What happens when an Indian company really wants to make money off a sport it knows little about? Just add some cricket and Bollywood.
Having spent around $90 million on exclusive broadcast rights for the FIFA World Cup, Multi Screen Media – owners of Sony Entertainment Television, which runs the channels that are showing the Cup – had to figure out how to package it in a way that would keep viewers happy.
They first went with the glitz-and-glamour mix that has worked so well in their Indian Premier League coverage. The very first episode of Café Rio, on the opening night of the Cup, did feature a footballer, but it was also anchored by Gaurav Kapur – a holdover from the IPL’s pre-game show – and Bollywood star John Abraham.
Twitter was not exactly complimentary.
Now, John Abraham might be good ambassador for the sport in the country – he happens to be co-owner of one of the teams in the upcoming Indian Super League – but he is, first and foremost, a Bollywood star. Not many people made the association with the ISL. Viewers were convinced he was on their screens because he starred in a woeful football movie, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, or perhaps because of his frequent appearances on the pitch in cosmetics advertisements.
Abraham was gone the next day, apparently furious with his own public relations team over the disastrous affair. But the brickbats continued to head Sony Six’s way, because Gaurav Kapur was still around, with former MTV veejay and music festival organiser Nikhil Chinapa subbing in occasionally. Both were hardly given a rousing welcome. Change.org even had a petition calling for Gaurav Kapur to be kicked off the show.
The ratings for the Cup, however, have been quite good – helped, of course, by the fact that it has been one of the best tournaments in recent times. But Sony Six has been remarkably responsive to the complaints of viewers, clearly taking its cues from discussions on social media.
Abraham disappeared after the first outing, except in the form of a small promo where he inexplicably throws a bucket of balloons at the camera. Gaurav Kapur and Chinapa also seem to have been benched, in favour of Joe Morrison, an English presenter who has worked as a presenter for British football club Newcastle United and has been hosting live football coverage for Sony Six competitor Ten Sports and Ten Action.
Ironically Morrison, who identifies himself as @joefooty on the Ten Sports’ shows, is himself hardly beloved of football fans in the country. Yet after Kapur, Chinapa and Abraham, he finds himself something of a fan favourite. Sounding like he understands the nuances of the sport helps. The only Indian face still on the show now is national team and Bengaluru FC footballer Sunil Chhetri.
A few years ago in the United States, another country where football is still growing as a spectator sport, a similar thing happened. During the 2006 World Cup, ESPN attempted to use American announcers to commentate on the games, include baseball stalwart Dave O’Brien, who didn’t know the names of half the players involved and spent plenty of time offering up baseball-esque trivia rather than giving the play-by-play. The backlash against him was enough to have The New York Times define the “sins of American sportscasting”. ESPN would turn to voices from across the Atlantic for its World Cup coverage ever since.
The factor that has helped the game grow tremendously in that country, however, has been the increasing success of the country’s national team. Sony Six and assorted broadcasters ought to be paying close attention in their ham-fisted attempts to make football (and their channels) more popular; simply adding John Abraham to the starting line-up won’t do the job.
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Having spent around $90 million on exclusive broadcast rights for the FIFA World Cup, Multi Screen Media – owners of Sony Entertainment Television, which runs the channels that are showing the Cup – had to figure out how to package it in a way that would keep viewers happy.
They first went with the glitz-and-glamour mix that has worked so well in their Indian Premier League coverage. The very first episode of Café Rio, on the opening night of the Cup, did feature a footballer, but it was also anchored by Gaurav Kapur – a holdover from the IPL’s pre-game show – and Bollywood star John Abraham.
Twitter was not exactly complimentary.
Now, John Abraham might be good ambassador for the sport in the country – he happens to be co-owner of one of the teams in the upcoming Indian Super League – but he is, first and foremost, a Bollywood star. Not many people made the association with the ISL. Viewers were convinced he was on their screens because he starred in a woeful football movie, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, or perhaps because of his frequent appearances on the pitch in cosmetics advertisements.
Abraham was gone the next day, apparently furious with his own public relations team over the disastrous affair. But the brickbats continued to head Sony Six’s way, because Gaurav Kapur was still around, with former MTV veejay and music festival organiser Nikhil Chinapa subbing in occasionally. Both were hardly given a rousing welcome. Change.org even had a petition calling for Gaurav Kapur to be kicked off the show.
The ratings for the Cup, however, have been quite good – helped, of course, by the fact that it has been one of the best tournaments in recent times. But Sony Six has been remarkably responsive to the complaints of viewers, clearly taking its cues from discussions on social media.
Abraham disappeared after the first outing, except in the form of a small promo where he inexplicably throws a bucket of balloons at the camera. Gaurav Kapur and Chinapa also seem to have been benched, in favour of Joe Morrison, an English presenter who has worked as a presenter for British football club Newcastle United and has been hosting live football coverage for Sony Six competitor Ten Sports and Ten Action.
Ironically Morrison, who identifies himself as @joefooty on the Ten Sports’ shows, is himself hardly beloved of football fans in the country. Yet after Kapur, Chinapa and Abraham, he finds himself something of a fan favourite. Sounding like he understands the nuances of the sport helps. The only Indian face still on the show now is national team and Bengaluru FC footballer Sunil Chhetri.
A few years ago in the United States, another country where football is still growing as a spectator sport, a similar thing happened. During the 2006 World Cup, ESPN attempted to use American announcers to commentate on the games, include baseball stalwart Dave O’Brien, who didn’t know the names of half the players involved and spent plenty of time offering up baseball-esque trivia rather than giving the play-by-play. The backlash against him was enough to have The New York Times define the “sins of American sportscasting”. ESPN would turn to voices from across the Atlantic for its World Cup coverage ever since.
The factor that has helped the game grow tremendously in that country, however, has been the increasing success of the country’s national team. Sony Six and assorted broadcasters ought to be paying close attention in their ham-fisted attempts to make football (and their channels) more popular; simply adding John Abraham to the starting line-up won’t do the job.