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This David Warner campaign helped Kayo Sports bat harder for Indians

By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

May 30, 2023 | 6 min read

The campaign won in the Sports category at The Drum Awards for Marketing APAC 2023.

How a David Warner campaign helped the Kayo Sports brand bat harder for Indians

The broadcaster needed to create a campaign enticing paid subscribers from free-to-air channels. It decided to attract an underserved audience with a catchy campaign.

The Brief

In October 2022, Kayo Sports faced the challenge of attracting customers during the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup in Australia, where Australian games and finals were being broadcast for free on Channel 9. The objective was to devise a strategy that would compel fans to choose Kayo Sports over the free broadcasts and achieve aggressive new customer acquisition. The target audience included multicultural cricketing communities in Australia, with a particular focus on the Indian community, which presented the largest cricket audience to win over.

The Idea

Kayo Sports developed a clear strategy. The Australian team had every game available for free and focused on the multicultural cricketing communities from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, New Zealand, England and more. To capture attention, Kayo Sports launched a brand campaign featuring international cricket star David Warner and renowned commentator Brett Lee.

The campaign, titled ’What Happens’, premiered during the NRL Grand Final, effectively transitioning footy fans into cricket and highlighting the risk of missing out on crucial moments. Additionally, Kayo Sports secured the World Cup rights in Hindi, providing the Indian broadcast feed with a Hindi commentary team consisting of prominent cricket personalities. This move aimed to enhance the experience of Indian fans in Australia by offering matches in their native language.

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The Results

Kayo Sports’ campaign delivered exceptional results and surpassed previous records. The key metrics measured –visibility, comprehension and motivation – all achieved their highest numbers to date. The campaign effectively motivated eight out of 10 non-users to consider signing up for Kayo Sports. It also resulted in Kayo Sports’ highest brand consideration score ever. The summer season kicked off with a significant influx of new customers, leading to record-breaking viewership for the rest of the cricket summer.

Notable results include 36m live match viewing hours across the Test Summer, the second-highest audience on record for the Test series against South Africa (with David Warner’s double century being the most-watched moment ever) and a 20% increase in average audiences for BBL|12 compared with the previous season.

The tailored campaign, which emphasized exclusive content and catered to specific demographics, drove significant brand consideration and contributed to record-breaking viewership, solidifying Kayo Sports as the go-to destination for cricket enthusiasts.

This campaign won at The Drum Awards for Marketing APAC 2023. Find out more about The Drum’s Global Awards program or head to our case studies hub to read more award-winning stories.