Ad Campaigns
Star Sports unveils campaign for PKL 2024 ft Riteish Deshmukh
Mumbai: Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), has unveiled its first campaign film for the upcoming PKL Season 11, featuring Riteish Deshmukh. With the tournament set to start on 18 October 2024, this action-packed campaign film takes viewers deep into the heart of an untamed jungle. The intensity of Kabaddi is brought to life through epic visuals, raw power, and relentless grit. The film, which will be released in multiple languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil, sets the stage for what promises to be the most thrilling PKL season yet.
In the promo, Riteish steps into the shoes of a lone warrior, showcasing stealth and agility of a tiger as he navigates dangerous predators – a vivid metaphor for the sharp instincts, speed, and mental toughness that define kabaddi champions. The film brilliantly captures the pulse-pounding essence of kabaddi, drawing viewers into a world where each move is a battle, and every decision could be the difference between victory and defeat.
The gripping visuals, combined with the evocative song that underscores the narrative, highlights the raw power and strategy at the core of the sport, elevating anticipation for Season 11 to new heights.
Riteish Deshmukh said: “Kabaddi is a sport that is woven into the fabric of our culture, and being a part of this campaign is an absolute honour. The intensity and pride we captured in the film reflect the warrior spirit of kabaddi players – fierce, fearless, and ready to face any challenge. PKL has become a national sensation, and I’m sure this season will take that excitement to another level.”
As part of integrating fans into the sport, Mashal Sports and Star Sports launched the “Define Your Team’s Superpower” campaign, inviting fans to vote for their team’s superpowers, which shaped the PKL 11 campaign across TV and digital platforms. The polls for Puneri Paltan and U Mumbai received 105k votes and achieved 1.12 million views, 1.45 million reach, and 119k interactions. The top fan-chosen traits—surprise & stealth—are highlighted in the Riteish Deshmukh promo film, reflecting Maharashtra’s spirit. The remaining team polls continue to be amplified as the season approaches.
This time around, PKL will be returning to a three-city format. The 2024 edition will commence at the GMC Balayogi Sports Complex in Hyderabad from 18 October to 9 November. It will then move to the Noida Indoor Stadium for the second leg, starting on November 10 and ending on 1 December. The third leg will begin at the Badminton Hall in Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune from 3 December to 24 December. With star players such as Pawan Sehrawat, Pardeep Narwal, and Fazel Atrachali set to dominate the mat, PKL 11 ensures that Kabaddi will capture the attention of both die-hard fans and new viewers alike.
The season opener will see a thrilling face-off between Telugu Titans and Bengaluru Bulls, setting the stage for a high-octane season. The second match of the night promises more fireworks, as U Mumba locks horns with the dynamic Dabang Delhi K.C. Fans across India can prepare for a season filled with drama, intensity, and non-stop action, live on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar!
Watch the Pro Kabaddi League Season 11, live and exclusive on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar, from 18 October 2024 onwards.
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.
