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Star India is hoping to get more brands to invest in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season. The company is betting big on technology and localisation to enhance the experience of cricket fans for the upcoming season of T20 league.
The company, on Wednesday, said that it will live-stream matches on its digital platform, Hotstar in Virtual Reality. Star India will telecast IPL in six languages in a bid to get higher eyeballs by offering IPL to cricket fans in their relevant language. It is targeting to grow the reach of IPL to about 700-million viewers.
Sanjay Gupta, Managing Director, Star India said: “The only way to make money on any property is to make it really valuable for the fans. Our focus is to get 700 million viewers. Revenues will come… but the focus on revenues will happen after the first year.”
ProfitabilityWhen asked when the company expects to break-even in terms of investments made for the IPL rights, he said: “In five years it will be a very profitable property. In the first year, we are not focusing on profits but on redefining fans’ viewing experience and harnessing the power of technology to make one of the biggest sporting leagues even bigger.”
The company last year won the TV and digital rights for IPL for five years for ₹16, 347.50 crore.
Gupta said making IPL available in six different languages will also enable more brands to invest. “Today only 40-50 brands associate with IPL. We want more brands to come in and associate with IPL. This year, IPL will be available in six languages, and will be live not only on TV, but also on our digital platform Hotstar. This will make it easier for brands to reach their target audience. So our strategy is to make it more democratic for brands and get a larger number of brands to invest on IPL,” Gupta added.
He said that the company’s sales teams are in talks with brands that had never before advertised on IPL and, therefore, aim to go beyond the big brands.
Besides streaming IPL in VR on Hotstar, the broadcaster will also offer a dedicated ‘Superfan’ feed with next-generation statistics and expert analysis. Viewers will also be able to select camera angles and the commentary language of their choice. In addition, the company said that “Hotstar will go social” for the upcoming IPL season, and that fans would be able to interact with each other while watching IPL matches and use cricket emojis.
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