For Telugu cricket commentators like former India cricketer Y. Venugopala Rao, P. Chandrasekhar, who is also the official scorer of HCA, C. Venkatesh and Sudhir Mahavadi, there is something to cheer about as the Sony Pictures, broadcaster of Indian Premier League (starting from April 9) has decided to persist with commentary in the regional language.
“The fact that the telecast in the regional languages’ commentary grabbed a 15 per cent share of total viewership is proof of the success,” said Prasana Krishnan, Executive VP.
“Regional language commentary and live transmission will now be available on one of the prime bands on Sony Six shows the growing popularity of this concept,” he said.
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“We felt there is a need to give these regional commentators a wider canvas to showcase their skill,” is his argument.
Interestingly, SNP is planning to have Fan Parks during the IPL season across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to facilitate free viewership to about 10,000 fans for any match as part of the promotion campaign. “This is not a commercial venture but also part of connecting to the people. The experiment in Warangal during last edition was a huge success,” the top official of Sony said.
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Krishnan also said that the theme of the 2016 IPL campaign is ‘Ek India Happywala’ and hoped it would lead to an increase in viewership.
“It is a sellout as far ad space is concerned and I can only say it is 15 to 20 per cent more than what it was last year as 12 major sponsors had already grabbed the space,” Krishnan said to a query.
‘Regional language commentary will grab 15 per cent share of total viewership’