Hotstar extends the superhero narrative to the ICC World Cup

A band of local superheroes, humour and a facility for social viewing make up the OTT player's pitch for the digital viewer

Star India’s video streaming platform Hotstar is looking to keep the momentum going from the recently concluded Indian Premier League into the ongoing ICC World Cup, for viewership numbers and advertisers. In a new campaign released last week, it has stuck to its past brand narrative, using superheroes to drive home a popular feature that allows for communal viewing on its app. Advertisers including Amazon, CEAT, Uber Eats, a sports drink from the Royal Challenge stable, Acko, and ICICI Lombard have already signed on for the tournament and in the coming weeks, Hotstar hopes more will join the list, as viewership numbers expand and the big teams clash with India. 

Varun Narang, chief product officer, Hotstar, says, “Our success in the IPL 2019 in terms of viewership and reach is a testament to the platform’s superior standard of live sports streaming. Over the years, Hotstar has constantly raised the bar of tech innovation, proving its mettle at handling the immense scale and traffic seamlessly. With the ICC World Cup 2019, we aim to continue delivering an uninterrupted and immersive experience not just to the domestic consumers, but to global audiences in the US and Canada as well.”

Hotstar is aiming for the millennial viewer. Its campaign #KoiYaarNahiFar (No friend is too far) was first introduced during the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) and uses a storyline that treads the superhero trail, popular with millennial and Gen X audiences. Hotstar has also used a humorous storyline for the campaign, hoping to cover all bases with its core audience, known for its penchant for comic capers and fantasy. With this it is also hoping to convey the platform’s youth focus to potential brand partners, eager to tap into this demographic.
 

Indranil das Blah. co-CEO, KWAN says “Brands prefer digital over TV for one or more of three reasons, cost, audience targeting, and interactivity. Of course, all brands (advertising on the World Cup) are banking on India to do well. But for those on digital, Hotstar as a platform offers a good option over TV if they want to be innovative." But not all brands can innovate however and they are probably looking to reach a young audience via Hotstar.

However experts say that media and entertainment companies may be erring in the way they classify their audiences. Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends Survey (October 2018) indicates that the behaviours of Gen Z (ages 14–21), millennials (ages 22–37), and Gen X (ages 38–53) are converging. Segmenting media consumption habits based only on generational behaviour may not be the best way to reach one’s audience. Demographic generalisations—such as the assumption that people of the same gender and in a similar age and income bracket will consume products and services the same way, and be engaged by the same marketing ploys—are less accurate than they used to be.

Hotstar is betting on its tech to grab the attention of the young viewer. A social viewing feature that lets friends share the experience  while watching the match separately, on their individual devices, is the thrust of the campaign. 

The company said that Hotstar has registered a 2x growth in viewership for ODIs since 2018 and in an effort to sustain the growth, it is streaming the World Cup in six languages. The recently concluded IPL brought in more than 300 million unique users, it claimed.  The platform also witnessed a 74 per cent increase in watch-time as compared to 2018.  The IPL also saw an overall 45 per cent growth in non-metro viewership with some of the highest growth in viewership coming from cities like Coimbatore, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, and Salem.