Mumbai: There are football fans and then there are World Cup fans. India has a sizeable viewing population wedded to cricket that tunes in every four years to watch the global football spectacle and support their favourite teams.
However, with the World Cup held in the North American region at unfavourable viewing hours in India, fewer viewers are expected. The casual football followers are not expected to wake up at unearthly hours for live action but they catch up on all the overnight action through highlights and programming packages.
“From the beginning, we had evolved a dual consumption strategy because of the timings. We knew the catch-up programming will actually play a very critical role,” Bavesh Janavlekar, Chief Business Officer of Unite8 Sports, Zee’s newly launched sports channel, told HT. “It is getting reflected in the kind of traction that we are getting for the morning show and the highlights that we keep running across the day on Unite8 and Zee5.”
Zee reported that its streaming platform attracted nearly 6 million viewers during the opening weekend of the tournament between June 11 and June 14. Across digital, linear and social platforms, the number goes up to 100 million viewers.
Elsewhere in Asia, where teams have a skin in the game, new live viewership highs have been recorded. In Japan, Nippon TV’s coverage of the home team’s opening win against Tunisia attracted an average audience of 22.4 million and reached 39 million viewers, according to FIFA. More than 54 million viewers tuned in across host nations Canada, Mexico and the United States for their respective teams’ opening matches.
India was among the last major markets FIFA struck a media rights deal with, once Zee came on board. For Zee, it wasn’t just a case of value proposition, but also a strategic bet to mark a “return to sports business,” as Janavlekar puts it.
“Our core strength of GEC, films, linear and studio business was always there. After we sold Ten Sports many years back, sports was quite vacant,” he said. “As the screens are getting more and more powerful through the Metas, the Googles and the YouTubes, live experience is also growing. Sports is a big part of it. We felt this is the right time wherein we actually leverage the passion for sports across national and international IPs.”
According to reliable industry sources, Zee acquired FIFA rights spanning 39 FIFA global events over eight years for over $40 million. This includes the 2030 men’s World Cup to be played in Spain, Portugal and Morocco at a viewer-friendly time in India, sweetening the deal.
From a cost-recovery standpoint, Janavlekar says Zee’s revenue strategy is “balanced between subscriptions and advertising”.
According to a CLSA brokerage note, Zee5’s active users doubled to 27 million since the World Cup started.
“The subscribers’ traction is something I won’t be able to talk about, but the numbers have gone through the roof,” Janavlekar said. “With advertising, brands are slowly and steadily showing interest. Our advertising team has ensured those with the right values of the property are on the table.”
Eye on India
Even as sports fans in India endure an endless wait to see their home team compete in the World Cup, there is a flicker of hope. “One important thing from our interactions with FIFA was them having a clear agenda on focussing on women’s football in India. Because the women’s team is better ranked than men’s, they felt there is a greater probability of them playing the World Cup earlier,” Janavlekar said.
“Therefore, there is a tremendous opportunity. We are going to invest quite a lot in the overall football ecosystem. Committing to pump 15 % of Zee5 football subscription revenue to grassroot talent development shows our seriousness.”
The Indian women’s football team is ranked 69th in FIFA rankings, while the men are ranked 138th. The women’s World Cup will expand to 48 teams starting in 2031.
