The first week of DLF-IPL 2010 has just gone by and by all accounts it has been a tremendous success. The numbers which signify the extent of the reach of the most-awaited cricket tournament of the year indicate that it has surpassed all expectations.
IPL COO Sundar Raman praised the effort put in by all the partners in making the tournament available to people from all walks of life. He was quite happy to note that the start of the 2010 edition of IPL has been as big, if not bigger, than the previous two editions.
"All numbers point to that direction [success]. And they don't lie. As far as we are concerned, we are happy to be back in India, we are happy with the multi-platform delivery that we have been able to stitch up for this year. IPL is available at your house, on your TV sets; it is available commercial free on Sun HD feed for the first-time for an Indian sporting event. Set Max, our largest partners, have done a wonderful job with that. It is available in over 750 theatres across India and abroad. It’s available on your computer on YouTube, on your mobile phone. So the number of platforms through which you can see IPL has only enlarged. The number of people who have been able to watch [games] across these platforms has also grown. You can see that from the ratings on television, attendance at theatres - none of them have cannibalised into the other,'' noted Raman during a media conference here on Friday.
Elaborating on the success of the tournament thus far he said, “We believe that it is only going to grow on the back of all of this.”
The biggest talking point of IPL’s first week has been its success in the United Kingdom. A new deal with Britain's biggest free to air network, ITV, has helped on this front.
"I think ITV has been fantastic to get on board as a partner. It’s changed a significant amount of things for us at IPL. It’s made IPL a far more accessible sporting tournament for the cricket-loving public in the UK. We are only hoping to build on the success of the first week of launching the tournament in the UK,'' added Raman.
Praising the decision to partner with ITV was IPL's latest partner Topps Trading from United Kingdom. ``IPL now has a unique competitive advantage over our domestic cricket that's on Sky. You [IPL] are on free to air. So in terms of building your support base, consumer base, your decision to go with ITV was a tremendous decision,'' said Christopher Rodman, Vice-President, Topps Trading.
On the league’s expansion plans and possibility of hosting it abroad Raman said that the teams were free to chart paths to grow the franchises beyond the boundaries of India.
"It is the Indian Premier League and it will be played in India. Franchises can play friendlies [matches] across the world against other teams, clubs. That has never been constrained. The [Rajasthan] Royals have been doing a stellar job in that respect, taking the club and franchise outside of India.
"Last year, for example, the South Africa trip was a blessing in disguise as it helped unlock a completely new market. We were able to do that within the 20 days that were available to us. So the extent of interest that we have been getting from all quarters has been fantastic. And this year's deal with YouTube is only making it much larger, because we are getting fans from far flung areas, which we do not expect to be cricket-loving. From that point of view, it’s fantastic,'' added Raman.
No comments:
Post a Comment