MUMBAI: Sports broadcaster Ten Sports, which is airing the India vs Zimbabwe ODI series that kickstarted today (10 July), has also unveiled its new logo on the occasion.
After the dismal performance of the ‘Men in Blue’ in the Bangladesh tour, this India tour of Zimbabwe has become an all-important series for both the audience as well as the broadcaster. What's more, the broadcaster is targeting ad revenues in excess of Rs 20 crore from the series.
Ten Sports and Taj TV global CEO Rajesh Sethi, “It is a step forward in consolidating all the channels under one uniform network and project the organization value to strive further, break new grounds, surpass our limits and achieve the unattained. The belief is articulated in our new network logo design which is synonymous to all kinds of sports and its belief of genesis to victory and the idents and new design was developed completely by the internal team.”
The network also informed Indianelevision.com that an elongated and extensive research was conducted by the internal team before launching the logo.
Sethi further added, “The interest in this series is very high, which is visible through the fact that around 60 per cent of our inventory has already been sold, this in spite of not having the more sellable names in the team. We are able to command a rate of Rs 3 to 3.5 lakh between ODIs and T20s per 10 second. We expect the revenue for this series to be well over Rs 20 crore with brands like Fogg, Karbonn and Pay You already being associated with the series,” said
What could very well be the beginning of the end for the Dhoni era, this series pitches players who have been on the fringes or are making comebacks under a new captain. Zimbabwe that gave a respectable performance against Pakistan in May can’t be treated as push overs any more.
As official broadcasters of the event, Ten Sports is looking to tap into the vast opportunity that the series brings along.
On the production front, the channel has started its studio show Straight Drive, which will boast of star analysts such as Arun Lal, Atul Wassan and Charu Sharma. The show will see pre, mid and post-match round ups.
To market the series, the channel has tied up with the upcoming movie Drishyam. It is also conducting fan engagement activities like contests and quizzes on various social media platforms.
The channel feels that this could well and truly be the moment of truth for the evolution of cricket in the country and the series presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the ‘New Blues.’
