Star India goes big on 2016 Rio Olympics, but advertisers not enthused

MUMBAI: Star India has outlined a comprehensive coverage plan for the 2016 Summer Olympics, scheduled to kick off in Rio de Janeiro on August 5, but advertisers are a divided lot over the attractiveness of the demand, citing past experience.

With 50 days to go, the broadcaster has decided to pull out all stops and offer live coverage of the event 24×7 across its entire sports cluster of eight channels — four in standard definition and four in high definition. Also, for the first time, there will be coverage in two languages: English and Hindi. “For the last three years, we have been trying to establishing a multi-sport culture in India,” said Nitin Kukreja, CEO–sports at Star India.

“The Olympics are the pinnacle of a multi-sports event, and as India prepares to send its largest ever contingent, we are leaving no stone unturned to provide the most comprehensive coverage.”

The digital plan consists of 14 live feeds consistently and up to 36 concurrent feeds at peak on a dedicated Olympics video player. Together, Star Sports and Hotstar, will broadcast over 3,000 hours of live content from the Brazilian city over the 17 day event. Ajit Mohan, CEO at Hotstar, said: “Like in our coverage of other sporting events, our focus will be not just on making every moment of the Olympics available to the fans, but also provide them the ability to create personalised, interactive and immersive experience.”

So, while the broadcaster is upbeat about the coverage, advertisers have yet to join the bandwagon. Incidentally, the industry is divided on whether it is a good property, when it comes to advertising opportunities. Both Kukreja and Mohan said they are seeing a lot of interest from advertisers. However, they declined to share any figures in terms of advertising revenue the broadcaster is targeting or how many advertisers have come on board so far.

Industry sources told ET that the broadcaster is expecting co-sponsors to cough up Rs 12-13 crore and associate sponsors Rs 7-8 crore. “Generally, the Olympics have never been a good ROI propositions for advertisers at least on TV. The timings (4.30 pm to 4.00 am) are not very conducive while less than 20% of content will be of interest for Indians,” a media buyer said.

However, Lakshmi Narasimhan, chief growth officer at GroupM South Asia, had a contrary view. “There is a lot of interest this year for three main reasons — Star’s ability in packaging an event like this; timings of the games; and there are a few sports where India has a decent chance of whining medals.” He added that there are a lot of brands who are looking at sports beyond cricket to get associated with, which will see Olympics as good opportunity.

“While these are early days, price that Star is looking for is good.”Mumbai: Star India has outlined a comprehensive coverage plan for the 2016 Summer Olympics, scheduled to kick off in Rio de Janeiro on August 5, but advertisers are a divided lot over the attractiveness of the demand, citing past experience.

With 50 days to go, the broadcaster has decided to pull out all stops and offer live coverage of the event 24×7 across its entire sports cluster of eight channels — four in standard definition and four in high definition. Also, for the first time, there will be coverage in two languages: English and Hindi. “For the last three years, we have been trying to establishing a multi-sport culture in India,” said Nitin Kukreja, CEO–sports at Star India.

“The Olympics are the pinnacle of a multi-sports event, and as India prepares to send its largest ever contingent, we are leaving no stone unturned to provide the most comprehensive coverage.” The digital plan consists of 14 live feeds consistently and up to 36 concurrent feeds at peak on a dedicated Olympics video player. Together, Star Sports and Hotstar, will broadcast over 3,000 hours of live content from the Brazilian city over the 17 day event.

Ajit Mohan, CEO at Hotstar, said: “Like in our coverage of other sporting events, our focus will be not just on making every moment of the Olympics available to the fans, but also provide them the ability to create personalised, interactive and immersive experience.” So, while the broadcaster is upbeat about the coverage, advertisers have yet to join the bandwagon.

Incidentally, the industry is divided on whether it is a good property, when it comes to advertising opportunities. Both Kukreja and Mohan said they are seeing a lot of interest from advertisers. However, they declined to share any figures in terms of advertising revenue the broadcaster is targeting or how many advertisers have come on board so far. Industry sources told ET that the broadcaster is expecting co-sponsors to cough up Rs 12-13 crore and associate sponsors Rs 7-8 crore.

“Generally, the Olympics have never been a good ROI propositions for advertisers at least on TV. The timings (4.30 pm to 4.00 am) are not very conducive while less than 20% of content will be of interest for Indians,” a media buyer said. However, Lakshmi Narasimhan, chief growth officer at GroupM South Asia, had a contrary view.

“There is a lot of interest this year for three main reasons — Star’s ability in packaging an event like this; timings of the games; and there are a few sports where India has a decent chance of whining medals.” He added that there are a lot of brands who are looking at sports beyond cricket to get associated with, which will see Olympics as good opportunity. “While these are early days, price that Star is looking for is fair.”