Bat cats: cricket is a win-win all round for India's broadcasters and marketers. Ritesh Gupta looks at the links between sports and sponsors--and whether or not there is life after cricket for South Asian broadcasters.(sponsorship)

Television Asia, January, 2004 by Gupta, Ritesh

South Asia's sports broadcasters are tapping a new generation of viewers--and sponsors. Content is still firmly rooted in sports, but the tone is increasingly being layered with, for instance, deities, celebrities and traditional Indian images as part of a resolve to attract and retain non-sports viewers as well.

Cricket, not surprisingly, is at the core of the trend, with strong sponsorship for everything from replay, scores and strokes from a range of brands including Samsung, Pepsi, Perfetti, Fiat Palio and Killer. But media planners say the game is being picked up by other teams too. Watch-maker Timex, for instance, was involved in the on-screen timer featured during TEN Sports" Champions Trophy hockey tournament from Holland in 2003. The...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.