BackAdvertising trickles in for online streaming of cricket
Advertising trickles in for online streaming of cricket
PremiumStrike rate: An IPL match played in Chennai on Wednesday. Google, which streams IPL matches live on YouTube, saw viewership jump from 55 million in 2010 to 70 million last year, with 70% of it from In
New Delhi: Online video streaming spiked in the country in March last year, thanks to the cricket World Cup that India went on to win.
While there were just 3.4 million video streams on sports websites in January last year , the number jumped to more than 37 million two months later, according to comScore Inc., which tracks the digital media.
Google Inc., which streams Indian Premier League (IPL) matches live on YouTube, saw viewership jump from 55 million in 2010 to 70 million last year, with 70% of it from India. The latest season of IPL began on Wednesday, with the Mumbai Indians beating the Chennai Super Kings.
While the trend can’t be denied, has it become big enough to dictate the way sports is monetized in the country? Some recent bets may indicate that companies are definitely leaning that way.
On Tuesday, Star India Pvt. Ltd won the broadcasting, Internet and mobile rights for six years for all international cricket played in the country. For this privilege, it will pay the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ₹ 3,851 crore.
But some industry experts are questioning whether it will be able to leverage the Internet and the mobile phone to such an extent, especially when the popularity of the game has dulled following a surfeit of cricket and India’s recent poor performance.
Nimbus Communications’ broadcast deal was cancelled by BCCI after it defaulted on payments after a bid that was lower than Star’s commitment, although that deal didn’t include Internet and mobile rights.
Nikhil Rungta, country head, marketing, Google India, said the company grappled with similar questions about whether people would watch cricket on the Internet at all.
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Mint’s Surabhi Agarwal says with the steady rise in online video streaming of cricket, sports broadcasters are betting big on mobile and internet.
“But the reaction on the first day of the tournament itself dispelled all of those fears," Rungta said. With a clear uptrend in popularity, marketers will put their money where the eyeballs are. “People who opt to watch cricket online are deeply engaged with the game, they are clicking at features and applications while they watch, so the engagement levels are very high," he said. “When combined with traditional media, the benefits are multiplied."
People are mostly consuming cricket online at offices and single-TV homes, according to experts. Moreover, apps being rolled out allow users to click on what they want—highlights, specific overs or their favourite players’ match performance. This, in turn, is enabling marketers to position their products in innovative ways—through in-screen advertising or outside it.
Broadcasters can no longer afford to ignore Internet and mobile rights while bidding, said Sanjay Kailash, executive vice-president, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd, which manages and distributes the ESPN Star Sports bouquet in India.
“In a few years’ time, the Internet and mobile may start paying off in a big way, and then if you have given off the rights to somebody else, you will be left holding the lemon," he said. “Companies are not taking that risk anymore." Even though digital is not even 10% of the overall advertising industry in the country, client spend is slowly increasing online, he said. “But it’s a trickle, not an avalanche yet."
One of the key hurdles in the way of live streaming of cricket is poor Internet speeds in the country. Third-generation networks haven’t led to an expected surge in high-speed mobile connectivity, said Anirban Das Blah, chief executive and managing director of marketing solutions firm KWAN Entertainment and Marketing Solutions. There needs to be more clarity on the telecom policy and network roll-outs in the country, he said.
“Though advertisers are putting a bit of a hopeful punt on Internet and mobile, there has to be a clear business model for content to be subscription based," he said.
A big broadcaster like Star knows how to monetize content and will be something of a role model, said an executive at a company closely associated with cricket in the country.
“The entire industry wants Star to make money on this deal and show the way," this person said.
surabhi.a@livemint.com
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