At a time when Covid-19 infections in the country are once again on the rise, broadcaster Star & Disney India, along with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is taking strict measures to ensure that the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) doesn’t get affected.
Unlike the 13th season, which initially got postponed and finally had to be taken to the UAE because of the pandemic, the 2021 edition of the league is scheduled to be played in India starting April 9th.
BCCI has already changed the format of the league this year from a ‘home and away’ to a ‘cluster caravan’ model to ensure minimum travelling for the players and franchises. All the matches are going to be played across six cities and the crew will have to take a maximum of four flights.
On the production side, over 900 people, including production crew members, on-air commentators and support staff have been kept under bio-secure bubbles.
“We are following very strict protocol, which we have developed in consultation with doctors and experts after taking learnings from the last season in account. In Mumbai, we have close to 500 people under biosecure bubbles till the end of the league,” said Sanjog Gupta, head – sports at Star & Disney India.
There are also BCCI maintained bio-secure bubbles in Mumbai and Chennai and more will be activated as and when teams reach those venues.
“All the travelling will also take place in bio-secure corridors, which means no commercial, only charter flights will be used,” Gupta added.
As per industry estimates, Covid-19 measures alone will increase the cost of production of the IPL by 10-15%. However, given that the entire ecosystem is now anywhere between Rs 4,000-5,000 crore, a lot is riding on the success of the league.
On the coverage side, Star & Disney India is trying to increase the engagement with users, who will once again have to watch the matches on their TV or mobile screens as the rise in Covid cases will make it difficult for the BCCI to allow spectators in the stadiums even in the later matches.
The board had earlier said that the decision on opening stadiums for spectators will be taken later.
Gupta said that building on the last season the broadcaster is scaling up technology to bring more people to the league. There will be more dynamic camera angles, more data and statistics on players, and more languages.
Adding to the coverage, IPL will be aired across English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Malayalam (on certain days). The broadcaster will also offer Marathi Feed, on OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar.
Star India has roped in 18 sponsors and over 100 advertisers for IPL 2021. These include Dream11, Byju’s, Phone Pe, Just Dial, Upstox, Bingo, Kamla Pasand, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), Frooti, Asian Paints, Thums Up, Vodafone-Idea (Vi), Mondelez, Amazon Prime, Groww, Cred, Garnier Men, and Havells.
On Disney+Hotstar, Dream11 is the co-presenting sponsor along with Upstox and Vimal Elaichi who are the ‘co-powered by’ sponsors. Other sponsors include Unacademy, Pharmeasy, Livspace, Swiggy, Parle Agro, Coinswitch, CRED and Xiaomi.
Like the previous season, IPL will continue to be behind the pay-wall on Disney+Hotstar. However, the OTT service has also signed deals with the three telcos, Jio, Airtel and Vi, to bundle IPL to their respective subscribers.
“We are trying to make IPL accessible to everyone. It’s a great mix of cricket and entertainment and a big driver in our portfolio,” said Sunil Ryan, head of Disney+Hotstar India.
Unlike the 13th season, which initially got postponed and finally had to be taken to the UAE because of the pandemic, the 2021 edition of the league is scheduled to be played in India starting April 9th.
BCCI has already changed the format of the league this year from a ‘home and away’ to a ‘cluster caravan’ model to ensure minimum travelling for the players and franchises. All the matches are going to be played across six cities and the crew will have to take a maximum of four flights.
On the production side, over 900 people, including production crew members, on-air commentators and support staff have been kept under bio-secure bubbles.
“We are following very strict protocol, which we have developed in consultation with doctors and experts after taking learnings from the last season in account. In Mumbai, we have close to 500 people under biosecure bubbles till the end of the league,” said Sanjog Gupta, head – sports at Star & Disney India.
There are also BCCI maintained bio-secure bubbles in Mumbai and Chennai and more will be activated as and when teams reach those venues.
“All the travelling will also take place in bio-secure corridors, which means no commercial, only charter flights will be used,” Gupta added.
As per industry estimates, Covid-19 measures alone will increase the cost of production of the IPL by 10-15%. However, given that the entire ecosystem is now anywhere between Rs 4,000-5,000 crore, a lot is riding on the success of the league.
On the coverage side, Star & Disney India is trying to increase the engagement with users, who will once again have to watch the matches on their TV or mobile screens as the rise in Covid cases will make it difficult for the BCCI to allow spectators in the stadiums even in the later matches.
The board had earlier said that the decision on opening stadiums for spectators will be taken later.
Gupta said that building on the last season the broadcaster is scaling up technology to bring more people to the league. There will be more dynamic camera angles, more data and statistics on players, and more languages.
Adding to the coverage, IPL will be aired across English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Malayalam (on certain days). The broadcaster will also offer Marathi Feed, on OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar.
Star India has roped in 18 sponsors and over 100 advertisers for IPL 2021. These include Dream11, Byju’s, Phone Pe, Just Dial, Upstox, Bingo, Kamla Pasand, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), Frooti, Asian Paints, Thums Up, Vodafone-Idea (Vi), Mondelez, Amazon Prime, Groww, Cred, Garnier Men, and Havells.
On Disney+Hotstar, Dream11 is the co-presenting sponsor along with Upstox and Vimal Elaichi who are the ‘co-powered by’ sponsors. Other sponsors include Unacademy, Pharmeasy, Livspace, Swiggy, Parle Agro, Coinswitch, CRED and Xiaomi.
Like the previous season, IPL will continue to be behind the pay-wall on Disney+Hotstar. However, the OTT service has also signed deals with the three telcos, Jio, Airtel and Vi, to bundle IPL to their respective subscribers.
“We are trying to make IPL accessible to everyone. It’s a great mix of cricket and entertainment and a big driver in our portfolio,” said Sunil Ryan, head of Disney+Hotstar India.
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