Sports
Sportel serves an ace in Singapore
The global sports media circus pitched its tent in Asia-Pacific — and the numbers stacked up
SINGAPORE: Sportel’s much-trumpeted return to Singapore didn’t disappoint. The two-day shindig at Orchard Hotel Singapore drew 370 participants from 220-odd companies across 35 countries — proof, if any were needed, that the Asia-Pacific sports media market is no longer a sideshow but very much the main event.
Held on 24-25 March, Sportel Asia brought the usual glorious scrum of broadcasters, rights holders, tech merchants and media types under one roof. The turnout skewed usefully commercial: roughly a third of attendees were content buyers, another third rights holders — the sort of ratio that keeps deal-makers in the room and lawyers busy afterwards.
The geographic split told its own story. Some 55 per cent of participants flew in from Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, with the remaining 45 per cent making the journey from Europe and the Americas. Singapore, sitting neatly at the crossroads of both worlds, did exactly what it says on the tin.
The buyers’ roster read like a who’s who of regional broadcasting muscle — Astro, beIN Sports APAC, Bilibili, Coupang Play, DAZN Japan, Fox Sports Australia, Stan Sport and a clutch of telcos among them. Whether they left with deals signed or merely appetites whetted, the conditions were ripe.
Off the exhibition floor, the conference programme chewed over the big questions: how European leagues crack the APAC market, the march of generative AI and cloud production, the thorny business of streaming piracy, and the quietly booming world of women’s sport in Singapore. Meaty stuff, served without too much waffle.
The event’s Pitch Perfect innovation contest handed five plucky startups — Phygital International, Bimovin, S.O. Casual Creative, Appear and Layer Cake — their moment in the spotlight. Layer Cake’s Padraig O’Donovan walked away with the prize: a full-access pass to Sportel Monaco in October, where the real heavy hitters gather.
Agnès Marsan, executive director of Sportel Asia, called Singapore “a strategic gateway” — which is diplomat-speak for: it worked rather well.
The flagship Sportel Monaco follows on 19-21 October. The warm-up act has concluded. Now for the main match.
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.
