Channels bet on soccer, tennis, golf, as cricket becomes too expensive

Neo Sports says it has undertaken steps to consciously become a five-sport channel

Driven by rising viewership of sports besides cricket, and the exorbitant prices attached to acquiring cricketing series, Indian sports broadcasting channels are ramping up future focus on non cricketing segments.

The list includes channels like ESPN Star, Neo and Ten. The argument is that not only is it too costly to bid for and get broadcast rights for a cricket series, the advantage is that it’s is now easier to get returns on a non-cricketing sports series for advertisers.

Neo Sports, which describes itself as a ‘general sports entertainment and cricketing channel’ says it has undertaken steps to consciously become a five-sport channel as opposed to just a cricket focused broadcaster.

“What you see now is a conscious part of our plan over the past two years. As rights for other sports properties were unlocked we bid for and acquired them,” said Prasanna Krishnan, CEO, Neo Sports.

As part of the strategy, Neo has created its ‘Summer of Sports’ platform, focused on the Copa America-a soccer event, the French Open and the Davis Cup-tennis events, World Series Hockey and the US Golf PGA Tour.

The other reason Krishnan uses for explaining the need to look at other sports is that cricket has become too exorbitant.

A case in point is the Star deal with the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI). Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star India bid for and won the global territories broadcasting rights for Rs 3851 crores for the six year period between July 2012 and March 2018.

In the said period 96 matches are to be played. Simply put then, Star India paid an average of Rs 40 crore per match. The price broadcast reflects in the advertising rates as well.

“The current advertising rate for a high profile cricket series is about Rs 3.5 lakhs per second, not even remotely comparable with the Rs 10,000 per second charged for a tennis, football or gold event,” said an executive with a media planning agency.

Add to this is the fact that an average cricket event garners viewership of about 100 million people.

“This is now comparable now to a Fifa World Cup or even an English Premier League (EPL), which have garnered viewership of 42 million and 60 million over the past couple of years respectively,” said an ESPN spokesperson.
ESPN broadcasts the Grand Prix Formula One races and the English Premier League, both of which have found niche urban audiences.

“It is in fashion now to support a Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal. Also the fact that the recent Formula 1 race took place in Noida with the added benefit of a local face in Narayan Karthikeyan added traction,” said the ESPN spokesperson.

Ten Sports has a monopoly in wrestling with the WWE, along with some properties in soccer like the domestic iLeague.

“Such has been a gain in other sports that the viewership of a French Open is now comparable with that of a non India Test Series,” said Krishnan of Neo Sports. The interest has also meant that the advertising rates for non-cricketing sporting events have also risen by 20 per cent.

“This is largely attributable to their low base, but yes, there has been a spike in event-to-event advertising rates, with international soccer leading the charge,” said the executive from the media planning agency.