Will WPL present return on funding?

On Saturday, footwear big Puma tweeted a video of a cricketer taking guard and requested folks to guess the identification of their ‘newest ambassador’.

Of the hundreds of responses, 80 p.c named a male cricketer, the corporate revealed on Monday once they introduced the tie-up with India’s all-format captain Harmanpreet Kaur.

Signing one of many largest feminine stars is smart with the Women’s Premier League (WPL) across the nook. Big cash was spent lately —Rs 5,651 crore — to purchase broadcast and franchise rights for the league and its 5 groups.

Yet the replies to the ‘guess who’ query within the intelligent advertising promo alluded to the plain undeniable fact that regardless of her rising reputation, Harmanpreet nonetheless performs cricket within the shadows of the Virat Kohlis and Rohit Sharmas. Packaging the WPL as a ladies’s model of the hugely-popular Indian Premier League (IPL) is not any assure that followers, with their loyalties within the males’s recreation, will watch it at a stadium or their properties.

Like each start-up, the WPL has its unknowns.

With a separate window earlier than the IPL, it must stand by itself ft.

Viacom18 is paying the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Rs 7.09 crore per WPL recreation, a fraction in comparison with what they shell out for digital rights of an IPL recreation. The five-year WPL deal price Viacom18 Rs 951 crore, which in line with a veteran broadcaster, is a punt.

“If I was still in the broadcasting business, I would have said that the WPL is a good boat to miss, because if it succeeds, it does not change the universe. If it fails, it will stretch your balance sheet. The WPL is not a must-have thing. It will get one-fourth or one-fifth of the attention of the men’s game,” Harish Thawani, the founding father of Nimbus Sport, the previous rights-holders for Indian cricket, stated. “But is it going to completely flop? My answer is ‘no’. But is it going to become one of those things to look forward to like the men’s IPL?”

The extent of success of the WPL’s first season will decide if Viacom overpaid for the published rights, say business watchers.

Vinit Karnik, head of sports activities, Esports and Entertainment, GroupM (South Asia), was a guide for Royal Challengers Bangalore, one of many three IPL groups that efficiently bid for a WPL facet.

“Take the example of the IPL. After the first couple of years, the media rights value got corrected upwards. This happened as IPL became a successful media property delivering high reach and viewership. Hence women’s cricket will need to be built bottom-up and marketed well. The first season is going to be very crucial in determining the value paid by Viacom for the media rights,” Karnik stated.

Will extra ladies watch?

If Viacom/Reliance telecasts the WPL at no cost, just like the FIFA males’s World Cup final 12 months, the sale of commercial slots turns into much more essential.

This being the first-ever WPL, the demography of the target market is unclear. Not everyone seems to be shopping for the speculation of extra ladies watching as a result of it’s the Women’s Premier League. An untested assertion with odds stacked towards it, is how Thawani places it.

“The percentage of women watching the IPL hasn’t risen significantly even now. When Sony was the broadcaster, about six years back, women’s viewership was between 27 to 30 percent. But we have to understand the composition. This is not standalone viewership. This is women watching with their families or male members. When you go to the stadium, you will see women but (a majority) are there as part of a family activity,” Thawani stated.
“Even if there was a grain of truth that more women would want to watch the women’s IPL, my answer is ‘no’, unless the man of the house also wants to watch it. About 92 percent of homes in India have a single TV,” Thawani stated.

Viewership knowledge of IPL consumption on the telephone is ‘five to seven minutes’, in line with Thawani, and most of it by these in transit. “People will say that women can always watch it on the phone. But nobody is using it as a first device. If you are sitting at home, show me an audience which has a TV but prefers to watch IPL on the phone.”

What advertisements will work?

Ad guru Prahlad Kakkar says it’s time to revisit the commercial marketing campaign of Virginia Slims, the cigarette model launched within the late Nineteen Sixties aimed toward ladies. The tagline ‘you have come a long way, baby’, struck a chord.

“I would sell their (women cricketers’) sheer grit about competing in a man’s world and proving themselves over many years. The line for them would be the Virginia Slims’ line. Any product that has arrived can build on this line,” Kakkar stated.

The ‘hathoda chhap’ (sledgehammer) method of promoting machismo will work within the IPL however not in WPL, Kakkar believes.

“For men, it is about ‘is your six-pack better or my six-pack better’. For women, you are looking at multiple levels… nuanced advertising. That means sensitivity, compassion, humour and real courage. If advertisers are smart, they must keep these touch points in mind,” Kakkar added.

The development of the ladies’s recreation is a golden alternative for brand spanking new manufacturers to come back on board, Karnik reckoned.

“When you are building women’s cricket, you are also creating a new category of advertisers who normally won’t advertise in men’s cricket but may look at women’s cricket a little differently. We can expect to see FMCGs, healthcare, fashion, beauty and grooming etc. to leverage women’s cricket as this format is also expected to attract and engage women audiences,” he stated.

Smaller corporations can also leap on the likelihood to promote throughout a cricket match, in line with Santosh N, Managing Partner, D and P Advisory.

“In the IPL, the ad slots go for Rs 17-20 lakh for 10 seconds, which is exorbitantly high for some of these small companies. But with WPL, the ad slots could be significantly cheaper.”

Were groups too expensive?

Looking at an excel sheet gained’t give the reply as to whether franchise rights for groups went for an excessive amount of, Karnik stated. The large image is the valuation story.

The 5 groups had been bought for Rs 4,669 crore, with Adani Sportsline efficiently bidding for Ahmedabad (Rs 1,289 cr), the very best quantity.

“In 2008, Mumbai Indians approximately paid Rs 446 crore for a men’s team which was unheard of in India at that point of time. Cut to 2022, Lucknow Super Giant was bought for INR 7,090 crore. That’s the ‘value unlock’ sport delivers over time. Hence, one looks at valuation of an asset over a 10-year period to build value and hence profit and loss may not always be the right yardstick to measure these investments,” Karnik stated.

As per the settlement, the income sharing mannequin between the BCCI and the franchises is 20:80 for the primary 5 years. The 5 franchises will get Rs 25-30 crore per season due to the published deal. They, nonetheless, need to pay franchise charges to the BCCI.

Another pink flag Thawani raises is the WPL window, scheduled for March, clashing with the interval reserved for the house collection for males. This 12 months, the Australian males’s workforce is touring India in February and March. WPL rankings can be hit, Thawani stated.

“The women’s game is interesting but like in most women’s sports, the athletic standards are not the same as male standards. Tennis is the only one where there are somewhat reasonable ratings compared to men, but only in the Grand Slams. And no matter what you do, you are not going to find a woman fast bowler who bowls at 90 miles per hour.”