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‘We will breakeven after the third year’Fraser Castellino- Emerging Media CEO
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The Indian Premier League (IPL), which kicks off next month, has brought in $2 billion into the Twenty20 format over a 10-year period, involving big corporates like Reliance Industries and Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan. Emerging Media, which has two other shareholders in Sporting Investment Group and Lachlan Murdoch, has bought the Jaipur team franchise for $67 million and is hoping to rake in profits after the third year. Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Pinto caught up with Emerging Media CEO Fraser Castellino to find out about his plans for the team and the impact IPL will have on the game. Excerpts:  |
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What prompted Emerging Media to be involved with the IPL? We came into India in 2006 and launched the reality show Cricket Star based on the T20 format. We are looking for the next Indian superstar. We saw IPL as a big opportunity as we also have experience in running clubs. |
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What is the IPL trying to achieve? By whipping up support for city-based league teams, the BCCI is also trying to bring new fans into the stadiums. |
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The tradition of supporting a regional team is not present in India. Do you feel that this will be a hindrance in terms of the IPL taking off? |
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Another issue is that the BCCI wants the IPL to be for India what EPL is for English soccer. At the same time, the players are with EPL for several months each year and there is no conflict with an international schedule. How will IPL manage to do this? |
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Having bought the Jaipur franchise for $67 million, what breakeven period is Emerging Media looking at from IPL? |
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How much will Emerging Media spend towards marketing? |
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What brief was given to the agency? |
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Have you tied up revenue deals? |
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Is there any chance that Emerging Media might sell a stake in the IPL team? |
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What is the strategy you followed in selecting your team? During the first auction, we picked players and also set price points at which we felt that they had good value for us. If they exceeded these price points, we let them pass. We did our research, and went after certain players. Now when you look at my team, they are at least as good as the others if not better. And we have spent $3.5 million while the others have burnt $5 million. |
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Are performance and marketability of players of equal importance? |
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Could you talk about the branding of the team and how your star player Shane Warne will be used? Shane Warne was a strategic choice that many people do not understand. He has an incredible record in county cricket. When we signed him as both captain and coach, other teams who have specialist coaches were surprised. Specialist coaches are fine but Warne transformed the fortunes of Hampshire in county cricket. He took them from being a non-performer to a team to be reckoned with. The IPL is about youth and developing domestic cricket. Now that he has retired, Warne is keen to come in and give back to the game by helping youngsters. The IPL is the perfect platform for him to do just that. |
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| Has Emerging Media also appointed a consultant to help its IPL team form a cohesive unit? We have a support team in place that includes physiotherapist John Glocter and assistant coaches. We believe that our team will be inspired by our captain and the support structure, and become a cohesive unit. |
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| Has T20 brought sports and entertainment closer? The emergence of T20 has been interesting because as working life has become more hectic, people are increasingly looking for instant gratification. In India, while it has not been played often, we feel that this format will be well accepted. Since the IPL games will be played in floodlit stadiums in the evening, it will attract more women and families to enjoy an evening out. |
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| How will IPL broaden the corporate involvement with cricket overall? One of the things that will happen is that IPL will support academies, coaching centres, etc. These are feeder systems into T20 cricket. |
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| How did the idea of doing Cricket Star come about? We wanted to be a body that works with the BCCI but at the same time goes off into areas where it has not managed to find talent. We believe that there are people who, while possessing talent, do not have the money to turn up at the BCCI‘s coaching camps. We give them the chance to spend just two days with our experts and decide if they are good enough or not. If they are good enough, the sky is the limit. |
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| How have you grown the event over the years and how successful has it been in uncovering hidden talent? I think what Cricket Star lacked in the first season was the gratification platform. It wasn‘t clear what would happen with the chosen talent. Today anybody who is selected gets a contract with the Rajasthan Royals. The format has not changed much in terms of the testing process. We are clear in terms of what we look for in a T20 cricketer. Last year, we found two boys who were very good. But we had restricted entries to those who were absolutely fresh and had not played first-class cricket. They had never been part of an under 15 or under 17 squad. This year, we have opened it up for everybody. |
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Finally, are you looking at other sports? |
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Google nears Nvidia in race for world’s most valuable company
Market cap gap narrows as Google hits $4.65 trillion, Nvidia at $4.86 trillion.
MUMBAI: In the AI gold rush, even the giants are sprinting and Google is suddenly gaining ground. Google is rapidly closing in on Nvidia in the race to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company, with the gap between the two narrowing sharply amid diverging stock momentum. The tech giant’s market capitalisation has surged to around $4.65 trillion, following a more than 140 per cent rise in its share price over the past year.
That rally has added over $2.6 trillion in value in just 12 months, including nearly $900 billion since January alone. Its stock recently hovered at $381.80, slipping marginally by 0.04 per cent, but still reflecting strong upward momentum.
Nvidia, meanwhile, continues to hold the top spot with a valuation of approximately $4.86 trillion. The chipmaker crossed the $5 trillion milestone in October last year and peaked at $5.27 trillion on 27 April. However, its shares have largely plateaued over the past six months, rising just 0.2 per cent recently to $199.99.
The contrast in trajectories is striking. While Nvidia has seen relatively flat movement, Google has gained over 36 per cent in the same six-month period. Barron’s estimates suggest that if current trends hold, the valuation gap could shrink to as little as $190 million by the time Nvidia reports its first-quarter earnings on 20 May.
Daily momentum paints a similar picture. Nvidia recorded average daily gains of about 0.66 per cent last month, compared to Google’s stronger 1.42 per cent, an edge that could prove decisive in the short term.
Driving Google’s resurgence is its aggressive push into artificial intelligence across its ecosystem, from search and YouTube to cloud computing. The company has already invested $144 billion in capital expenditure over the past two years and plans to deploy a further $490 billion over the next two.
Its cloud division is also gathering pace. Google Cloud reported an order backlog of nearly $220 billion in the latest quarter, with total backlog touching a record $462 billion, around half of which is expected to be realised within two years. The company’s entry into chip sales is also beginning to factor into its growth narrative.
The last time Google briefly topped the S&P 500 by market value was in February 2016, when it edged past Apple for just two days. This time, the stakes and the numbers are far higher.
At the heart of the contest lies a single force: artificial intelligence. As both companies pour billions into infrastructure, chips and platforms, the leaderboard is no longer just about size, it is about who can scale the future faster.
