‘Sports rights is very cyclical in nature’

After the success of IPL, JioCinema is exploring ways to engage fans during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Viacom18 Sports Head of Content, Siddharth Sharma, spoke to exchange4media on getting viewers to the platform during the Cricket World Cup as all eyes will be on India’s journey. 

Disney Star is the official broadcaster of the biggest cricket tournament scheduled to begin in October.

Excerpts:

How is digital doing in sports compared to TV?

Digital offers content consumption as a personal experience and that brings the power of choice into the hands of the individual. Consumers can catch up on a sporting event on digital wherever they are, even in transit. This convenience is the biggest factor. Also, the ability to personalise your experience that comes with the way sports is being served on JioCinema, adds another flavour and embellishes that experience. With the hectic schedules of people now, there is a decline in appointment viewing, particularly in sports.

What are your key takeaways from IPL?

IPL opened us to a world where consumers are ready for the experiences we offer to them. IPL is one of the biggest cricket extravaganzas that exist. We offered it in 12 languages and reached a larger cohort on the back of these proficiencies that we built in our internal capacities. The ability for us to reach audiences, engage with them deeply, give them the flavour and include pop culture and the philosophy that is so prevalent in those regions, was one of the hallmarks of what we tried to deliver.

We made it more immersive and gave them the choice of watching from whatever angles were there and they could choose their own experience. We had our experts engaging directly with the viewers where they would speak at a peak point in the game and get the fans to react to their point of view and share their opinion also. Because of the power of digital and the fact that we are not bound by traditional storytelling, we were able to do all this.

Disney Star is the official broadcaster of the upcoming World Cup and Asia Cup. What will be your strategy to bring people to your platform during that time?

All eyes will be on India matches. We are in the process of exploring the various opportunities available for us to what we can do to engage the fans. I don’t have the liberty to share the exact plans because some of them are taking shape and there is something we intend to do for the India games. But that’s the nature of sports rights. It is very cyclical. There will be some rights you have, some you don’t. We want to be relevant to fans, do relevant stories and engage with them deeply. That is the focus. Wherever there is a relevant action in the world of sports, you’ll always find JioCinema Sports18 to have a voice. We’ll always be there engaging with fans and offering them more apertures.

What other sports events are you looking at apart from cricket for your platform?

We have a plethora of rights right now and we are working closely with a lot of leagues and our track record shows we have always been mindful of the engagements that we make. For example, the handball league that happened shows how a new sport was taking shape and we were happy to provide the bedrock on which they could set it up. Similarly, we have not kept ourselves to a particular discipline. If you just look at the August roster, the kind of events on the platform is a sports fan’s delight. Besides the LaLiga football league, there are a host of other events also which the fans can find on the platform. World Athletics Championship, and a lot more we are doing.

JioCinema is currently streaming World Badminton Championship; World Athletics Championships; India vs Ireland T20; Battlegrounds Mobile India Series - Largest ESports Series in India; LaLiga - Spanish Football League; Saurashtra Premier League ( which starts today) and UP T20 which starts on August 30.