 "Kabaddi World Cup attracts 5 sponsors")
The kabaddi world cup, which kicks off on October 7, is backed by five sponsors.
The co-presenting sponsorship has been picked up by Patanjali Special Chyawanprash while Indo Nissin, Thums Up and Volini have come on board as partners. The fifth sponsor is Syska LED. While this is not the first time that a world cup for the sport is being organised, it is the first time a national broadcaster will be putting its might behind the tournament.
The first kabaddi world cup took place in 2004 (international format) and India has won the tournament in all the editions since. The success that the Pro Kabaddi League has seen since its launch in 2014 has buoyed advertisers’ sentiments.
And since Star Sports has proven its production capabilities with the Pro Kabaddi League, the world cup is expected to have similar levels of production quality.
Basabdatta Choudhury, chief operating officer, Starcom Mediavest Group, says the growing popularity of the sport has provided advertisers confidence to associate with it.
“In terms of ratings, the four seasons of the Pro Kabaddi League have shown growth. The valuation of the world cup is thus in line with the popularity of the sport in India,” he adds.
According to data shared by Star India, the league’s viewership has grown 51 per cent over the last four seasons and Season 4 had 10 million average impressions, the number of times the event was viewed on TV.
Jigar Rambhia, national director, sports and entertainment, Maxus India, adds India’s performance in these events will also help add to the anticipation.
“India has dominated the kabaddi world cup since its start in 2004 by winning the title in 2004 and 2007. With the audience now ‘recognising’ the players, this event seems to have attracted enough buzz. Also, some of the international players like JanG Kun Lee from South Korea and Meraj Sheykh from Iran are likely to make the event quite interesting,” he adds.
The advertising rates for the world cup are in line with the Pro Kabaddi League, say media planners. “The league has more matches per edition and so there is more inventory to sell. The rates are at par, around Rs 1.5-2 lakh for 10 seconds, including the digital inventory on Hotstar,” says a person in the know of the developments.
The tournament will be streamed live on the network’s video streaming app and portal Hotstar. Approximately 60 per cent of the advertising inventory has been sold, and more advertisers are expected to come on board once the tournament gets under way.
This year, Star India will telecast the tournament on six channels in three languages: Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 3 and their respective feeds in Hindi, while Suvarna Plus and Maa Movies will show the tournament in Kannada and Telugu. Viewers can switch between audio feeds.
Twelve teams – India, the US, England, Australia, Iran, Poland, Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, Thailand and Kenya – will compete in this year’s world cup which takes place at The Arena in Ahmedabad. The first tie will be between defending champion India and South Korea.
Star India is marketing the tournament through traditional and new media. Star India tied up with Bennett Coleman & Co and The Indian Express to paint their respective portals’ homepages blue, with the tournament’s tagline #onebigblue displayed prominently for a day.
