MUMBAI: Arsenal and Chelsea are two of the fiercest rivals in modern day football and hence the 2015 FA Community Shield is certain to become the perfect curtain raiser for European Club Football fanatics.
FA Community Shield is played between the champions of Barclays Premier League and FA Cup. Chelsea is under the leadership of Jose Mourinho, won the 2014-15 league title, while Arsene Wenger guided Arsenal to their back to back FA Cup title. The duo is renowned for their sideline sillies and whenever they come together, it’s never short of action.
But when and where can India see all the action?
Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) sports boutique Sony Six and Sony Kix acquired the broadcasting rights of FA Cup and Serie A for three years (2015 - 2017) and hence will be the official broadcasters of the Community Shield match too. The rights of both the tournament were previously with Star Sports. The match will be played in Wembley Stadium and the kickoff is scheduled at 3.00 pm BST, which is 7.30 pm IST on Sunday (2 August, 2015). The SD feed can be watched at Sony Kix, while Sony Six HD will air the High Definition feed.
Speaking exclusively to Indiantelevision.com, Sony Six and Sony Kix EVP and business head Prasanna Krishnan says, “Community Shield match between Arsenal and Chelsea will be the perfect way for us to begin the football year. So far in our portfolio if anything was missing, it was quality club football action. With FA Cup and Italian Serie A, we fill that need gap. Being the official broadcaster of FIFA and UEFA Euro, we already had all the major International Football tournaments in our kitty. Now we can say that we are the only sports broadcaster to provide a quality mix of international and club football action throughout the year.”
As per TAM Peoplemeter system analysis, FA Cup’s cumulative reach has gone up by 27 per cent in the past two seasons. In 2013 – 14 season, the tourney secured 5.61 million but in 2014- 15 season, it went up to 7.13 million in CS4+ Target Group all over India.
According to a report by KPMG, with 215 million GVTs Football remains the second most watched sports entity in India after cricket, which garnered 254 million GVTs. Sports genre plays a pivotal role when it comes to revenue generation through subscription for broadcasters.
“We have to keep the fact in mind that Sony Kix is just a couple of months old and still in the developing process. With Community Shield, India VS Sri Lanka test series, the reach will get stronger. We are already there in all the DTH players and our presence in cable is also enhancing. Kix is positioned to feature football and fight sports,” asserts Krishnan.
In football, the scope of generating ad revenue is very less. UEFA Champions League, which is aired on Ten Sports, has no brands associated with it. However, there is multiple special programming, which is exclusively curated to explore monetizing avenues. Pre match, post match and half time analytical programs remain the biggest slot to rope in advertisers. Also weekend reviews and previews garner good viewership.
A media planning expert asserts, “Football is not cricket so putting an ad in the middle of the game is not an option. But whenever there is an injury stoppage or celebrations after goals or for that matter when the replays come in, relevant brands can be roped in as side captures or pop ups. Prime time in football begins five minutes before the match, the half time analysis program is also considered prime time in football.”
“In order to monetize and generate revenue we will not intrude into the flow of sport neither will we disturb our viewers. Disturbing viewers with an ad is not how we do business,” informs Kirshnan.
So no disturbances for Indian football fans this weekend, as an action packed match between Arsenal and Chelsea takes centre stage on Sony Kix and Sony Six HD.
