M.S Dhoni to promote English Premier League in India

[1983-2011]

The Indian National Cricket team captain has agreed to appear in a campaign that aims to increase the number of English Premier League enthusiasts in the country...

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been roped in as a brand ambassador to promote the English Premier League (EPL) and would be seen promoting the game on STAR Sports. "A keen soccer enthusiast and a Manchester United fan, MS Dhoni will invite all sports fans to 'Join the Game' in a clutter breaking integrated marketing campaign which will be launched early next week. The campaign will have a strong on-air and digital media thrust," the channel said in a release. The campaign will portray Dhoni as an ardent soccer fan and will showcase how the cricketer is always glued to the TV sets, watching EPL every weekend while his close ones run around searching for him. "I am an avid EPL fan and I just played out a real situation in front of the camera. If I am not busy with cricket, I am always busy with EPL during week-ends. Soccer is extremely exciting and very close to my heart. I was a goal keeper during my school days. Even today, I play soccer as a warm up game ahead of key cricket matches," said Dhoni. "I feel that Indian sports fans should consume different types of sports. I want them to be passionate about cricket as they are, but at the same time one needs to give healthy respect for other disciplines as well." "This STAR Sports initiative to provide soccer commentary now in Hindi will go a long way in making soccer exciting to watch and comprehend for new audiences across the nation. Similar efforts should be done to promote other sports as well," he added. Star Sports has taken a number of initiatives this year to capture the ever-increasing football lover youth community of the country. Earlier they had announced that apart from the regular English commentary, Hindi commentary will also be available for the first time for over 100 live matches across the season. "We are delighted to have MS Dhoni come on board as the brand ambassador for EPL in the country. We are targeting to expand the fan base of EPL in India by leveraging the iconic power and fan following of MS Dhoni to attract cricket fans to sample EPL," said Vijay Rajput, Chief Operating Officer, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd. Dhoni's love for soccer is not something new, as widespread media reports indicated that he had regular playing sessions well after his teenage years in Kharagpur, before he had turned a professional cricketer. However, among all this brouhaha surrounding Dhoni's decision to back the Premier League, the state of Indian football again gets neglected as most of the followers of the game continue to rejoice in the success stories of teams from abroad.

http://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/3952/asia/2013/08/09/4174083/ms-dhoni-to-promote-english-premier-league-in-india

[BeautifulGame]

Wrong section

[SLICKR392]

Sidhoni, Manu fan. Should have figured that earlier. :headshake:

[Sidhoni]

Star Sports are going to telecast it in Hindi as well and they are explaining basics of the game too. They surely are looking to gain high TRPs this season, possibly they will also show FIFA WC in India.

[Sidhoni]

Sidhoni' date=' Manu fan. Should have figured that earlier. :headshake:[/quote'] :giggle:

[carnish]

Star Sports are going to telecast it in Hindi as well and they are explaining basics of the game too. They surely are looking to gain high TRPs this season' date=' possibly they will also show FIFA WC in India.[/quote'] Kya TRPs ... Most people that watch EPL in India are youths from Urban centres. Once they telecast the matches in Hindi, Star will lose their core viewership by atleast 20%. And there's no guarantee if many local non-english speaking population will pick up the game or not. It is a sticky ground that STAR is getting in to. I hope they show the matches in both Hindi and English but that will make it difficult for them to show different live matches at the same time. Meaning, we may have same game on 2 channels rather than having 2 different matches on ESPN and Star like last year. The best thing will be having the match commentary in 2 languages and giving the language choice to the viewer himself like Discovery or Cartoon Network do.

[BeautifulGame]

Star Sports are going to telecast it in Hindi as well and they are explaining basics of the game too. They surely are looking to gain high TRPs this season' date=' possibly they will also show FIFA WC in India.[/quote'] FIFA WC timings will make it too hard to follow unlike EPL

[Debutant]

Though I can write and speak hindi fluently, I hate hearing cricket commentary in hindi. It is going to be a pain to watch EPL matches now that they are gonna have hindi commentary. I really love football but I don't think I am gonna watch most of the matches now if they are gonna give hindi commentary :sad:

[adi B]

star initiated this hindi BS for PL games in 2004,05 ,iirc..it was pathetic and most likely will this time it`ll be a failure again

[Soorma_Bhopali]

Though I can write and speak hindi fluently' date=' I hate hearing cricket commentary in hindi. It is going to be a pain to watch EPL matches now that they are gonna have hindi commentary. I really love football but I don't think I am gonna watch most of the matches now if they are gonna give hindi commentary :sad:[/quote'] I think they are going to ALSO give commentary in Hindi ..they never said the English commentary for the match will not be available.

[carnish]

I think they are going to ALSO give commentary in Hindi ..they never said the English commentary for the match will not be available.

But that would mean 2 channels showing the same game ... Atleast last year we could see different matches on star sports and ESPN but that option seems gone now. Moreover, I was hoping for 3 games live together this year considering the introduction of star sports 2. But sab kachra :banghead:

[Debutant]

I think they are going to ALSO give commentary in Hindi ..they never said the English commentary for the match will not be available.

As stated by many, they can not show all the matches taking place simultaneously. They will only show the matches from the bigger teams. I don't understand how can hindi commentary increase the viewership. I guess more people understand English rather than hindi in India, specially when we consider those having access to Star Sports and ESPN (I maybe wrong here). Hindi commentary will be absolutely boring and monotonous. I am sure the so called experts won't even be knowing all the players from a team like stoke city.

[Sidhoni]

Previously there was no STAR Sports 2. There were 2 different games at a time shown on STAR Sports and ESPN. I think they will continue to show 2 matches, with one of them also in Hindi commentary on STAR Sports 2.

[Sachin=GOD]

concentrate on cricket :poink:

[surajmal]

How about promoting domestic football instead? Better yet stick to cricket and stop with this promotion BS.

[puneet28]

They will give option to select language between Hindi and English. So Facility is available for DTH and Digital Cable Subscribers only.

[Laaloo]

HOpe he promotes his career to EPL as well

[saneindian]

How about promoting domestic football instead? Better yet stick to cricket and stop with this promotion BS.

Ten Action shows the I-league, Durand Cup and a few other important domestic football tournaments and think they have the rights of Indian football for 10 years. On topic, Hindi commentary for EPL is perhaps inspired by success of their hindi commentary for cricket. Like it or not, it does give them access to a larger pool of audience. Wonder who would do the Hindi commentary though. Most of desi football commentators like Novi Kapadia, Baichung are not comfortable with Hindi.

[Haarkarjeetgaye]

its already popular. what more promotion do they need

[kubrickian]

I have always found soccer boring to watch. :dontknow: Its not my cup of tea I guess.