2nd April, 2012. As India was celebrating its one year anniversary of 2011 Cricket world Cup win, Star India was planning for future. For Rupert Murdoch’s Star, it was the day of celebration and more importantly, revolution. On that day, Star bought the all sorts of media broadcast rights of domestic and International matches from BCCI in India. After that, Star went on to buy rights and contracts with various associations and competent authorities in its pursuit to become the India’s one stop destination for Sports viewership.
After several Mergers and revamping, Star has seemed to strike the right chord with the Indian Audience and particularly when it comes to Sports. With 11 full time channels catering to varied sporting needs, Star India has seemed to include every sport in its offing. Before analyzing the valiant efforts of Star in just 6 years time, let us dive into little bit of fact knowing about Star India.
Star India Private Limited, formerly STAR TV India is an Indian media and entertainment company, owned by 21st Century Fox. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. STAR India’s portfolio includes 58 channels in eight languages. As per reports, the network reaches around 650 million viewers in India per month. STAR had been for some time, India’s entertainment leader until it moved aggressively into the sports market following 21st Century Fox’s full acquisition of its pan-Asian sports joint venture, ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), in 2012.
One challenge to lofty ambition of becoming the market pioneer was the inherent programming limitations of India’s nearly singular focus on cricket. So in addition to winning broadcast rights for cricket (breaking the nation’s all-time viewership record with last year’s world Cup), STAR set out to transform India into a multi-sport market by investing in hockey, badminton, soccer and kabaddi. Star Sports encourages India to “Imagine a world where sports come first”. As the leading sports channel in India, Star absorbed six different sports properties under one brand: Star Sports, and with one purpose: – Believe.
STAR India has acquired several rights to continue its domination. Few of them are:
- Cricketing Broadcasting rights fromBCCI for Domestic and International fixtures in India till 2018, from International Cricket Council (ICC) till 2023, from England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) till 2017 and from Cricket Australia (CA) matches till 2017.
- Federation International De Hockey (FIH) till 2022.
- Wimbledontill 2022
- Bundesligatill 2020.
- In February 2015, STAR India entered into an agreement to acquire the broadcast business of MAA Television Network Limited, an entity in India that broadcasts and operates Telugu language entertainment channels.
- In December 2015, STAR India announced it has successfully completed the integration of the broadcast business ofMAA TV in a deal.
- In addition, STAR India has acquired digital rights forIndian Premier League through 2017. It was one of their greatest strategic move.
Previously, Star India had Star Sports, ESPN, and Star Cricket in the Sports offing. But with the increased demand-supply spectrum, it launched STAR Sports (1 2 3 4 and HD 1 2) few years ago in order to remake the televised sports landscape in India. Moreover, from remaking the television industry, in January 2015, STAR India, launched Hotstar, a new mobile and online entertainment destination for television shows, movies and sports content. Since then, Star has been using Hotstar brilliantly as an online broadcasting medium.
Star knew buying rights weren’t enough if it is not circulated and promoted thoroughly and wisely. Star knew that in a Cricket dominating nation, the task won’t be easy. So it introduced several campaigns ensuing the sports. Through its GAME ON INDIA campaign, it set out to revive the most basic sports of India: Kabaddi. And boy, they did it miraculously well. How many of us remember any of the previously held Kabaddi World cups? The inevitable answer will be, only a handful. But last year, every random Indian knew about kabaddi World Cup and if not at least of its occurrence. The difference was quite evident: Star.
In just 40 minutes in the midst of the 2014 monsoon, India’s sporting history experienced a revolution. In a country traditionally obsessed with cricket, it transformed Kabaddi – a sport that was dismissed as a rural pastime, and reintroduced it to the world in a high-octane TV sporting event. And true indeed. “Jeeta Dil India ka, Abb Jeetini hai duniya” (Won Indian hearts, now have to win the world), the tagline of the Indian Kabaddi Team’s campaign in the World Cups became the buzz word during the event. The World Cup gained popularity, both in stands and on television and became the most viewed Kabaddi World cup in the history.
Star went ahead as from being just a broadcaster to being a creator. “I don’t see us as a broadcasting company anymore. We are creators of content. We should be present wherever our customer is” Uday Shankar, Chairman and CEO, Star India. In September 2014, STAR India acquired a 35% minority stake in Football Sports Development Limited, a joint venture with IMG-Reliance to launch the Indian Super League, a professional soccer league. In March 2015, STAR India, in association with its affiliate, acquired a 74% majority stake in Mashal Sports Private Limited in March 2015, for the operation of the Pro Kabaddi League. Just as right as its CEO cited, Star today has become more than a broadcaster.
“Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League is aimed at spawning a sense of ownership among Indian sports viewers for a game that has origins in their own soil”. Sanjay Gupta, MD, Star India
There has been a long fought battle in the country between Cricket and other sports combined. But Star India is looking to negate that. Whether it is Rio Olympics or various badminton tournaments or be it Hockey matches, Star Sports is making sure that every Indian sporting fan is attached to their sporting fraternity. And to do this, it has wonderfully used the social media channels and traditional marketing means. From India’s participation in World Hockey League (#Desh ke liye) to Kabaddi’s Pro Kabaddi League (#Asli Panga) or be it Olympics (#IssebadaKuchNahi), star has been successful in this attempt.
Star knows the impact and reach, cricket as a sports have on the country like nation and they have encashed it totally. Dharamshala ODI against New Zealand has been itched in memory and has left an indelible impression. Star’s long running campaign on women empowerment, ‘NAYI SOCH’ campaign impressed everyone and gathered attention of International Media. By giving players (Indian Players) kit with their mother’s name written on the back, STAR INDIA once again proved its mettle in unifying sports and that too in a perfect way: by striking the emotional aspect of the country. Recently concluded India Pakistan match in the finals of the Champions trophy registered the most watched Cricketing event in the history of the game and that is a perfect result of proper marketing. (#bleedblue).
There is no countering the fact that STAR INDIA has started a credible initiative to commercialize and more than that, pay the deserving attention to each and every sport. A part of recent successes of various leagues in India can be attributed to various activities undertaken by Star. ‘#Mauka Campaign’, ‘#Chasing Gold’, ‘#Ready to Raid’, #This time for India etc. are some of the tagline that have become the buzz lines and it goes without saying that if other sports have to developed in the country, various other sporting channels have take up the charge, realizing their responsibility and use their position to inculcate and improve the sporting culture in the country. It may not be a financial success, but will develop the necessary sporting environment.
Pics Credits: Star.tv