Sports broadcasting in Asia, long reliant on a handful of driver properties such as international cricket and Premier League football, is witnessing more long-term bets on local franchises, in a bid to create a firmer foundation for growth.

“Sports content is very engaging but I believe the practices in the sports business are quite toxic,” said Star India COO Sanjay Gupta, speaking at this year’s APOS conference on a panel provocatively called ‘Sports: Tonic or Toxic’.

“For me, sports is equivalent to a content creation business, but it has been run largely as a rent-a-cab business, wherein you get someone’s signal, put it on air, and try to make money out of that,” Gupta added. “I think that is very difficult.”

Star, a major force in Indian entertainment, made its own foray into sports two years ago, initially via big-ticket cricket properties but more recently by testing the potential of less visible franchises.

The broadaster bought 10-year rights for the Pro Kabaddi League and has partnered IMG-Reliance on a 15-year development plan for a new local football tournament, the Indian Super League (ISL).

Star India has been optimizing its investments, laying out fresh pitches for the ISL while styling top kabaddi players as sports heroes, complete with tattoos and hairstyles to appeal to a younger audience.

“The overall packaging has to attract the consumer towards other sports and not just cricket,” Gupta explained. “One has to invest beyond rights to hold games that are competitive and come on as an interesting story.”

Sports rights agency MP & Silva has also placed a high-profile bet on local sports, entering a 15-year media and marketing pact to develop Malaysia’s local football league for an estimated US$350 million, a steep rise on the previous cycle.

“The value of the rights is much higher than what was there last season, but we have evaluated the market very well because the ratings of local football are higher than the Premier League,” said MP & Silva’s founding partner, Andrea Radrizzani.

“There are a few but important changes, like the scheduling of the games,” Radrizzani added.

“All of them were being played at the same time slot last year. Next year, there will be five or six time slots, so it will increase the audience opportunity. It is very important to understand that impact on the value.”

Better delivery

At the same time, broadcasters are spending more on making a wider range of international sports more accessible to audiences in Asia, through localization as well as additional feeds and streams on multiple screens.

“A lot of our driver content comes from overseas, but it’s uniquely important for us to have a Singaporean view of the event, whether it was the Fifa World Cup last year or with our ongoing football coverage,” said Anurag Dahiya, head of content for local IPTV provider, Singtel TV.

“Is it giving us overnight results in doubling our viewership or anything? Of course not, but it’s a steady game that we will continue to invest in.”

Singtel has also seen multiscreen consumption increasing in homes where smart devices double up as secondary set-top boxes, especially for late-night viewing. OTT access is included within the overall subscription fee for now, but that might change in the future.

“Could it be something that we will look to monetize eventually?” Dahiya said. “Sure, that is an option, but for now it is important to drive consumption.”

Deeper engagement can also drive ad revenue in sports, which represents a major slice of income in Western markets. In Southeast Asia by contrast, advertiser interest remains relatively low.

“You don’t see advertisers using sports as a brand association or marketing tool to the extent as in other genres like factual,” said Rohit D’Silva, EVP of Fox International Channels’ commercial division for Asia and the Middle East.

“There is an opportunity there. As we are able to create a better product for the consumer – not just taking rights and putting them on the air – but by putting local talent and local production around it, it could grow.”

Single market sales for sports rights can also obstruct the flow of regional ad dollars, D’Silva pointed out, citing tennis tournament the French Open as an example.

“When it was market by market, it was hard for any single market to get any meaningful advertising dollars,” he said. “But when it comes to a pan-regional player like us and you create a story around it, a brand association, it is a success.”

Local ad sales, a struggle today, will take time to grow, D'Silva added.

“One has to take a really long-term view on that as well to develop it,” he said. “If people can find ways to integrate it in your overall packages, digital can give more benefit, because that is a way your monetization can improve.”