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Ten Sports’ growth plans
ZEEL-owned Ten Sports is planning to launch more channels to expand its bouqet. The sportscaster is also considering regional feeds.
Speaking to TelevisionPost.com, Ten Sports Network CEO Rajesh Sethi said,“We have plans to launch other channels, including another HD channel.Regional feeds are presently being explored. This would depend on two factors, namely popularity of the sport in the specific region and advertiser interest. We already have WWE in Hindi on Zee Cinema, which has been hugely received.”
Sethi noted that sport is driven by its viewers. “Regional/Hindi feeds have seen a significant amount of interest. Based on market research, there is an opportunity for the same in the Indian market and we are continuously experimenting with newer avenues.”
Going forward, the goal will be to consolidate market share and build viewership around other properties. “UBA is a focus area for us and we believe that through building new properties, we will offer differentiated content and reach out to new audiences,” Sethi said.
In the coming year the broadcaster will continue to invest in marketing and programming around key properties. “We will offer regional-language broadcast, engaging programming and digital initiatives for our viewers and create stickiness around properties. Basketball, football and other sports have seen immense traction over the last few years, and we have always strived to offer content as per audience requirements. We have also realised that viewers need to be educated about anything new and we will strive to offer consumable, engaging content and then ramp up with our marketing and programming offerings,” sethi said.
Earlier this year, Ten Sports, following in the footsteps of Star Sports, renamed its channels numerically. Sethi explained that with the channels bringing across a wide array of sporting action from various parts of the world to viewers, at times it becomes a hurdle to allocate all the premium content on sports-specific channels.
“In order to ensure that we deliver all premium content to our viewers, it was imperative to break free from sports-specific channels. World over, the numeric route for channels is preferred and we have adapted to changing times and moved to such a system. The renaming and repackaging also marks a new youthful look and feel to our network, something our audiences will relate to.” “There will of course be overspill of content from property to property and this will be accommodated on the channels,” Sethi added.
Sethi noted that implementation of digital addressable system (DAS) would be critical for broadcasters in terms of maximising revenues. After all, any unreported subscriber is a revenue loss for broadcasters and this should be minimised. The other challenge for him will be keeping audiences hooked throughout the year. “There is so much cricket and other quality content throughout the year that it is important to differentiate content and ensure the viewer does not see content as an overdose.”
Sethi emphasised that Ten Sports Network will always be in the market to acquire premium properties. “We have long-term deals for all our key properties and have been active in the market in renewing rights to football, golf and other properties. We recently acquired a bunch of premium ATP 250 events for the next few years, renewed club channels (Arsenal, Chelsea, Barca, etc) and LFL content. Another notable acquisition in recent time was the UBA Pro-Basketball league. It is the only professional basketball league in the country and its live broadcast saw traction among sports audiences.”
In terms of the price situation in the sports rights market, he pointed out that India is a competitive market with multiple players, so market forces will always decide property values. “Having said that, broadcasters are mindful of values for properties and we are already seeing price rationalisation in some of the properties such as EPL rights. Going forward, we are likely to see some correction on other properties as well.”
In terms of building scale for non-cricket, he noted that India is still a very heavy consumer of cricket and there are challenges. “But we have seen this market evolve and slowly move into other sports as there are consumer demands for sports like football, tennis, golf, etc. Also, if you look at the WWE ratings, they are on a par with most cricket played and WWE specials even exceed ratings on Indian cricket matches. So the market for non-cricket sports is very encouraging and will continue to grow much faster than cricket, which is already evolved and close to reaching saturation,” he said.
WWE continues to be a cornerstone of Ten Sports’ strategy. “WWE is an important property for us. We have some ideas planned for this year, which include WWE Superstar visit, loyalty programmes for fans, etc., which will further propagate WWE fan following,” Sethi said.
Sethi noted that local leagues are very important for the sports industry to grow and it has given talented sportspersons to the country. “As far as audience is concerned, all leagues have their niche audience and the base will only increase over the years. We already are showing local leagues like the I-League (football) and UBA (basketball), and we will bring across more as and when opportunity arises.”
Ten Sports has telecast rights to five cricket boards. When asked about the possibility of bidding for the IPL, Sethi said that he is happy with the current line-up of cricket bouquet. This year the broadcaster has two India series where India tours the West Indies and Zimbabwe. “Both these series are important for us from overall sports bouquet point of view. From the distribution perspective, equal weightage is provided to the yearly bouquet, which keeps the channel alive for the entire year.”
