Gurgaon, Jan 17 (PTI) Broadcasting major Star India isexpecting a viewership of 700 million across TV and digitalplatforms during the upcoming season of IPL T20 as it hasplans to telecast matches live in six languages besides itsOTT platform Hotstar, said a top official.
The company also has plans to monetise advertisementrevenue by involving more and more regional brands.
It is expecting the new channels to open a new revenuestream, which in turn would also help small regional companiesto be associated with the live IPL broadcasting.
"The strategy is democratisation by making availabilityof IPL to every brand in this country. You can be only brandin Tamil Nadu and come on IPL or be a national brand on IPL.
You can put your money only on Hotstar and digital or you canput only on TV in Hindi on IPL," Star India Managing DirectorSanjay Gupta told reporters here.
The regional languages, in which Star would beam the IPLmatches include Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali besides theregular Hindi and English.
"We already have star sports Tamil, which is a newchannel. In Telegu, Kannada and Bengali, we are evaluating theoptions that whether it would be a new channel or the currentone, that's a call to be taken but there would be six newunique channels which would carry IPL this year," he said.
According to him, till now up to 50 brands couldparticipate in this, but now it would provide a much largerplatform because Star wants to make it as a big platform forthe viewers and advertisers.
"It would be now available to a larger number of brandsbecause IPL also needs more brands to participate. Today, itis very limited and only 30 to 50 brands participate," Guptasaid, adding that more brands need to come "which would pavethe way for future monetisation".
On being asked as how many brands would come with Star onIPL, Gupta said: "We don't know. We would know only at the endof year but our attempt would be to multiply the number."STAR India has bagged the broadcast and digital rights ofthe Indian Premier League (IPL) for the next five years for awhopping bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore.
On revenue expectations, Gupta said: "Our real focus isto get 700 million fans. Revenues would come but the focus onrevenue would be after the first year."According to him, the advertisement rates would bedifferent for the channels from the main one, depending ontheir reach.
"Each channel depending on its reach and other things,the rates get decided. There are different rates for differentthing as Star Vijay rates would be different from STAR plus,"Gupta said.
Furthermore, Star India will stream Vivo IPL on Hotstarin Virtual Reality, which would be probably first time in thesports broadcasting in India.
"This immersive VR experience will make it possible forfans to come closer to the high-octane matches within thecomfort of their homes. Moreover, viewers will also be able toselect camera angles and commentary language of their choice,offering further customisation," the company said. PTI KRHMKJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
