Star Sports' regional play will continue in Asia Cup

Having tasted success with the regional feeds during IPL 2018, Star Sports has decided to carry on with it for the upcoming Asia Cup. The tournament ‘Asia Cup 2018’ will start on September 15, and Asian neighbours India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan battle it out to become the champions of Asia. The tournament will be telecast in three languages – English, Hindi and Tamil.

Gautam Thakar, CEO, Star Sports, said, “It is a short-format series of about two weeks. As we go along, we will launch more languages as we launch more channels. We have applied for more licences for language channels. Bangla is one of the plan elements. The problem with short formats is that it becomes difficult to build up the interest and it dies out very soon. That’s why we are keen on building up the regional sports cluster, so that we have continuous coverage.”

The sports cluster has a wide cricket calendar in the coming year, which starts with Asia Cup, will be followed by India-West Indies, New Zealand and women’s T20 World Cup, which will be in Australia, finally followed by the IPL and World Cup. The regional feeds will go on progressing and developing as the year progresses.

In addition, the network has also planned to bring back Select Dugout, albeit with a different name for the Asia Cup in the 50-over format. So it will look and feel a little different but the essence will be the same.

Dean Jones, Cricket Expert and Commentator, said, “Dugout is to educate the cricket audience with subtle things. It brings the expertise that no one else has done in the past.”

The network has launched a special campaign titled, ‘Knock Knock’ to promote Asia Cup 2018. The campaign is based on the creative insight that one’s neighbour’s success will always be a consistent reminder of their own failure. The film subtly takes on the age old ‘neighbour vs neighbour’ rivalry, and brings alive the neighbourhood rivalry in a way that is bound to leave viewers with a smile on their faces.

Thakar said, “There is no bigger rivalry than India and Pakistan but the recently picking up of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka team all have their own little rivalries. The spirit of Asia Cup we believe is about getting the best out of each other through neighbourhood rivalries.”

One of the films in the campaign has been released while another one is in production. The tournament will be promoted across channels on Star India and other networks. The knockout neighbour will be the core surrounding social media and digital.

Advertisers too take extra interest in the India-Pakistan matches and the impact of the same since it is not being played in India or Pakistan like many other times. Explaining the importance, Thakar said, “It’s been a long time since India and Pakistan have played. Especially in Dubai which is the seat of the rivalry. There could be up to three India-Pakistan matches in this tournament. This is driving both viewer and advertiser interest. Though Middle East is not India, a lot of people go back and forth and the coverage it receives is very high.”

Star India had also tried Watch n Play on Hotstar during IPL and it did get good response. As per Thakar, the people who engaged with ‘Watch n Play’ were twice as much as those who just watched. “The Hotstar team is finalising the plans, but I am sure we will continue to innovate and engage with the viewers. We are making big bets on Hotstar and interactivity is the key thing.”

Lastly, speaking more about the scope of growth for sports in India, Thakar added, “On a macro level, sports is still at early stages in India, though cricket is massive. The runway is huge. This is not a six month, one year or three year game. The amount of time that people watch and play sports is quite low, which is actually exciting. Hence, unlike other countries, India is yet to reach anywhere near saturation. There is scope in cricket, and much larger scope in other sports, especially kabaddi and soccer. The momentum is only growing. Within cricket, women’s cricket is also growing a lot.”

The Video:

Credits:

Client: Star Sports

Creative Agency: Star Sports creative communications team

Production House: Nirvana Films

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