Sports adex to surpass Rs 16,000 crores milestone in 2023: R Venkatasubramanian

Launched a couple of months back, Havas Play in India envisions being the best in the business company for creating meaningful connections between sports and brands through Strategy, Media, Technology, Innovation, and Experience.

On the global front, Havas Play has replaced both Havas Sports and Havas Sports and Entertainment. It leverages the benefits of being part of Vivendi, a global player in entertainment, and delivers a proprietary approach to data and measurement across brand experiences. Havas Play is based on the concept that tapping into customer interests leads to deeper engagement and higher conversion rates.

R Venkatasubramanian

As per R Venkatasubramanian, President- Investments, Havas Media India, and Managing Director, Havas Play,  the launch streamlines existing services that the network agency deals in and leverages upskilling and expanding upon existing talent to provide strategy, ideation, creative, production, project management, and distribution across a range of core services: partnerships, influencer marketing, experiential and live events, sponsorships, social media activation and amplification, and branded entertainment. 

During the course of his interaction with BestMediaInfo.com, Venky emphasised that in the aftermath of the pandemic, India has seen a large influx of Foreign Institutional Investors’ capital and other direct investments in start-up companies and well-known brands expanding in India that have identified sports and live events as one of the fastest mediums to connect, drive home their communication, etc.

“Sports is now called the sunrise sector in industry dialect, with a growth rate of 12% YoY and a market size close to Rs 48 billion. In fact, the sports budget for India in FY 2023-24 increased by 11% from the previous fiscal year to Rs 3397.32 crore. Moreover, the overall spending in sports has also increased to over Rs 14000 crore in 2022, which is a 49% increase compared to 2021,” he stated.

Commenting on Havas Play’s strategic approach for the year, he highlighted that while the short-term objective is to bring Havas Play solutions to all of Havas Media Network’s existing clients and clients outside the Havas fold by building reach and relationships across all major leagues and the right holders of sporting events and leagues, thus allowing greater accessibility, preferred partnership status, and flexibility to create and execute value-based solutions.

“Our long-term objective is to create a meaningful brand experience and bring about a quantum change in brand imagery through engagement with sports and sports-related content. We can offer clients a composite marketing solution, wherein it's not just association with the sport or talent on the ground but creating value-based branded content and promoting it on social media and other platforms, thus offering an integrated brand solution and experience,” he added.

Looking at the number of drives that happened in the post-IPL23 world, Venky expressed hope that with such extensive brand engagement and expenditure, the sports sector is expected to surpass the remarkable milestone of Rs 16,000 crores in 2023. 

“In contrast to IPL 2022, IPL 2023 introduced a distinct approach by selling media rights separately for TV and digital platforms. This innovative move fostered a competitive environment among broadcasters vying to secure these rights. As a result, a considerable influx of brands was witnessed, surpassing the usual numbers and further enhancing the overall appeal of the event,” he added.

Throwing light on the non-IPL properties that are driving incremental traction today, he suggested that emerging sports like Kabaddi, Kho Kho, and football in the current day and age are attracting advertisers to associate with the sport, making every dollar spent a step forward in opening the door to the huge sporting talent based in the country. 

Highlighting the gap in the advertisers’ or brands’ outlook for sporting events of men and women, Venky laments that this much significant gap does not only persist when it comes to participation, viewership, but also spending on sports tournaments. That being said, in recent years, there has been a quantum leap to bridge this gap and promote gender equality in sports with the government also extending a huge sports budget to support and build an equitable sports ecosystem and offering opportunities for women as well to come forward to showcase their talent and win for India. 

In his views, this disparity in participation, viewership, and spending can be attributed to various factors such as India’s long-established popularity and win at the Prudential Cricket World Cup 1987, media coverage and focus, the RoI perception that only men’s sports have high followers and therefore yield better results as well as cultural and social factors amongst others.

“Men's sports have traditionally received more attention and investment in addition to attracting more sponsors and viewers due to their long-established popularity and historical significance which rides on higher investment and exposure. This can be attributed largely to India’s win in the Prudential Cricket World Cup in 1987, which changed the landscape for cricket in India and stepped up to the next level of making these cricketers celebrities overnight,” he recalled.

Additionally, he also suggested that while media coverage and focus have also largely been on men’s sports due to events like India winning the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, the IC 2013, World Cup in 2011, and the ICC Champions Trophy in India, there is often a larger fan base and higher sponsorship interest for brands. 

“Advertisers and brands often base their investments on the potential return on investment (ROI). The perception that men's sports generate more revenue and have a larger fan base has led to a focus on male-dominated sports. This perception may not always reflect reality, as women's sports have shown significant growth and potential in recent years,” he added.

Furthermore, he also pointed out that even though these challenges persist, there has been progress in promoting gender equality in sports, through initiatives like the Women's Cricket League, Women's Tennis Association, and Women's FIFA World Cup.

Riding on the back of which Indian women athletes like Mary Kom, PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Pohgat, Smriti Mandhana, and Harmanpreet Kaur have gained popularity and attracted more attention and sponsorship, he opined. 

“Even though India is home to numerous women-centric brands, there is still an absence of parity because many of these brands are still focused on marketing to women in traditional ways, such as through beauty and fashion campaigns. There is a need for more women-centric brands to invest in marketing their products and services to women through sports as it could help bridge the gap between participation, viewership, and spending on sports tournaments that involve men as compared to women,” he said.

Some of the various ways in which brands can help cushion this gap to an extent, as per Venky include raising the profile of women's sports and making them more visible through increased sponsorships or donations, creating marketing campaigns that target female sports fans by using female athletes or by creating content that is relevant to women's interests as well as developing programs and initiatives such as scholarships or even mentorship programs that promote women's participation in sports,” he said.

“We are seeing some of these in action already though, but a greater number will be encouraging to see since this will help one to reach a wider audience and encourage more women to participate in sports,” he added.

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