Sports
Champions Trophy: ESPN Star Sports lines up bevy of advertisers
NEW DELHI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) said Thursday it has lined up a bevy of seven sponsors for the ICC Champions Trophy. The sponsors include Maruti Suzuki India, Samsung, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Havell’s, Phillips, and adidas.
ESPN Software India managing director RC Venkateish also said that Sony India, MIRC and Aviva have joined as spot buyers.
The channel has already sold 80 per cent of its inventory and is asking for Rs 225,000 per 10 seconds, sources say. There will be around 160 spots of 30 seconds each per match.
The series, which was originally scheduled for last year in Pakistan, will feature 15 matches involving eight top teams and will kick off in South Africa from 22 September to 5 October.
The telecast will feature 13 commentators including Ravi Shastri, Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar (India), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Ian Chappell (Australia), Bob Willis, Nick Knight, Alan Wilkins (England), Shaun Pollock, Kepler Wessels (South Africa), Ian Bishop (West Indies), Simon Doull (New Zealand), and Ranil Abenayeke (Sri Lanka).
ESS‘s production will involve a 26 camera shoot along with six HawkEye cameras and a state-of-the art EVS replay system for the telecast. ESS will be will be broadcasting the matches in 183 territories.
Sports
Diamond Raja gets the Sunrisers dancing in Netflix’s latest IPL campaign film
Sunil Grover’s beloved character pulls the Hyderabad squad into an alternate universe in the newest instalment of Netflix’s Chill Like a Champion series
Mumbai: The final over is done, the bats are racked and the Sunrisers Hyderabad dressing room is ready for its real entertainment to begin. Netflix, the official entertainment partner of the Sunrisers, has dropped the latest film in its Chill Like a Champion campaign, and it is loud, daft and very deliberate fun.
The film opens with the squad unwinding after a long day on the field by tuning into Netflix, where they stumble into Diamond Raja, Sunil Grover’s scene-stealing avatar from The Great Indian Kapil Show. One moment they are slumped on sofas; the next, they have been pulled bodily into Diamond Raja’s world, all high-energy choreography, theatrical excess and a custom, lyrically reworked version of his signature song, Slowly Slowly. The rewrite doubles as a tongue-in-cheek nudge to slow down, switch off and enjoy the moment. Cricketers Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head are all swept along for the ride.
The film is stuffed with winks at fan-favourite Netflix titles, including Pushpa and the K-drama When Life Gives You Tangerines, threading cricket’s biggest downtime into the streamer’s broader content universe.
Grover, for his part, seems to have relished every second of it. “Netflix has certainly surprising ways to inspire and excite you as an artist,” he said. “This collaboration brought together the best of two worlds, cricket and entertainment. Coming together with the stellar cricketers Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head was such a delightful experience. Getting to bring Diamond Raja into this mix was an interesting way to make this even more special. It is playful, happy, it is dramatic, and it shows how entertainment can completely pull you into another world. Just like what Netflix does.”
The Chill Like a Champion campaign spans several films, each catching cricket’s biggest names in their post-match, unheroic best, hooked to a screen and very much off the clock. The Sunrisers film is the latest addition to the series.
Netflix describes itself as one of the world’s leading entertainment services, offering TV series, films, games and live programming across genres and languages, available anytime, anywhere.
Diamond Raja is back, the Sunrisers are dancing and, if Netflix has its way, so is the rest of India.
