 "Sony ESPN wires up a new content plan")
The Indian sports broadcast market today is more competitive than it has ever been. Dominated by two big networks — Star India and Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) — that have close to 18 sports channels between them, the competition for a slice of the audiences’ attention and a share of the advertisers’ wallet is brutal. And to differentiate its brand from rival Star, SPN, through its sports joint venture with Disney’s ESPN, is bringing in sports-led documentaries for Indian audiences and has planned a rush of online activities to promote its new line-up.
“Currently, in India, the challenge is differentiation. The catalogue of live sports accessible to the consumer is among the highest in the world owing to the number of channels we have in the country,” says Prasana Krishnan, EVP and business head (sports cluster), Sony Pictures Network. Starting this weekend, Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD will telecast award-winning ESPN Films documentaries.
Playing the field
The documentary series will debut in India with ‘The Two Escobars’, which tells the tale of two men named Escobar: Andrés, the captain and poster child of football in Colombia and Pablo, the infamous drug baron from the country. Coming next are documentaries that trace the connection between rugby and Nelson Mandela and the story of Sachin Tendulkar.
“Sports genre is led by live events and we felt that documentaries would be a good way to bring about some differentiation. As a joint venture, we first focused on live sports and now we feel the time is right to try something like this,” says Krishnan. He feels that the introduction of ESPN Films will disrupt the sports broadcast market in the country and take things within SPN up a notch. SPN owns nine sports channels, including the two under the JV with ESPN and five which it acquired from Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL). In terms of live sports, the network has the rights to telecast several basketball, cricket and football championships.
ESPN Films has produced more than 100 documentaries that have showcased some of the most compelling stories in sports. The strategy to introduce documentaries on its sports channels was adopted by ESPN in the US and was well received, the company says. The attempt will be to replicate the experience in the Indian market says the SPN team.
Jasdeep Pannu, head of ESPN India Television Initiatives adds, “At ESPN, we always look at going beyond the game and these documentaries tell stories of human interest and interaction through the lens of sports. It’s what we like to call ‘the game around the game’. The Indian market is in an interesting place and the audience is now following international teams and sports personalities.”
Filling the calendar
The launch of films may also solve a programming hurdle for the sports channels. “Most of the live sports events are scheduled on and around the weekends and so, many times, we are left with little live content for the weekdays. This could be a good way to inculcate appointment viewing on weekdays on our sports channels,” says Krishnan.
However, the risk is that sports viewing tastes in India are still evolving and the majority look for action on the field. “It’s an experiment and we’ll have to see how it works, but one needs to make a start somewhere,” explains Krishnan. He adds that there is a flip side to this as well since the channel will need to find a consistent time slot for the series, which would not be hampered by a live sports telecast.
Adding non-live sports content on the channels could also help adding categories to the bank of advertisers on Sony ESPN channels. However, given the manner in which advertisers tend to behave, most would want to wait and gauge the audiences’ reaction to the films before buying into the idea. “We would like to monetise the content and concept as best as we can, but at the same time, maintain the sanctity of the brand that is ESPN Films. So we’ll wait and watch,” Krishnan says. By not being aggressive about ad sales from the start, the channel also avoids the risk of underselling the ad-spots at lower inventory rates, which is something many channels have fallen prey to.
The strategy of waiting for the content to prove itself worked very well with Star Sports and the Pro Kabaddi League. Advertisers are not shy to invest in new sports and concepts, as long as they have some proof of the success of the content among audiences. Apart from television, the series will also be available on SonyLiv and ESPN.in, the digital platforms owned by the two members of the JV. ESPN is also looking at generating greater interest in its programmes through online activities and regular engagement with viewers on social media.
