With the Indian Premier League no longer Indian the big question is can it repeat last year’s success in terms of viewership? MindShare-Mint-Synovate survey reveals that the recipe behind IPL’s mega success is its localised loyalty with a city-based dedicated fane base.

Teams saw the highest viewership ranging between 42 to a whopping 88 per cent whenever the matches were played on their home turf. The representation of their city was the main reason why fans backed individual teams. But this year IPL is no longer Indian and that’s why analysts say many of its success factors have lost its relevance. Thus, franchisees will have to come up with new marketing campaigns to attract new eyeballs and hard sell their teams.

“The marketing will be obviously tweaked because the aala re in Mumbai can’t be aala re in South Africa,” said Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, O&M India. One way to woo the crowd will be to get them in local multiplexes and create a charged atmosphere that’s the closest one will get to an amphitheatre feel. In other case as some tour operators and airlines are planning along with the franchise owners that fly down the fans at specially discounted rates.

“We and the franchisees are trying to make sure that the city fans get to see the matches live. It is very important to have their continuity in this IPL too,” said Lalit Modi, commissioner, IPL.
But there will be a huge business opportunity that is bound to get lost from local hotels to transporters and others logistics vendors. The pitch is getting queer every passing day.
Source – profit.ndtv.com

Multi Screen Media and World Sport Group have signed on as the official broadcast partners for the IPL. The nine-year deal, that runs through till 2017, is worth Rs 8,200 crore. The new agreement, which is more than double the earlier deal signed last year for 10 years with the same two parties, gives Multi Screen Media the exclusive audio visual rights (in India) to all the 59 matches of the second edition of the IPL.

The development comes after the Bombay High Court had cleared the way for the BCCI to seek a new broadcast deal by rejecting a plea from Sony TV, which had challenged the Indian cricket board’s decision to terminate its five-year deal to televise the IPL. Talks had failed because MSM, which holds the IPL contract under the Sony umbrella, wanted a non-terminable contract, which the BCCI/IPL refused to provide.

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, was “absolutely delighted” with the new deal. “We have what we believe to be the best deal for the DLF Indian Premier League and Indian cricket fans alike,” Modi said. “I am certain that Multi Screen Media will pull out all the stops in ensuring that the best technology is utilized to deliver excellent content that is creative, innovative and enriching for the cricket fans in India and indeed across the globe.”

The IPL’s relationship with Sony had turned rocky last month after the IPL lost out on a US$31.16 million deal because of a dispute between Sony and Big TV, a direct-to-home provider. Ties between the two dipped further after the subsequent resignation of Kunal Dasgupta, the then Sony CEO, who was known to be close to Modi. Sony is also understood to have been keen on re-negotiating the financial terms of its contract with the IPL and had concerns about the tournament’s revised dates and some of the venues that were being considered.

Manjit Singh, the MSM CEO, said the deal helped reaffirm the broadcaster’s commitment to the Indian subcontinent and the global cricket fan alike. “We are absolutely delighted to bring the exciting IPL line-up of Indian and international cricketers to the millions of cricket fans globally,” he said. “At Multi Screen Media & World Sport Group we have done some pioneering work in showcasing cricket in an entertaining and informative way and we will continue to innovate and extend the excitement of cricket through the IPL. We look forward to a long and successful association with the IPL as the leagues global media rights partner.”

Venu Nair, CEO, WSG said the objective was to place Indian cricket on the global sports calendar. “It’s a task, that we have managed with great distinction,” Nair said. “Today, fans across the world are looking forward to the start of season 2 of the IPL and we are happy to partner with Multi Screen Media to bring the league to a global audience.”

With the tournament moving away from India, there is likely to be a significant international audience now. All matches will be telecast at 4 pm IST and at 8 pm IST in the evening to coincide with prime time for television audiences in India.
Source – content.cricinfo.com

After weeks of see-sawing and conflicting reports, there is finally clarity on the future of the Indian Premier League, the popular 20-20 cricket tournament. It will be held in South Africa between April 18 and May 24. In all, 59 matches will be played. The games will be telecast at 4pm and 8pm Indian time.

