fact that about 30 per cent of the matches are played in the afternoon. So we will be happy if we are able to retain the ratings at that level or even better it to around 4 or so.”

     

    Amin Lakhani

    Agreeing with Mr Vyas, Amin Lakhani, Principal Partner, Mindshare said, “I’ve always maintained from the start that where cricket and especially IPL is concerned, there has been a positive sentiment observed. It kind of picks up in terms of popularity and buzz closer to the start of the tournament. The thing about IPL is that it is now a time-tested property; only last year was an aberration. It has always been a winning property and will continue to do so. It is too early to write it off. And frankly, I am not even bothered about viewership as it a 76-match affair spread across 54 days…whatever ratings it has achieved has been brilliant so far. I can’t think any other property that has managed to do so in such a scale and manner. Where viewership is concerned, I feel even if it manages to hold at 4 or above would be a very good thing.”

     

     

    Mona Jain

    But feelings seem to be mixed for Mona Jain, CEO of Vivaki Exchange, who remarked, “I expect the ratings to display a similar trend to that of last year. Also, where the campaign is concerned I believe they should have started that much earlier on mediums like television, outdoor, radio etc. And the fact that IPL is an established property maybe that’s the reason the broadcaster maybe wanting to push the property closer to the start of the event. I guess more emphasis was paid on leveraging the event then trying to build it up.”

     

    While there may be a few naysayers who’ll be raising questions on the waning demand of the sport in India, SET MAX would want to prove them wrong by posting numbers a notch better than at least the previous season. One will have to wait and watch if King Khan managed to work his charm to at least get the inaugural event off to a flying start.