Sports Marketing Summit 2008: IPL was India’s biggest reality show

In the second session of the Sports Marketing Summit 2008 – an event organised by afaqs! and SportzPR – in the capital on September 5, the panel celebrated the success of the biggest sporting spectacle in India – the Indian Premier League (IPL). IPL revolutionised the way cricket is watched in the country by adopting the shorter Twenty20 format, and sexing it up with lots of glamour.

At the helm of this success story is Sundar Raman, CEO of IPL, who was part of the panel discussion. “With IPL, cricket took a fresh guard…it was like starting the game all over again!” said Raman.

Raman also said that central to the success of IPL was the “quality and intensity of cricket played”; and everything else was frills. Elaborating on the success of the event, Raman said that every ball of IPL was broadcast on 267 hours of live television; there were more than 50 million page views on the official website in 14 days and Indian newspapers devoted 530,000 column cm of space on IPL coverage.

He listed the innovations in cricket that were tried during IPL: the player auctions, the cheerleaders and team anthems, the Orange and Purple Caps awards for most runs and most wickets, the Fair Play award and the world class opening and closing ceremonies.

Comparing the planning of IPL 2008 with the cricket World Cup 2007, Raman said that there were three people behind IPL, who successfully launched the event with eight weeks of planning and organised 59 matches in six weeks. The World Cup, on the other hand, took 18 months of planning to organise 52 matches in six weeks.

Next on the dais was Harish Krishnamachar, vice-president of World Sport Group, who said that he wanted to challenge Raman’s statement that IPL was all about cricket. According to him, IPL was a business. Speaking about the event, Krishnamachar said, “IPL delivered brilliantly by presenting the best cricket by the world’s best cricketers. It also succeeded in switching soap watchers to cricket.”

Krishnamachar also talked about how three-fourths of the money earned from media rights was shared with the franchisees, which fuelled every financial requirement of IPL.

He said that the ingredients in the success of IPL were that it provided ample after-work entertainment, made for TV-centric family entertainment and saw the participation of foreign players and film stars. The irony, Krishnamachar said, was that 30,000 Indians were cheering for Pakistani bowler, Mohammed Asif in Delhi, but this also defined the success of IPL.

He talked about the way forward for IPL, listing some important changes, such as improving spectator facilities, having year-round engagement between the teams and the fans, creating city support systems and activation and promoting IPL venues as destinations. World Sports Group is engaged in promoting Asian sports to a global audience.

Ambika Srivastava, CEO of media agency, ZenithOptimedia observed, “Brands which support individualistic sports like tennis tend to struggle in India.”

She also talked about brands which have been successful without the association with sports, and Nokia, is one great example. But eventually it has also gone that way.

However, “IPL was the biggest reality game show that India ever saw,” remarked Srivastava.

She added, “Given the way India is developing today, especially with the digital opportunities, ROI from sports can increase hugely if the brand does experiential marketing.”

Speaking about other sports, Srivastava said that it will would at least a 15-20 years’ window for them to develop. “It needs time, investment and focus of effort to develop,” she said.

Srivastava pointed out that a sequel have a history of not performing as well as its prelude; so, the challenge for IPL will be to create innovations in every season.

Amrit Mathur, vice-president of GMR Sports, the company that owns the franchise of the Delhi Daredevils, was next on the dais. “IPL was the first time that cricket went out of BCCI’s hands,” he said.

Speaking about the challenges that GMR Sports, as a franchisee, had to face, Mathur said, “There was not enough time, and not enough people to put it together. During the night cricket, lights frequently went out. And with the large investments, we were worried whether we would be able to sell the tickets in Delhi.”

Mathur also spoke about his initial apprehension on “VIP culture” that was prevalent in Delhi, saying that the officials in Delhi don’t buy tickets, but want them for free.

However, his apprehension were proved wrong and he admitted. “Cricket is too powerful in India and you don’t have to work hard to sell tickets. People were ready to get in long queues to buy the tickets.”

Elaborating on the learning from IPL, Mathur said, “We need to take the spectator more seriously, because he is a very valuable part of the event.” He also lamented the fact that IPL controlled all the money and the source of income for franchisees were tickets and sponsorships.

“Through IPL,” Mathur said, “there will be more expected of BCCI, as it set new benchmarks in cricket.”

During the panel discussion, Srivastava noted that IPL attracted a new profile of advertisers, such as Mother Dairy, to cricket; and this was largely because of the increase in the number of women audience.

Mathur said, “With IPL, we want to do to cricket what PVR did to movies.”

Sonali Chander, who is a sports editor with NDTV 24X7, moderated the session.

The event was sponsored by Kingfisher, Neo Sports, and Neo Cricket.