ADVERTISEMENT

Cricket Commentary In Regional Languages Is Bowling Over More Indians

Star Sports has eight regional variants in its channel bouquet with Telugu, Bengali and Kannada launched six months ago.

 A worker gives finishing touch to a bat, bowl and stumps made from polystyrene, ahead of ICC World Cup 2019. (Source:PTI)
A worker gives finishing touch to a bat, bowl and stumps made from polystyrene, ahead of ICC World Cup 2019. (Source:PTI)

Cricket matches broadcast in regional languages have four times more viewership than English, according to Gautam Thakar, chief executive officer of Star Sports.

“India loves its mother tongue wherever you are,” Thakar told BloombergQuint in an interview. “It’s just a comfort level for people who want to watch the sport in the language of their choice.”

Star Sports has eight regional variants in its channel bouquet, with Telugu, Bengali and Kannada launched six months ago. Hindi commentary takes close to half of the total viewership, Thakar said, adding other local languages and English stand at 30 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

Two years ago in Tamil Nadu, IPL (Indian Premier League) used to be consumed 96 percent in English and a little bit in Hindi. This year, it’s over 90 percent in Tamil, and the consumption has gone up. 
Gautam Thakar, CEO, Star Sports

Thakar expects the share of English in the overall language mix to decline and regional languages to grow further during the ICC Cricket World Cup, which kicked off last week in England.

The 46-day tournament will feature 48 matches, and the final will be held on July 14. This world cup, there would be no groups and all 10 teams will play against each other as the round-robin league format returns after 27 years. That will ensure that big teams are not eliminated early. India plays its first match against South Africa on June 5.

Thakar also shrugged off the IPL hangover affecting the viewership of World Cup. “The World Cup is such a massive property as it occurs once in four years and it brings in newer audiences (compared to IPL) such as the casual viewers and housewives for India’s matches.”

More than 630 million people from India tuned in for the 2015 World Cup, according to numbers released by Star India. India’s semi-final clash with Australia was the most-watched match the last time.

Opinion
Why Advertising Rates Have Hit A Record This Cricket World Cup

The Rise Of Hotstar

Star India and Star Middle East had bagged the rights to broadcast ICC Cricket World Cup matches in 2019 and 2023 for nearly $2 billion. The 2023 tournament will be held in India.

The network will be broadcasting the matches not just on its sports channels in India but across other Star Network channels and its over-the-top platform Hotstar.

Going forward, Thakar expects Hotstar to contribute even more to Star Sports’ growth.

This year, 15-16 percent consumption was on digital and the rest was on TV. A year ago, this number was about 11 percent. We think it will easily be upwards of 30-35 percent in the next three years.
Gautam Thakar, CEO, Star Sports

Hotstar registered 18.6 million concurrent viewers during this year’s IPL final between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, Business Standard reported citing a company statement.

Higher interest garnered through apps has also helped Start Sports rope in newer advertisers including Dream 11, Swiggy and Amazon, among others, he added.

Sports Beyond Cricket

Star Sports is betting on other sports such as Kabaddi, the second-most watched sport after cricket in the country.

The broadcaster owns 74 percent in Mashal Sports, the organisers of the Pro Kabaddi League which garnered more than 300 million views last year.

Cricket Commentary In Regional Languages Is Bowling Over More Indians

Watch the full interview here: