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ESS ropes in five sponsors for English Premier League
MUMBAI: ESPN STAR Sports kicked off the 2005/2006 season of the English Premier League (EPL) with five of Asia’s most recognizable brands as broadcast sponsors of its coverage of the League.
Tiger, Toshiba and Toyota have returned as sponsors for another exciting season of Asia’s most popular TV sport, while Malaysia Airlines comes on board with its first broadcast sponsorship agreement on ESS, stated an official release.
All four brands enjoy regional association with the 2005/2006 season of the English Premier League through a number of multi-level integrated benefits including on-air and online entitlements as well as marketing benefits around all ‘live’ matches and repeats on ESPN and STAR Sports.
In addition, mobile communications provider Celcom has returned for a third year as the broadcast sponsor of ESPN STAR Sports’ EPL coverage in Malaysia on Astro, the release adds.
Says ESPN STAR Sports VP ad sales Charles Less, ” We are delighted to have Tiger, Toshiba, Toyota and Celcom back this season and welcome Malaysia Airlines on board as broadcast sponsors of our coverage of the English Premier League. Our creative advertising solutions, extensive reach and platform provide an excellent vehicle for them to reach out to their audience. We look forward to helping them achieve that and to bringing the excitement of the League to diverse audiences in a fun, interactive and entertaining way.”
Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd Group Commercial director Les Buckley said, “As an ardent football supporter, Tiger Beer is delighted to be sponsoring yet another season of EPL broadcasts. We know how passionate our customers are about EPL football, and our partnership with this premium, international competition serves as an ideal platform for Tiger Beer to stay connected with the millions of fans in the region. Launching this season across the region we will also have Tiger FC, a football club for Tiger Beer drinkers where members can look forward to catching the best in EPL football action at the outdoor viewing parties to be brought to them exclusively by Tiger Beer.”
Toshiba Singapore MD Akio Ozaka said, “Toshiba strives to improve the viewing experience of people watching the exciting live broadcasts of Premier League games throughout the season by offering the very best picture quality in our new flat panel TV displays. As an international brand, we see this as a wonderful opportunity to enhance our brand further and ESPN STAR Sports gives us the platform to do just that.”
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