Read more at: Ten Sports’ growth plans | TelevisionPost.com | TelevisionPost.com
ZEEL-owned Ten Sports is planning to launch more channels to expand its bouqet. The sportscaster is also considering regional feeds.
Speaking to TelevisionPost.com, Ten Sports Network CEO Rajesh Sethi said,“We have plans to launch other channels, including another HD channel.Regional feeds are presently being explored. This would depend on two factors, namely popularity of the sport in the specific region and advertiser interest. We already have WWE in Hindi on Zee Cinema, which has been hugely received.”
Sethi noted that sport is driven by its viewers. “Regional/Hindi feeds have seen a significant amount of interest. Based on market research, there is an opportunity for the same in the Indian market and we are continuously experimenting with newer avenues.”
Going forward, the goal will be to consolidate market share and build viewership around other properties. “UBA is a focus area for us and we believe that through building new properties, we will offer differentiated content and reach out to new audiences,” Sethi said.
In the coming year the broadcaster will continue to invest in marketing and programming around key properties. “We will offer regional-language broadcast, engaging programming and digital initiatives for our viewers and create stickiness around properties. Basketball, football and other sports have seen immense traction over the last few years, and we have always strived to offer content as per audience requirements. We have also realised that viewers need to be educated about anything new and we will strive to offer consumable, engaging content and then ramp up with our marketing and programming offerings,” sethi said.
Earlier this year, Ten Sports, following in the footsteps of Star Sports, renamed its channels numerically. Sethi explained that with the channels bringing across a wide array of sporting action from various parts of the world to viewers, at times it becomes a hurdle to allocate all the premium content on sports-specific channels.
“In order to ensure that we deliver all premium content to our viewers, it was imperative to break free from sports-specific channels. World over, the numeric route for channels is preferred and we have adapted to changing times and moved to such a system. The renaming and repackaging also marks a new youthful look and feel to our network, something our audiences will relate to.” “There will of course be overspill of content from property to property and this will be accommodated on the channels,” Sethi added.
Sethi noted that implementation of digital addressable system (DAS) would be critical for broadcasters in terms of maximising revenues. After all, any unreported subscriber is a revenue loss for broadcasters and this should be minimised. The other challenge for him will be keeping audiences hooked throughout the year. “There is so much cricket and other quality content throughout the year that it is important to differentiate content and ensure the viewer does not see content as an overdose.”
Sethi emphasised that Ten Sports Network will always be in the market to acquire premium properties. “We have long-term deals for all our key properties and have been active in the market in renewing rights to football, golf and other properties. We recently acquired a bunch of premium ATP 250 events for the next few years, renewed club channels (Arsenal, Chelsea, Barca, etc) and LFL content. Another notable acquisition in recent time was the UBA Pro-Basketball league. It is the only professional basketball league in the country and its live broadcast saw traction among sports audiences.”
In terms of the price situation in the sports rights market, he pointed out that India is a competitive market with multiple players, so market forces will always decide property values. “Having said that, broadcasters are mindful of values for properties and we are already seeing price rationalisation in some of the properties such as EPL rights. Going forward, we are likely to see some correction on other properties as well.”
In terms of building scale for non-cricket, he noted that India is still a very heavy consumer of cricket and there are challenges. “But we have seen this market evolve and slowly move into other sports as there are consumer demands for sports like football, tennis, golf, etc. Also, if you look at the WWE ratings, they are on a par with most cricket played and WWE specials even exceed ratings on Indian cricket matches. So the market for non-cricket sports is very encouraging and will continue to grow much faster than cricket, which is already evolved and close to reaching saturation,” he said.
WWE continues to be a cornerstone of Ten Sports’ strategy. “WWE is an important property for us. We have some ideas planned for this year, which include WWE Superstar visit, loyalty programmes for fans, etc., which will further propagate WWE fan following,” Sethi said.
Sethi noted that local leagues are very important for the sports industry to grow and it has given talented sportspersons to the country. “As far as audience is concerned, all leagues have their niche audience and the base will only increase over the years. We already are showing local leagues like the I-League (football) and UBA (basketball), and we will bring across more as and when opportunity arises.”
Ten Sports has telecast rights to five cricket boards. When asked about the possibility of bidding for the IPL, Sethi said that he is happy with the current line-up of cricket bouquet. This year the broadcaster has two India series where India tours the West Indies and Zimbabwe. “Both these series are important for us from overall sports bouquet point of view. From the distribution perspective, equal weightage is provided to the yearly bouquet, which keeps the channel alive for the entire year.”
Read more at: Ten Sports’ growth plans | TelevisionPost.com | TelevisionPost.com
