Star Sports added 11 million households this IPL: Gurjeev Singh Kapoor 

Star Sports, the official broadcaster of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, has added 11 million households during this season, says Gurjeev Singh Kapoor, Head - Distribution and International, Disney Star. The network has seen tremendous growth in the markets of West Bengal, HSM, Odisha, AP and Telangana, he informed during a conversation with e4m. 

Last week, Disney Star shared that viewership for the live broadcast of the first 29 matches of IPL 2023 had surpassed 40 crore, recording a growth of 24% in TVR compared to the last edition. The reach for the first 29 matches is 3.7 crore higher than the reach of the entire IPL 2022 season.

Adding Homes 

According to Kapoor, Star Sports has now reached nine out of every 10 pay TV households. "We have done this over a period of years. And we want to further deepen our reach and increase our penetration on the back of IPL and NTO 3.0." 

He further said, “As the number one TV network in the country, we have a vision and a mission to ensure that we take Disney Star's content to every viewer, every consumer and every home in the country in an affordable manner. With this as a mission, we are really focused on how best can we drive sports viewership, and on the back of IPL we have pushed that agenda very aggressively.”  

Kapoor noted that the network has worked effectively with affiliates and partners to ensure that they had the highest pick-up for their sports bouquet. “We have worked with over 850 affiliates. Before IPL, we worked on joint marketing campaigns to push or amplify our reach and subscription objectives. We looked at how best can we upsell, cross-sell, promote and get more subscribers for sports, work not just with MSOs & DTH partners but also with LCOs, call centres and DTH retailers to get more subscribers, more homes and customers. All this paid off. Our partnership with the affiliates helped us deliver an unprecedented reach for sports. And today we stand tall.” 

Regionalization: The Game Changer 

The Star Sports network has introduced additional 4 more language feeds, which Kapoor believes worked well for the network. Regionalization of sports content has been a game changer, he said, adding that markets like West Bengal and Gujarat really did the trick for networks, contributing strongly to the overall growth.  

“We also got deep numbers from HSM but we had this earlier too. The markets where we introduced new language feeds are Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam and Bengali. These markets really did the trick for us.”  

The network has seen strong growth in the markets of West Bengal, HSM, Odisha, and AP-Telangana with a significant incremental uptake of 20-30%. The network also achieved the highest reach in Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM) with over 27.3 crore viewers tuning in to watch the live broadcast in the first 29 days of this IPL.  

IPL on Star Utsav Movies 

For the first time, the network allowed sampling of IPL on Star Utsav Movies giving FTA viewers a chance to watch select IPL matches.  

Growth in sports HD channel & retaining subs 

The network achieved the highest HD channel reach, with 6.6 crore viewers tuning in to the HD broadcast. This number is three times higher compared to last year, demonstrating the growing preference for high-definition sports viewing. “People are subscribing more for HD television sets and HD content now. As per BARC, we have 75 million HD homes and these homes have been doubling every two years. We have seen a big growth on HD. Also, in terms of engagement, HD subscribers engage for a larger time and the stickiness factor is much higher too.” 

To capture the increasing premium HD audience base and to fill the gap in HD vehicles for sports viewers in the South India market, Star Sports has launched two new HD channels -   SS1 Tamil HD and SS1 Telugu HD. The network now has seven HD sports channels. These channels cater to the two largest south markets - Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh/Telangana. The network now has seven HD sports channels “We also have an impact in Karnataka.” The channel has a value-driven approach when it comes to sports content. "We know that viewers want sports along with other content, which is why we offer it alongside our popular value packs so that they can enjoy a wide range of entertainment. And we have made it affordable, so that it can reach every corner of India, from urban to rural areas."

On retaining subscribers, Kapoor shared, “While there is a phenomenon of coming, watching and walking away, our objective is to retain maximum subscribers.”  

“There will be some subscribers where we have got them converted from free to pay. We would like to keep delighting and entertaining them with other wholesome experiences by offering the entire bouquet of channels. There is a complete plan for retention as well. The whole objective is how best can we keep them in our pay environment.”

This IPL season, to provide an even more immersive and interactive IPL experience on linear TV, the channel has collaborated with Airtel Digital TV and Tata Play.