Nimbus Sport reaches out to UK, South Africa and Kenya

As the India-Australia series gets under way, Nimbus Sport has entered into an exclusive agreement with Channel 2 Group to provide live the television and radio content of all matches being played under the aegis of BCCI. The deal commences with the India-Australia series, which started on September 29, and will continue till March 2010.

The deal will bring cricket content played in India live to viewers and listeners in Kenya (television and radio), South Africa (radio) and UK (radio, Hindi and Urdu).

Vikram Das, vice-president, international and syndication, Nimbus Sport, says, “Keeping the demands of millions of fans in mind, we have partnered with Channel 2 to share the exciting cricketing action of all internationals played in India till 2010 under the aegis of BCCI.”

Channel 2 Group is a leading player in its segment and has a terrestrial reach of about 85 per cent in Kenya. The radio coverage, too, will capture the pulse of listeners through up-to-date content. “With this agreement, we are certain that together, we will be able to provide compelling and exciting cricketing content to all viewers,” says Das.

Meanwhile, the channel has managed to rope in a slew of sponsors for the India-Australia ODI series. The Future Group has entered into a three-year broadcast sponsorship contract with Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus, the two 24x7 sports channels launched by Nimbus earlier this year.

The deal may well be the largest ever multi-year broadcast sponsorship contract signed in Indian television history. The Future Group’s broadcast sponsorship commences with the India versus Australia series, the title sponsorship of which has been secured by the Future Group. The series will thus be called The Future Cup.

The co-presenting broadcast sponsors of the series are Hero Honda, the Future Group, Reliance Mobile and Pidilite. The associate broadcast sponsors are LG, Intel, Perfetti, S Kumars, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Ultratech and INX Media.

The Future Cup line-up has already been bettered with advertisers signing up for the November-December 2007 India versus Pakistan Test and ODI Series, for which as many as 10 broadcast sponsors have already been signed and two more expected to close next month, thus creating a record high for televised cricket in India.

The arrival of INX Media represents the strengthening of an emerging trend in on-air advertising through cricket wherein new sectors are beginning to commit their spends to cricket, the only media vehicle that delivers a pan-Indian audience, emotional connect and the highest break viewership for any TV programme.

Both series (India-Australia and India-Pakistan) will have Ambuja Cement as the action replay sponsor and Philips as a sponsor of wrap-around programming. For the first time ever, a sports channel has signed a data sponsor – Standard Chartered Bank will be the data sponsor for both series.