Looking beyond cricket
While still cricket-crazy, people in India are beginning to find other sports interesting, which in turn is encouraging the growth of sports leagues and brand spends
NEW DELHI: Divij Harimohan, 42, a health freak and cricket lover, watches every other cricket tournament and has started participating in marathons and cycling tournaments. As more people in India look beyond cricket to other sports, brands are turning their attention to non-cricket sports too.
Hero Motocorp, Yes Bank and Coca-Cola took a lead in encouraging the neglected hockey by putting money into Hockey India League (HIL).
“India is gradually moving away from being a one-sport nation to a multi-sports loving nation,” said an HIL spokesperson. HIL attracted a combined 690 lakh viewership globally for its inaugural session.
Said Malli CR, CEO, Starcom Mediavest Group, a media agency: “There is a growing appetite for other sports. Currently, brands spend over 85% of their sports budgets on cricket but in five years, I see this number shrinking.”
Seeing audiences for sports beyond cricket in the future, Star India recently announced a Rs 20,000 crore-plus investment in sports including the Hockey India League, Indian Badminton League and the Indian Super League.
IMG-Reliance bought all commercial rights to professional football games in India for 15 years from the All India Football Federation for Rs 700 crore.
Adille Sumariwalla, president, Athletics Federation of India, said, “The glamour quotient of Indian athletics has gone up. The 2010 Commonwealth Games was a catalyst for popularising non-cricket sports. The Indian athletics team drew one lakh people then and a packed stadium at the 2013 Asian Championship in Pune.”
Considering India’s young population and a rising middle class, there is huge audience potential. “New leagues do not have to start from scratch to find an audience,” Malli said.
Associations are also going beyond metros. Tickets were sold out for HIL’s semi-final and final matches in Ranchi. The new venue added this year – Bhubaneswar – was fully packed during all matches.
“We are seeing tremendous increases in our fan base. And 35% of our viewers are female,” said Yannick Colaco, MD, National Basketball Association.
“The Athletics Federation of India is launching exciting properties that, we hope, will attract broadcasters, sponsors and sports-loving youngsters,” said Sumariwalla.
Companies are also investing in league teams. The JSW Group has the Bengaluru Football Club and the Piramals own the Pune Football Club (both in the premier football I-League). The Dabur group has invested in cricket through the IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab. It also owns a team in HIL called Mumbai Magicians and one in the Indian Badminton League called Pune Pistons.
“We look at each sport and sporting event on individual merit and alignment with our business objectives,” said S.P Shukla, chairman, Mahindra Racing.
Quick-format leagues are gaining favour. “The success of T20 cricket is a clear indicator of consumer demand in India. Now, we want our sport to be fast-paced, attractively packaged, entertaining and competitive,” said Colaco.