Adgully Exclusive | No channel can claim they have so many properties: Ashish Bahl, VP marketing NEO Sports

"Dear you can watch it during the commercial break".

This was the exchange between my father and me. I always end up in an argument with my dad and brothers over watching television. Can't elaborate how much I detest getting into a disagreement over watching sports channels, since I can't watch my favorite shows and my family like lots of other families is busy watching one or the other sports channel.

India is a country where cricket is followed religiously. Though other forms of sports have also gained momentum, however Cricket still rules the roost. In one of the cricket matches, some sports enthusiasts waved out a banner that read, "If Cricket is religion then Sachin Tendulkar is the God." Seeing this level of passion for the sport, Adgully could not stop from talking to Ashish Bahl, VP marketing, NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd.

Neo sports has been around for a while now and is still going strong. What's the secret? Bahl explains, "The biggest differentiator is NEO cricket. It's not just the India series but if you look at the breadth of the kind of content that we carry beginning with the Asia Cup, as it marks the beginning of the cricket season, after which there is India-Australia in October, India-New Zealand, and may be another series which will get firmed up."

He divulges further, "There is Dilip Trophy, Ranji Trophy, Challengers Trophy, so it's almost like a window for the entire cricket scene in India. So if there is a new star rising, you can track him through the tournaments. Very recently we broadcast the Maharashtra Premiere League where we got some fantastic response and not just ratings."

It is the home of Indian cricket on TV ' that was the line which was used in the past. Purely from the content point of view, that is the biggest differentiator. According to Neo, other channels have sporadic tournaments that include ICC tournaments. But ICC is very subjective to India's performance, and that was seen after what happened in the 20-20 performance. Indian cricket team has 10-15 new players and they would have to be tracked because we will be playing world cup next year.

Discussing about the specific positioning strategy, Bahl discloses, "We will keep refreshing it. Currently, that is work in progress so I won't like to comment on that specifically. As far as NEO sports is concerned, we have Bundesliga for the football lovers, PGA, a golf property, Motorsports, Tennis, Badminton and if you put all these together there is a complete bank of rich sporting activities. The channel is differentiating in how we speak to the consumers, engage and deliver. It's a holistic mix of having great programming. No channel can claim to have so many properties."

If programming and content is one side of the coin then marketing is the other. According to Neo, Marketing strategies vary from event to event and property to property. For example, the Asia cup campaign is different owing to the emotional connect attached with it.

Marketers have understood the theory very deeply about connecting with the audiences and trying to engage them in some or the other way. These days if we notice, the focus is shifting to local and regional, rather than urban; be it family drama, brand target or sports channels. So is NEO also on the same lines? Talking about reach in Tier 1 and 2 towns, Bahl elucidates, "As far as cricket is concerned, it is for the entire country. For other sports it will be a little more niche like golf is not a mass sport therefore accordingly we will target. We will be going to the smaller markets aggressively. We have many stars in the sports coming from the interiors be it Dhoni from cricket, Vijender in boxing, be it a star from hockey ' they are all small to medium town boys who are finding extreme success."

This is a whole era of innovations; brands are on the tip of their toes to bring in some new communication ways to engage the consumers. Adgully tries to probe about the new innovations that NEO is exploring, "There is a series of new things which we are exploring especially with new mediums". We are doing an activity for "Bano India ka lucky charm' which we are promoting heavily through social media as well as mobile. People can send text, videos and whatever they think is good for them."

He further adds on, "People are being encouraged to participate in whatever we are doing. The big difference in this campaign is the moment you start doing it from a fan's point of view rather than a marketer's POV, the entire picture changes and that's what we are trying to do"

As a parting note, Bahl says, "Sports, according to us, is a serious business to have good time. It's not about winning or losing ,sports teaches you so much, motivates you and guides you."