Ad Campaigns
Sony Sports Network launches ‘Non-Stop cricket’ campaign
Mumbai: Sony Sports Network has launched its new campaign for cricket that provides the chance to celebrate India’s favourite game in 2022. The sports network launched the first of three films this week, which is a part of their campaign titled ‘Non-Stop cricket on Sony Sports Network’ on its sports channels and social media platforms.
For the first time, audiences will get to see one of India’s finest cricketers, Smriti Mandhana and Bollywood’s most talked-about actor, Pankaj Tripathi, come together to promote the non-stop cricketing action on the sports network. The campaign also emphasises the cricket roster on the network with the apt tagline ‘Ab cricket fans ke pass hai celebration ka big reason, kyunki sony pe dikhega cricket ka full seasons.’
The campaign stands out from other conventional cricket campaigns as the first-time viewers will see one of India’s biggest women cricketers helming the campaign for all formats of men’s and women’s cricket.
Sony Pictures Networks India, chief revenue officer, distribution and head-sports business, Rajesh Kaul said, “We have taken a clutter-breaking approach and used a leading woman cricketer to promote men’s cricket in a first of its kind campaign. Smriti Mandhana, the opening batter for Team India was a perfect choice to front our campaign, ‘Non-Stop cricket on Sony Sports Network’ and the film showcase and cement our position as the best destination for year-round quality cricketing action. With over 1800 hours of Live cricket, our fans will get to watch exciting matches that include India Men’s and Women’s cricket series, International T20i leagues and more.”
Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi said, “I am delighted to be a part of such an inclusive campaign by Sony Sports Network where Bollywood meets cricket in an innovative manner. The campaign takes a clutter-breaking route with Smriti Mandhana, one of India’s top cricketers, promoting men’s cricket among others from the non-stop cricket roster on their network.”
India Women’s Cricket Team member Smriti Mandhana added, “I am excited to be a part of the ‘Non-Stop cricket on Sony Sports Network’ campaign. The messaging is not only innovative but also progressive. It is a great association, and I am looking forward to the cricketing season on Sony Sports Network.”
NATIONAL: Amazon Ads has laid out a sharply tech-led vision for the advertising industry in 2026, arguing that artificial intelligence, streaming TV and creator partnerships will combine to turn brand building into a more precise, performance-driven business.
At the heart of the shift, the company says, is the fusion of AI with Amazon’s vast trove of shopping, browsing and streaming signals, allowing advertisers to move beyond blunt reach metrics to campaigns designed around real customer behaviour.
“The future of advertising is not about reaching more people, but the right people with messages that resonate,” said Amazon Ads India head and vice president Girish Prabhu. “By combining AI with deep customer insights, we help brands move from broadcasting campaigns to having meaningful conversations wherever audiences spend their time.”
One of the biggest changes, according to Amazon Ads, will be the collapse of the wall between media planning and creative development. Retail media, powered by first-party data, is increasingly shaping everything from brand discovery to final purchase, pushing marketers to design campaigns around audience insight rather than internal instinct.
AI is also moving from a support tool to a creative engine. Agentic AI, which automates and accelerates production, is expected to make high-quality creative accessible even to small businesses, compressing weeks of work into hours and giving challengers the ability to compete with larger brands on speed and scale.
Behind the scenes, AI-driven analytics will take on a bigger role in campaign optimisation, identifying patterns, spotting opportunities and recommending actions that would previously have required teams of analysts.
Streaming TV is another big battleground. With India’s video streaming audience now above 600 million and connected TV users at 129.2 million in 2025, advertisers are set to treat streaming not just as a branding channel but as a performance engine, measured increasingly by sales, sign-ups and bookings rather than just reach.
Finally, Amazon Ads sees creators and contextual advertising reshaping how brands tell stories. Creators will act less like influencers and more like long-term partners, while scene-aware ads on streaming platforms will allow brands to insert hyper-relevant offers into the flow of what viewers are watching.
Taken together, Amazon Ads argues, these shifts mark a move towards advertising that is both more human and more measurable, where AI handles the complexity, and creativity does the persuading.
