Every single viewer on JioCinema will be able to watch cricket matches for free, says Viacom18 Sports CEO

A: Digital is certainly the future, but is also the present. What we saw with the IPL was a defining moment. We saw how digital was bigger than television. And our intent is to continue building on that. You have to see that a lot of features that we are building will continue to excite and engage digital viewers. Features such as multi-cam that we had around IPL are uniquely digital features and that will continue. Having said that, although a large number of consumers have moved to digital, there is still a set of people who are in the process of moving to digital. They are still watching linear, offline TV, we want them to also go digital. We will do everything that we can to aid this migration. What we figured is that having this fractured mandate of one network doing TV, the other doing digital, was not helping with that agenda. We are also acutely aware that viewers were not getting as good an experience in terms of viewing if they were watching across multiple screens,. So our aim continues to be providing accessible and affordable content in a manner which is engaging for our consumers. 

 Q. And what will it mean for advertisers since now you have both TV and digital rights unlike the IPL where same pool of advertisers were divided?

A: The market is significantly moving towards digital and we continue to believe that digital will be a big play for advertisers. Having said that, for BCCI rights including the India-Australia series which starts on September 22, what we intend to do is to offer advertisers the option of choosing whatever they want — a combination of TV and digital, digital exclusive, etc. But it is our belief that a significantly large number of advertisers will very much be on digital and we will continue to serve them well.

Q. Will the upcoming tournaments, just like IPL will be free to watch or behind a paywall?

A: We are going to remove the barriers of accessibility and affordability of content and there will be no change in that. Every single viewer on JioCinema will be able to watch high-quality matches for free. We will continue to broadcast in 11 languages with multi-cam, 4K, ‘play-along’ and features like that on our digital screens. As far as TV goes, we intend to expand the number of people who haven’t had the accessibility. While it will certainly be on Sports18, we are also going to put it on our entertainment channels including Colors Tamil and Cineplex SuperHits, among others, so that regional audiences also get access to the matches. So they will play on all three spectra —  Free-To-Air (FTA), Pay TV, and free on digital.

Q. Instead of a closed bidding process, there was an e-auction this time. What was it like?

A: BCCI has been transparent. An e-auction is great way to ensure transparency — it is comfortable for all bidders because it is governed by  the fact that people can’t actually manipulate the process. BCCI has stepped up and done that unlike the ICC bid, which was closed. And this is important because this is the second time that BCCI held an e-auction. The IPL too was an e-auction, which too had a lot of transparency. It is a good process because you are focused on your affordability and your strategy. The only twist this time was that you had TV and digital bids going simultaneously.

Q. Tell us about the larger picture — how is the Indian audience consuming sports today?

A: The Indian audience is the largest that you have for any cricketing event, we have seen a significant shift over the past few years towards Connected TV. (CTV) And CTV is growing very fast. Of course there is the traditional TV audience, but the consumption pattern that we saw around IPL when a large number of people went digital, consumed on the go, and watched for a long period of time — I think this is long-form content, which continues to grow.

Q. Sporting tournaments have fuelled the consumption of Connected TVs in a big way globally. We saw the same around the IPL. In, fact many experts pointed out how free streaming of the IPL increased the penetration of Connected TVs in India. Tell us more — how will you continue with your digital and Connected TV push in the coming months?

 A: Connected TV is a critical part of our strategy going forward. Even with the IPL. We had 125 million consumers watching on CTV. That is a massive number, significantly bigger than any high-definition, linear television and it is growing really fast. In combination with the AirFiber that Jio is launching (on September 19) or the penetration of broadband, which is growing at a dramatic pace, the ecosystem is building towards that inflection point which will make it huge. And over the next few years, CTV will be larger than linear, offline TV. Also, content providers like us will be focusing on providing high-quality content there — 4K, for example, is not possible on linear TV. There are number of streaming organisations looking at CTV in a big way and creating different content on CTV.

Q. Startup troubles have still not eased —  in this scenario, which new client group/advertiser group is showing interest in cricket, considering it is action packed season for the next few months?

A: The Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector is in a hyper-growth mode, which means that lot of them are willing to advertise on premium properties like cricket. Auto is on the comeback path, beverages are also showing interest at a category level.