Star India is looking to engage with a total of 700 million viewers in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League, armed with key metrics such as personalisation and localisation using technology.

Last year, the cricketing extravaganza had attracted 550 million viewers. To begin with, the IPL spectacle will now be made available in six languages — Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Kannada.

In September, Star India had won the IPL bid in a blockbuster five-year deal, for ₹16,347.50 crore ($2.55 billion), beating tech players such Facebook, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and broadcaster Sony Pictures Network (SPN).

Sony was the IPL rights owner for a decade. Following the current bid, Star owns the media rights for both television and digital platform — Hotstar.

“By leveraging the power of television and Hotstar, IPL will be enjoyed by an unprecedented number of fans across geographies. What we did to our GEC (general entertainment channels) network, we are doing the same to IPL by localising content in six different languages and creating content destinations,” Sanjay Gupta, MD, Star India, told Business Line.

Gupta said the previous rights owner of IPL had language feed only in Hindi and English. “Advertisers can target specific markets with our regional content strategy. Additionally, Hotstar will simultaneously broadcast matches without any delay. The idea is to provide a unified experience in both digital and linear.”

Previously, Hotstar’s live sporting feeds were delayed by five odd minutes.

Ad rates

Asked if this would mean an increase in ad inventory rates, Gupta said it would not necessarily mean a hike in ad rate. “We are looking to unlock value for our advertisers. Having content in six different languages doesn’t mean that our rates will go up six times. We are still talking to our advertisers,” he added.

Last year, SPN had sold ad spots for ₹6 lakh for a 10-second standard definition feed and ₹8 lakh for a high definition feed.

Gupta said Star is confident of attracting larger number of advertisers during the upcoming IPL season starting April 2018. He did not give any indicative revenue projections.

Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar, Star’s OTT platform, said that with the digital consumption pie increasing, the company is building a cohesive and unified platform through Hotstar.

This means, besides live sporting events, the company is also creating an immersive experience through shows and personalisation, such as analysis and chat shows and building a community experience to the sporting event, he said.

India has five sports broadcasters — Star India, Sony Pictures Network, Nimbus, Discovery India and State-owned Doordarshan.

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