Multi Screen Media (formerly Sony (NYSE: SNE) Entertainment Television) will remain the broadcaster, but will have paid a much greater amount for the previlege. A tripartite deal between MSM, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and World Sports Group was announced yesterday. MSM now has telecast rights for nine years and the deal is worth $1.6 billion. Under the earlier deal, MSM would have paid $918 million for the telecast rights and spent $108 million for marketing the tournament. A Mint story says some 80% of this amount will be paid by MSM. Ad rates for key IPL matches already attract a premium and last year semi finals and finals fetched Rs10 lakh for a 10-second spot. On an average, ad spots went for Rs3.5-4 lakh per 10-sec. MSM’s ability to raise the rates to record new levels will be contrained by the current economic environment, but the company must have gauged advertiser interest before signing the deal for a higher amount.

Citing an unnamed BCCI official, Cricinfo reported yesterday that the board will compensate franchisees for additional expenditure incurred due to the shift of venue to South Africa.

With the IPL heading to SA, tour operators expect a lot of traffic in the sector and have started working on packages, reports The Economic Times and Business Standard.
Source – contentsutra.com

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) promoted Indian Premier League on Wednesday signed a whopping Rs. 8,200-crore Official Broadcast Partner agreement for nine years (up to 2017) with Multi Screen Media (MSM, formerly Sony) and World Sport Group (WSG).

MSM will now bring the 59 matches live from South Africa on SET Max with the DLF-IPL Season II set to start in South Africa on April 18, a day after the fifth and final One-Day International between South Africa and Australia.

Last year IPL had signed a contract with WSG-Sony for $1.026 billion for 10 years which included a sum of $108 million for marketing and promotion.

The fresh IPL agreement with MSM brings a happy end to a relation between the two that had soured after the BCCI cancelled the 10-year contract stating that MSM had violated the contractual obligations on two counts, mainly quality of broadcast last year and ground sponsor rights.

MSM moved the court against the termination of the 10-year contract, but on Monday the Bombay High Court rejected an interim relief for the broadcasting company. Even when the matter was in the process of litigation, there were speculation that the two parties would arrive at an out-of-court settlement and that MSM, which had made a huge profit out of the inaugural IPL last year, had offered to pay a much higher sum.

After announcing that the DLF-IPL would hold the second edition in South Africa, the IPL has achieved a major breakthrough, managing to renew the contract with MSM for a sum that can be regarded as a windfall because last year the agreement for a 10-year period was for a sum close to Rs. 4,700 crore.

Under the agreement between the IPL and franchises, the latter would share 80 per cent of the revenue from the media rights in the first five years and 60 per cent from sixth to 10th year.

The increased revenue from the media rights should mitigate the assumed fall in revenue for the IPL in the second year because the event was being moved overseas.
Best option

It is learnt that IPL had lined up two broadcasting companies — ESPN-STAR Sports and NDTV — after the fall out with MSM, but eventually MSM came up with an offer that Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner, DLF-IPL, regards as the best.

“We are absolutely delighted with the new deal inked today with WSG and MSM. We have the best deal for the League and Indian cricket fans alike. I am certain that MSM will pull out all the stops in ensuring that the best technology is utilised to deliver excellent content that is creative, innovative and enriching for the cricket fans in India and across the globe,” said Mr. Modi.
Source – hindu.com

Shah Rukh Khan owned Kolkata Knight Riders yesterday introduced captaincy rotation in the IPL team. This year’s Indian Premier League will not be played in India but in South Africa due to security reasons. Captaincy rotation is another new thing that has happened to cricket.

KKR’s Director of Operations John Buchanan and its icon player Sourav Ganguly announced on Tuesday that the team would not have a “fixed captain” for the second edition of the event, due to be played in South Africa next month.

They said the captain fo each game would be picked from among a pool of four leaders including New Zealand wicket-keeeper batsman Brendon McCullum, West Indies skipper Chris Gayle and Sourav Ganguly. The think tank has not named the fourth player in the pool yet..

The interesting concept mirrors the concept of captaincy-rotation seen in soccer. Buchanan is known for his out-of -the-box thinking and has given the cricketing world another new concept to think about.

When Buchanan started the press briefing by saying he was keen to change the approach to captaincy and leadership in cricket, few had any clue about what was to follow. With four captains at the helm of affairs, he will have different views to draw from and different strategies will be adopted by the team when it encounters a difficult situation.
Source – khabrein.info