With the sporting extravaganza of IPL 2023 coming to an end, it was time for us to catch up with Anil Jayaraj, CEO of Viacom18 Sports. In an engaging conversation, he spoke to e4m Editor Naziya Alvi Rahman about hitting viewership and revenue numbers, his strategy for the big-ticket cricket property and what worked for him to achieve his goals.
Below are edited excerpts:
It is believed that Viacom18 was aiming for a revenue of Rs 3,700 crore and a viewership number of 550 million. You recently claimed that you have achieved your targets. Can you explain the same to us?
We are quite delighted that both from the revenue and viewership point of you we have hit the numbers that we were chasing. However, IPL is not an isolated one, we started with FIFA and then we had South Africa 20, WPL etc. IPL, of course, scaled the size of it.
Despite high viewership numbers, as per sources in the media industry, this year IPL failed to attract much revenue as the market was soft. What do you have to say on the same?
Our viewership numbers did help us achieve the numbers we were chasing on revenue. I can share a few things that worked out for us. Firstly, connected TV viewership hit a massive record. As per our estimates, around 12 crore people viewed IPL on CTV. Second was the scale that we offered since IPL viewing was free. Thirdly, was the number of advertisers that collaborated with us - 800+ advertisers joined us during the IPL.
A lot of your revenue seems to have come from SMBs and small-ticket clients. Can you share more insights on the same?
SMBs played a crucial role in our journey but it will be incorrect to say that a large part of our revenue came from there. We definitely had an SMB-specific strategy. We collaborated with many specialised agencies that work with SMBs and helped us reach out to those customers. It was a very successful collaboration. We ensured that any brand, big or small, should have access to IPL. But having said that, a large pie of our revenue came from bigger clients.
How much did showcasing IPL for free help you meet your revenue and viewership numbers?
We were doubly delighted. It was not just about being free but also frictionless. One had to just download the app and then see it on the mobile phone or connect it with the TV. I seriously doubt that going forward anyone would charge for cricket.
What were some of the best categories (brands) for you in this IPL season in terms of advertising?
The advantage of digital is that we had a wide variety of brands advertising with us. We had fantasy gaming, FMCG, beverages, mouth fresheners, fashion and eCommerce among others. Almost all categories advertised with us.
Which are some of the categories that restrained from spending on digital and you may want to engage better with them in the next season?
Edutech is definitely a category we would want to make a comeback and advertise with us. Otherwise, all the categories were very much there on digital. In fact, barring 3 or 4 brands, almost all brands spent more on digital this year as compared to the other medium.
Going forward, will your strategy be any different from what it was for IPL 2023?
Usually, strategies are relatively long-term. The strategy this year was about having no barriers to access, and democratising the platform for advertisers. We won’t change these two things. Of course, going forward, we will keep looking at things that will add more value to our customers. We have got massive success with 4K and the language feeds this year. So, strategy-wise I don’t think we will change much. In fact, I suspect a lot of other people will follow our strategy.
