What’s common between
Rupert Murdoch, Kishor Biyani, YoYo Honey Singh, Abhishek Bachchan, Radha
Kapoor and Akshay Kumar?
They all share a passion for old wine in a sparkling new bottle -- the professional kabaddi league.
All of them own teams or franchises in the Pro Kabaddi League or its global version the World Kabaddi League. The ancient game is back with the camera, light, action and a new energy.
Star TV, the lead sponsor, is bringing the league live into your bedroom. The initial estimate of 22 million viewers for the opening matches underlined there is a latent demand that has been tapped into and turned on. That most of the media planners did not get it may have hurt their clients as it has proved to be a tailor-made show for mass market bands. Next year should the enthusiasm sustain, sponsorships will see quantum growth, feel analysts.
They all share a passion for old wine in a sparkling new bottle -- the professional kabaddi league.
All of them own teams or franchises in the Pro Kabaddi League or its global version the World Kabaddi League. The ancient game is back with the camera, light, action and a new energy.
Star TV, the lead sponsor, is bringing the league live into your bedroom. The initial estimate of 22 million viewers for the opening matches underlined there is a latent demand that has been tapped into and turned on. That most of the media planners did not get it may have hurt their clients as it has proved to be a tailor-made show for mass market bands. Next year should the enthusiasm sustain, sponsorships will see quantum growth, feel analysts.
There is, however, a hitch. The colours
of the jerseys make it hard to follow the teams. In a puzzling omission, the
sound recording is not strong enough for the kabbadi chant to be heard clearly.
Teething troubles perhaps.
The game has a deep cultural connect. From elite boarding schools such as Doon and JB Petit to local playing fields in Patiala and Mumbai, this sports has its many fans. It is a solid community game with a loyal base -- a marketing catchment that with smart positioning holds the promise of a block-buster series. Today, there are over 3,900 clubs registered in India and a city like Mumbai has around 700 clubs. The game is played in 33 countries and is an international competitive sport. It is not an Olympic sports yet as it needs to be played in 50 countries to be considered for Olympics. But Kabbadi League may just help it get there someday.
Social Media To Gather Stream
The teams used WhatsApp as the prime resource for generating interest. In one of the matches, a star player Vrishank of the Mumbai team, had been injured just before the tournament and was wearing a head bandage. Oon hearing this on WhatsApp, at least 1,500 fans turned up with head bandages to show solidarity.
The game has a deep cultural connect. From elite boarding schools such as Doon and JB Petit to local playing fields in Patiala and Mumbai, this sports has its many fans. It is a solid community game with a loyal base -- a marketing catchment that with smart positioning holds the promise of a block-buster series. Today, there are over 3,900 clubs registered in India and a city like Mumbai has around 700 clubs. The game is played in 33 countries and is an international competitive sport. It is not an Olympic sports yet as it needs to be played in 50 countries to be considered for Olympics. But Kabbadi League may just help it get there someday.
Social Media To Gather Stream
The teams used WhatsApp as the prime resource for generating interest. In one of the matches, a star player Vrishank of the Mumbai team, had been injured just before the tournament and was wearing a head bandage. Oon hearing this on WhatsApp, at least 1,500 fans turned up with head bandages to show solidarity.
Charu Sharma, CEO of Mashal Sports, the
man who conceived the Pro Kabaddi League explains, “It always had a big fan
base and deep interest. Only it was underground. I did some home work way back
in 2006 when I was asked to comment for the Doha Asian games on Kabbadi. I
moved around India, went to national championships. I found 7,000 seats
in the stadia all taken up. I knew then that only one element was missing –
television. We are confident that the latent demand and the cultural base will
morph into a modern colourful and profitable avatar.”
It took him several years, many rejections and rounds to at least 20 sponsors and channels before it all came together. Selling an idea like Kabaddi was not easy.
Smart Marketing With TV Rights And Celebrities
Radha Kapoor, owner of the team, Debang Delhi, says, “The platform offers a combination of professional league format and television broadcasting. This provides for a new kind of Kabaddi. The numbers of enthusiasts and the rich traditional following of the team along with marketing branding and live TV will lead to a healthy return on investment. There is enormous scope for grass roots Indian sports. There is latent demand and as initial TRP’s suggest this sport is very television friendly. We see it maturing very quickly over the next two years. ”
It took him several years, many rejections and rounds to at least 20 sponsors and channels before it all came together. Selling an idea like Kabaddi was not easy.
