MUMBAI: Cricket being the most watched and followed sport in the country, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has started the journey to make basketball the number two sport in India. With several sports gaining popularity, the NBA is aware that the goal is not going to be a cakewalk as the investment required is huge.
The NBA has had steady growth over the past couple of years in India. The partnership with Sony Pictures Network India has been a good boost to the game and also helped in reaching to different regions in the country. It has also set up training centres in schools and recently started its fantasy league for fans.
According to the data provided by NBA India, the southern market contributed to 60 per cent of the viewership for the association in the country followed by the western region with 17 per cent market share in the previous season of 2016-17 (CS 2+). The northern and eastern regions contributed to 10 per cent and 13 per cent viewership, respectively.
NBA India’s managing director Yannick Colaco, in an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, said that the core target remains youth and young adults and that the association believes that introducing boys and girls to the game of basketball at a young age will help in instilling in them positive values of the game.
Here are the excerpts:
What, from your analysis, is the level of popularity of basketball in India?
Basketball is one of the fastest growing sports in India. There has been incredible growth on popularity with respect to participation and consumption across multiple platforms. The game itself is simple to play and infrastructure light; all you need is a flat surface, a hoop and a ball.
We have been extremely focused on growing the game from bottom-up and are thrilled at the response we have seen across the country in both participation of the programmes and adoption of the sport.
How do you measure the success of basketball in India?
We measure success in participation, especially among young boys and girls, and consumption. Basketball has to be grown the right way, from the bottom up, and its why we’ve invested significantly in grassroots. Our large scale in-school programmes such as the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA has reached more than six million youth and trained over 5,000 coaches. We anticipate that programmes like this and many others will continue to fuel the growth of the game in the years to come. We also continue to provide greater access of the NBA to our fan base, inspiring more kids to play and increasing opportunities for our fans to engage with us.
With our partners Sony Six, we bring 14 live games a week to fans in India and we’ve consistently clocked high double-digit percentage viewership growth year on year
Is there more viewership on digital?
We are committed to providing greater access of the NBA to reach the largest number of audiences and keeping that in mind, we ensure our partner platforms work in synergy; they’re complementary rather than cannibalistic.
Last season, we reached a record number of 125 million fans for NBA programming across India. While television is our largest distribution for live games, social media is by far the most significant distribution platform for us for what we call ‘snackable’ content such as dunks of the day, bloopers, NBA fashion, quick tips and so on. Just on Facebook, NBA India has reached more than 900 million impressions this season, engaging over 600,000 unique fans weekly and amassed more than 155.6 million video views over the course of the 2016-17 season. We also have this subscription network called League Pass, which is now more accessible to our fans than before.
How much time does an average viewer spend on the NBA digitally?
We are very successful in engaging our audience on digitally owned platforms. Be it through social media pages, the NBA destination, our mobile app or Sony LIV. The average time each user spends on the mobile app per week is 1 hour 12 minutes.
How will the Fantasy Basketball league function?
The NBA Fantasy game allows its users to create their own virtual team choosing their players and perform the role of a manager and accumulate points based on their selected players’ statistics in real life. The free-to-play game will offer a variety of prizes as rewards, including NBAStore.in gift cards, NBA merchandise and the opportunity to win a trip to the US to attend the 2018 NBA Finals.
The NBA, globally, has tremendously successful fantasy partnerships across multiple players. We are thrilled to be partnering with Dream11, India’s largest fantasy gaming company, to launch a free-to-play daily fantasy basketball game.
We have over seven million fans across social media in India and a high percentage of them are actively connected with us. With the NBA’s highly aspirational appeal, and an abundance of marketing assets locally (TV, digital, social, events and athlete tours), we expect a large number of NBA fans to contribute to the online fantasy game.
Which are the top two teams based on their fan following?
Success, in sports worldwide, drives a lot of fan affinity and the NBA in India is no exception. The Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs received tremendous support and fandom last season.
Are you planning commentary in languages other than English?
We ran a pilot project last season in introducing Hindi in-game commentary for the 2016-17 Conference Finals and NBA Finals and the response was tremendous. This season, we are offering close to 100 NBA games with Hindi commentary on Sony Ten 3 and Sony Ten 3 HD.
With the growing popularity of the NBA across the country, this move aims to engage a wider set of fans and enthusiasts with Hindi as their primary language.
We are also extremely fortunate to have youth influencers fans such as actor and VJ Rannvijay Singh and popular culture stand-up comedian Gursimran Khamba who contribute as guest commentators on a regular basis.
Do you see merchandising as a big play here?
Certainly, we have witnessed a consistent growth in demand and purchases for NBA apparel and licensed product. NBA products are available in over 700 outlets across the country. We are committed to growing the culture of basketball along with the game and merchandising plays a huge role in bringing about that change.
The NBA has several active global licensing partners in India such as Nike, Under Armour, 2K, EA, Tissot and Spalding. Our local licensing partners include Jabong, Jack & Jones, Iskcon Apparel and Dream11.
Also Read :
Mairu Gupta and the art of building the NBA in India
NBA and Dream11 to bring fantasy basketball to India
Sony Six: NBA preparing for Hindi commentary in three months
