NBA India's Yannick Colaco: "The NBA expects its Indian social media to clock over half a billion impressions for this season"
India's ever growing market is not only attracting tech giants but also, sporting giants. India's sports viewership has seen a paradigm shift, as sports apart from cricket have gained a major audience. The interesting thing, which remains to be seen, is how global sports organisations are planning to market themselves in India. The Drum spoke to Yannick Colaco, managing director of NBA India about NBA's venture into the Indian market.
India is a huge priority market for the NBA and the youngest.
Was it a strategic move by NBA to establish its presence in India?
The NBA is trying to broaden the growth of the game and our fan base on a global level.
India is a huge priority market for the NBA and we will continue to make investments in this marketplace to grow the game of basketball. It is also one of the youngest markets, as we have been here for just five years and we continue to be focused on building the game from the bottom-up. We have hosted touring basketball events (NBA Jam), grassroots development programmes (Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA) and talent search programmes (ACG-NBA Jump in partnership with the ACG Worldwide Group) and now invested in NBA Academy in India.
Are any NBA teams planning to invest here? Why do you think they should be investing here? And how can this be achieved?
The Sacramento Kings have time and again engaged with fans in India. The 2015-16 season opener game between Sacramento Kings and LA Clippers was brought live to youngsters at an international school in Mumbai using virtual reality headsets that provided them with a courtside view of the game. The NBA telecast was made possible by the Sacramento Kings’ India-born owner Vivek Ranadive.
Vivek and the Kings also introduced ‘Bollywood Nights’, where the team and its players celebrate Indian heritage, by including in-arena Indian-themed activations including a musical performance by Indian-origin Miss America Nina Davulari, practice T-shirts worn by players with Devanagari script and offering Indian cuisine.
We also live-streamed a game between the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings on Facebook earlier this season and we will continue to explore and invest in new ways to bring the game closer to fans in India.
How has the response been to NBA India so far?
The NBA is more popular in India than ever before. As per the Basketball Federation of India, basketball is the second-fastest growing sport in India (behind soccer) among both boys and girls. We reached a record number of fans across India this season through the official TV partner Sony SIX which telecasts- 14 weekly games, NBA Inside Stuff, daily and weekly highlight shows, into the second season of our weekly wraparound show ‘Around the Hoop’ and ‘NBA Weekly’ on SONY SIX, both produced in India for the Indian fans.
Sony Six has successfully delivered comprehensive coverage of the NBA to the fans, televising 14 games a week. The popularity of the NBA continues to grow and, through the diversity of NBA programming on Sony Six, they have been consistently engaging with the viewers across India.
Viewership of the NBA has skyrocketed in the last few seasons due to Sony Six’s commitment to bring two live games per day and other compelling NBA programmes to our fans
Last year, we announced a partnership with the 120 Media Collective to operate our localised digital destination (NBA.com.in). The partnership has helped us grow our expansive digital presence in India by providing the digitally savvy fans with a way to connect with their favourite teams and players
The geo-targeted NBA.com offers Indian fans access to all things NBA, such as video highlights, game recaps, scores, stats and more. The responsive and mobile-first digital destinations also provide extensive localised content, including podcasts hosted by local basketball personalities and features personalised settings for fans to follow their favourite NBA teams and players
The NBA expects its Indian social media to clock over half a billion impressions for this season. The NBA’s digital footprint is an important part of the fan acquisition and engagement strategy in the market.
What plans do you have to expand NBA India's reach here?
We will soon launch NBA Academy India, an elite basketball training centre in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) on May 9, 2017. We conducted a national scouting program to identify the inaugural pool of 24 elite prospects who will receive training at the fully residential NBA Academy India.
The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program has reached more than 3.5 million youth and trained more than 3,000 physical education instructors nationwide in 2016-17. In 2015, the NBA debuted ACG-NBA Jump, India’s first national basketball talent search that provided the top player, Palpreet Singh, with the opportunity to attend the NBA Development League (NBA D-League) National Tryout in the United States.
Tell us about any recent sponsorships and partnerships, and about any future ventures NBA is thinking of with regards to India.
We are focused on a 360-degree outreach with respect to reaching out and engaging with the diverse fanbase.
The NBA currently has fantastic partnerships with Sony Six for broadcasting, Reliance Foundation for Jr. NBA, ACG for ACG NBA Jump, Gatorade, Jabong for our ecommerce apparel store – nbastore.in and now, Jack & Jones for a capsule collection and recently with India on Track for NBA Basketball Schools.
Along with our partners, we have been very successful in popularising and growing the game of basketball in India and will continue to do so.