Smart Marketing With TV Rights And Celebrities
Radha Kapoor, owner of the team, Debang Delhi, says, “The platform offers a combination of professional league format and television broadcasting. This provides for a new kind of Kabaddi. The numbers of enthusiasts and the rich traditional following of the team along with marketing branding and live TV will lead to a healthy return on investment. There is enormous scope for grass roots Indian sports. There is latent demand and as initial TRP’s suggest this sport is very television friendly. We see it maturing very quickly over the next two years. ”
Taking a cue from the IPL, the 8 team format comes live on TV. The average cost for each team franchise is Rs 5 crore per year and since the sport itself is low maintenance and needs little else as spending, analysts believe that by the third season the game could break even.
The opening ceremony of the league pulled out all the stops. Supratik Sen, CEO at Unilazer Sports, which owns the Mumbai team says,” We were hoping that Amitabh Bachchan will come but when Salman Khan came and Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar attended it. It turned out to be the biggest opening to an event in a very long time. This added to the excitement and it became a blockbuster for us. The message went out loud and clear that the icons love this game that they have played it at some point in their life. There is the community connect in Kabaddi. The game has excited us in our youth and there is a bond. With television viewership and a fast paced format, it has traction as well. We believe this investment is going to give great returns over time.”
Advertisement agency DDB Mudra has already tied up for marketing the league. The marketing mix consists of preaching to the converted - the loyal community and pushing the envelope to include newer audiences. Mandeep Malhotra, CEO of DDB Mudra, explains, “We took the radio route first to explain the rules of Kabaddi to generate excitement. We followed this up with out of home billboards and finally the opening ceremony with the amazing turn out of celebrities passionate about the sport- and their tweeting about it helped generate the critical mass.”
On Twitter, the pro Kabaddi league was a trending super star within 12 hours with approximately 140 million impressions.
TV Broadcasting As The Game Changer
Kabaddi, while being an ancient Indian contact sport, is actually very TV friendly. For one thing it’s short and sharp duration matches the young viewer’s attention span. Fast moving muscle men trying to score quick points makes for good TV.
If one of the marauders falls, four or five players coil around him almost forming a human python constricting the fallen player, churning out a visual spectacle.
For Star TV, the pay-off could come even sooner. The future of television viewing is likely to be community driven. Solid community based viewership has loyalty and more stickiness which drives associated advertisement. This is already apparent in niche Pakistani television serials that have great Indian viewership.
International Management Group, a UK-based production company that produces Wimbledon and the English Premier League, have been hired to produce PKL. This has ensured the quality and camera angles which go into popularizing the sport on live television. Prometheus, a major Israel-based firm has been entrusted with the task of developing cutting edge graphics. Alston Elliot, a British graphics company known for its work in Cricket, has been roped in to create augmented reality graphics for the Kabbadi League. The intention is clear; invest now to get the right product with top quality on TV and the returns will follow.
The television bet on Kabaddi is that a community following the sport will attract a larger audience. Says a spokesman for Star India, “The buzz and impact of Pro Kabaddi's opening night showcases the bond the sport shares with the people of the land where it has its roots. The league received an incredible start with over 22 million television viewers tuning in on the opening night. This data, when extrapolated to All India Universe, as per standard industry conversions, indicate that over 66 million Indians watched the opening night game. This is 10 times higher than that witnessed in India during the opening match between Brazil and Croatia of the recently concluded FIFA World Cup which reached 2.1 million viewers an extrapolated figure of 6.6 million viewers.”
Star has taken the game beyond its sports network with a simulcast of the league on STAR Gold. This will engage the core sports fan through the sports network while expanding the base by reaching out to movie-fans through STAR Gold's network. Thus Star is betting big on the league.
Harinder Singh, Managing director of Percept advertisement comments, “The Pro Kabaddi league is a very good idea. The format is fast - it’s a contact sport and has latent demand. If marketed well, the league could be very successful. Television viewership will hold the key.”
All this action has been great for the men in those confusingly coloured jerseys. A top notch Kabaddi player usually earned Rs 7,000 a match on an average. Now he pockets about Rs 100,000 per joust. Should the game pick up - next year’s auctions could be way more lucrative. One interesting innovation when marketing the game has been the promotional television commercials that the portrayed Kabaddi in a newer light that broke the stereotypes of it being a rural sport to one of a ‘cool’ sport. Team owners and sponsors are holding their breath. The advertisers should stick around. Don’t just grapple with it for this could be fun.
