MUMBAI: Staying true to its commitment to re-imagine the VIVO IPL 2018, host broadcaster Star India will leverage its full network might to “max out” viewership and reach for the finals of the T20 tournament on 27 May.
The final match, which will be played at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, will be aired across 17 channels in eight languages including Star’s flagship Hindi general entertainment channel Star Plus. The network which has been broadcasting IPL in six languages — Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Kannada — will also air the final match in Marathi (Star Pravah) and Malayalam (Asianet Movies).
With the addition of Star Plus and Star Gold to the channel feeds showing world cricket’s biggest annual jamboree, this means that barring English and Tamil where telecast is only available on the , all the other language feeds will be accessible on “mass channels” – entertainment and movie channels for Hindi and on movie channels for Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi and Malayalam.
With this kind of reach, expect Star to set a new benchmark in terms of spot rates for IPL 2018’s grand finale.
Additionally, the network will telecast a two-hour prelude – ‘Cricket Finals… Party to Bantihai’ – hosted by Ranbir Kapoor ahead of the final. Other celebrities joining the party include Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandes, Kareena Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor among the notable film stars. Additionally, the new faces of Star Plus –Ravi Dubey, Radhey Gaurav Sareen, Kulfi Aakriti Sharma, Mariyam Deshna Dugad will also amplify the entertainment quotient of the finale.
Similarly, Star Pravah will see Madhuri Dixit-Nene and Swwapnil Joshi joining the celebrations on the channel.
The 17 different feeds that will air the final are: Star Sports bouquet (Star Sports 1 English, Star Sports 1 HD English, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Select SD English, Star Sports 1 Select HD English), Star Plus SD, Star Plus HD, Star Pravah SD, Star Pravah HD, Star Gold SD, Star Gold HD, Star Suvarna Plus, Star Maa Movies, Star Jalsha Movies, Asianet Movies.
All of this will be in addition to the ongoing IPL special programmes The Dugout on Star Sports Select and Watch ‘n Play on the video streaming platform Hotstar.
Mint further reports that the network has launched its finale-centric marketing campaign “IPL Kaun Jeetega”, which is being promoted across television both on Star as well as non-Star channels including news, movies and regional general entertainment channels. It will also leverage radio, digital, print and outdoor advertising to build up interest around the final match.
