Sony Pictures Network India has inked 14 sponsorship deals for FIFA World Cup 2018 broadcast. Hero Motors, Apple and Uber are among the brands on board for the month-long biggest event on the global sports calendar.
The craze for FIFA World Cup 2018 knows no boundaries. India may not be playing the World cup in Russia but the football fans in the country will be dancing to the tune of the beautiful game to support their ‘Doosri Country’. When the support base is so large as India, it is must for the local brands to be part of the FIFA World Cup broadcast bandwagon.
The official broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup 2018 in the Indian sub-continent, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), has roped in 14 sponsors for the tournament. The elite brands list includes Hero MotoCorp, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), Volkswagen, HDFC Mutual Fund, Parle Agro, Castrol, Uber, Honda Motors, Apollo Tyres, Carlsberg, Apple, Amul and Indeed. As reported by insidesport.co earlier that Sony is targeting ₹ 250 crore sales for this year’s edition of the FIFA World Cup in Russia, the broadcaster has moved closer to its target with these 14 signings.
It is worth noting, Sony already has successfully generated sales of ₹ 35-40 crores through sub-licensing of the FIFA World Cup 2018 live content in the other territories of the Indian sub-continent.
“We have received great response from the advertisers,” said Rohit Gupta, president, network sales and international business, SPN.
While media agency executives say SPN could collect between ₹175-200 crore from the FIFA World Cup 2018, Gupta refused to give exact numbers. “We are looking at doubling the revenue from the last World Cup. Advertisers’ interest is great and talks are ongoing with a few more advertisers for spot buys,” he added.
The month-long FIFA World Cup 2018 will kick off in Russia on June 14 and the final will be played on July 15.
Sony Pictures Network has made extensive broadcast plans for the FIFA World Cup 2018. SPN will broadcast all the 64 World Cup 2018 games in six languages – English, Hindi, Bangla, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil – in a bid to reach out to 100 million audiences. This will be the first occasion that the FIFA World Cup finals be broadcast with regional language live commentary in India.
The matches will be aired across Sony Ten 2 HD and SD in English and Sony Ten 3 HD and SD in Hindi, while Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam audio feeds will be available on Sony ESPN.
The live action will also be available on the SonyLiv app or on SonyLiv.com for the SonyLiv subscribers, while the others on the move can catch a five minute delayed streaming.
Economic Times had first reported that SPN is going all out to promote the FIFA World Cup and has an extensive coverage plan, which includes four language feeds – English, Bangla, Malayalam and Hindi.
Football, the most popular sport in the world, has seen a growing fan following in India too. Though the Indian football team is yet to qualify for the world tournament, there are die-hard fans of teams like Brazil, Germany, France, and Argentina in the country. SPN had launched the marketing campaign focusing on the theme of this fan following – ‘Meri Doosri Country’ (My Second Country).
“Football is a beautiful game and today’s youth are hooked on to it. With match timings coinciding with primetime in India, it’s a good opportunity for all the youth focus brands,” said a senior media buyer, whose clients are in talks to pick up some spots. He shared that SPN has priced a 10 seconds spot for over ₹3 lakh.
A heavily male-skewed game, football draws its maximum viewership from male audiences between the age group of 15-34 years from urban areas. West Bengal, Goa, Kerala and North East are the major markets for the football content consumption.
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