MUMBAI: Reliance Sports head of marketing and strategy G Srinivvasan declared that since the inception of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) in 2014, sponsorship in Indian football has risen to $44 million this year, an increase of 38.6% from 2017.
Srinivvasan was one of the keynote speakers at The Times of India Global Sports Business Show in the city on Friday, where he showcased a case study presentation on the cash-rich football league and its impact on the ecosystem of the sport in the country.
Prior to 2014, the average annual sponsorship value of football in India was not more than Rs 150 million ($2 million). This was due to a lack of in-stadia attendance, TV and social media reach. The attendance numbers for watching the sport on the ground have shot up from 900,000 to 2.2 million per year, with the ISL contributing with 1.4 million of them.
These are the numbers which made Srinivvasan call the ISL the fourth most attended football league in the world. ISL’s reach has made 13 states take up football on a more serious note, as compared to 5 pre-2014. He pegged Goa to have the maximum crowds in ISL games, with 99.8% occupancy on an average per game.
Srinnivasan argued that it was much easier for Reliance and Star to appeal to a group of sports enthusiasts whom they referred to as ‘flirts’ when they mulled their target audience before the start of the first season. Flirts follow various sports in the form of competitions such as Indian Premier League, Pro Kabaddi League, English Premier League etc. on a regular basis, which constituted a wider audience vis-à-vis ‘purists’, which are smaller in number and harder to connect with due to their selective viewing of sport.
He claims that the ISL’s five-year journey has not only culminated in 40% of viewers being women and children, but also making fans passionate about the game rather than celebrity team owners such as Ranbir Kapoor for Mumbai City FC or Virat Kohli for FC Goa. The Reliance head admitted that they were a part of its well-devised #LetsFootball marketing strategy for the first two seasons to build the league’s brand and introducing the footballing revolution in the country.
From Season 3 onwards, the ISL appealed to the fans’ regional pride which morphed and developed into each region building heroes for the sport through inspirational stories. Come 2018 and ISL built their promotional campaign towards #FanBannaPadega that acknowledging the need to up the game nationally, seeing the Indian football team’s success as well.
Across mediums, ISL has increased its reach from 158.8 million last season to more than 170 million viewers this season. Star India’s digital arm Hotstar has contributed to 12.3 million of them.
Lastly, Srinivvasan hoped that the ISL would continue to create Indian and global success stories such as that of Colombian footballer Stiven Mendoza, who played for Chennaiyin FC in the first two seasons. His contribution in their title-winning run in Season 2 was noticed by USA’s Major League Soccer (MLS) side New York City FC, making him go on to currently play for France’s Ligue 1 club Amiens.
