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Sports of movie channels

BestMediaInfo.com explores the phenomenon of Sports working really well on the movie channels

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Sports of movie channels

Sports of movie channels

BestMediaInfo.com explores the phenomenon of Sports working really well on the movie channels

Raushni Bhagia | Mumbai | March 7, 2016

STAR-Sports-Pro-Kabaddi-League

On one hand where the television viewing is becoming more niche, the co-viewing, on the other hand, hasn't really come down. Explaining further, while we have channels like Magicbricks Now for core real estate business, SAB TV for comedy only content and Ten Golf for Golf events only, there's another trend which is creeping in.

There is a mismatch of content and channel genres at times, when movies are telecast on GECs and more recently, sports simulcast on Hindi Movie channels along with the sports channels. But these mixed surprises do very well if you look at the the viewership ratings.

One example is Prem Ratan Dhan Payo's telecast on Star Plus, which pulled the channel to the top of the GEC flock and helped the genre gain additional viewership. The second one is Pro Kabaddi League, which is fairing quite well on Hindi movie channel Star Gold compared to Star Sports where the event was simulcast.

To explore the phenomenon of Sports working really well on the movie channels, let's analyse examples like Indian Premiere League (IPL) and Indian Super League (ISL). IPL was launched on Sony Pictures Network's movie channel Set Max, as the network lacked presence in the sports genre at that moment. However, even today, the cricketing tournament works much better on the Set Max than the sports channel Sony Six and Six HD.

Divya Radhakrishnan Divya Radhakrishnan

The media experts clearly state the reason to be deeper and better penetration of the Hindi movie channels, in comparison to sports channels. “Especially in small towns and India beyond the metros, availability and reach of Hindi movie channels is huge. Very few sports channels are generally present on the cable network, which is still covering close to 70 percent of the Indian television homes. Plus, the sports channels have had long standing issues with the MSOs which also hamper their availability,” opined Divya Radhakrishnan of Helios Media.

Partho Dasgupta Partho Dasgupta

Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC, said, “Movie channels already have regular viewers on the channel, which makes it easier for a broadcaster to catch their attention with a sports property like IPL, ISL or Pro Kabaddi League.”

When quipped about whether the airtime gets wasted by duplication of content on different channels, Dasgupta denies. “In fact it is improving the viewership of the sports programme as simulcasts ensure that viewers are captured using all platforms available with the broadcaster. The broadcaster can also look at striking a better deal with advertisers by putting a sports property on several available channels.”

Shripad Kulkarni Shripad Kulkarni

Other than better connectivity of movie channels, the fact that movie channels like Star Gold are much better established and familiar to the audience is crucially important. “It is, according to me, a function of channel's availability, familiarity and placements. Movie channels get some natural tune-ins and the co-viewing audience take halt at sporting events like ProKabaddi. I think this phenomenon is only to increase,” suggested Shripad Kulkarni, Managing Director, Vizeum.

However, it must be noted that the viewership on the two genres is organically very different from each other. “The quality of viewership on Sports genre is more dedicated and appointment oriented. It is no casual consumption of content, which often promises loyalty and return of such audience. This cannot be guaranteed for the audiences on Hindi movie genre,” as pointed by Sundeep Nagpal, founder director of Strategem Media.

Neeraj Vyas Neeraj Vyas

The story is a little different for IPL as when it was launched on Set Max, the umbrella company Sony Pictures Network (then, Multi Screen Media) didn't have a sports channel. Neeraj Vyas, EVP and business head of Set Max said, “Better penetration is the only driver for these higher viewership, especially in the smaller towns. Availability of sports channels is a little critical in these small pockets. Though we sell the event as a package, we do get much better ratings on Set Max.”

One of the media planners who do not wish to be named pointed out, “Regional channels are also getting lot of traction for the tournament matches. For example, when IPL matches for Kolkata Knightriders were telecast on Sony Aath, the numbers were amazing and same is the case with telecasts of select matches of Pro Kabaddi League on regional channel.”

Well, all said and done, television has a direct proportionality ratio between viewership and advertising. While the movie channels attract better viewership, they also command higher ad-rates from the advertisers.

As Nagpal suggests the rates on the movie channel for such events are about 30-40 percent higher than that of the sports events. Radhakrishnan states that though most such events are sold as one package for all channels, Set Max commands a rate much higher and is sold separately.

Digital viewing for sports events is also increasing, courtesy platforms like hotstar. But whether that viewership will eat into TV's share is yet to be seen. Kulkarni believes that for a long term now, digital viewership will rather add up to television viewership for these events, as sports is loved on bigger screens much better.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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