The Asian Games 2022, which began almost 10 days ago, has been a huge success thus far, with India bringing home 38 medals, including 10 gold, 14 silver, and 14 bronze. The ongoing quadrennial meet was initially set for 2022, however, it was pushed forward a year owing to COVID-19.
In the most recent competition, in Jakarta 2018, the Indian team of 570 athletes won a record-breaking 70 medals, including 16 gold, 23 silver, and 31 bronze. This time around, with an increased contingent size, an increase in the number of medals is also predicted. A significant portion of India’s medals in the Asian Games over the years, 254 of a total of 672, have come from athletics. In Hangzhou, the athletic competitions will once again be the main attraction owing to India’s 68 competitors, the largest contingent in any category for the nation.
Additionally, India performed well in football, as they advanced to knockouts before losing to the mighty Saudi Arabia. Neeraj Chopra, Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, and other athletes will also demonstrate their talent, which will definitely propel Indian sports to new heights. Moreover, Hangzhou offers 74 Olympic quotas for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, including six for archery, 10 for artistic swimming, 34 for boxing, two for hockey, 10 for modern pentathlon, six for sailing, two for tennis, and two for water polo.
After a strong showing at the Commonwealth Games 2022, India is now aiming to go even better at the Asian Games, and all of this action can be seen on Sony Sports Network. The majority of the network’s Hindi-language programming has been a hit with viewers, who particularly appreciate seeing renowned pundits Manish Batavia, Somdev Devvarman, Siddharth Pandey, and others enthusiastically discuss the events. Many people still recall the legendary celebration of the commentators after the Indian hockey team won bronze at the Olympics in 2020.
Sony even published a campaign “Iss Baar Sau Paar, Phir se, Hum Hongey Kamyab” for the event which had many celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Sudha Murty, Aamir Khan, Hema Malini, Madhuri Dixit, Aditya Roy Kapoor, John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, and Kapil Sharma.
Leveraging the significance of the competition and the anticipation of eyeballs it was going to attract, Sony managed to bag various businesses as on-air sponsors for the event:
TV Broadcast Sponsors:
Hyundai, JSW Group, Limca Sportz, Policy Bazaar, LIC, UltraTech Cement, and Amul as the co-presenting sponsors, while as associate sponsors, the media firm has onboarded Panasonic and Parle Products. Moreover, the State Bank of India was also announced as a banking partner.
Digital Streaming Partners:
On the other hand, the broadcasting baron also brought in sponsors for its OTT platform, SonyLIV. EatFit, JSW, and Maruti Suzuki have been announced as co-presenting sponsors, while ACKO and Limca Sportz have been named co-powered by sponsor and hydration partner, respectively.
More than 90% of the available inventory has been sold via the network. The investment for co-presenting sponsors is reportedly INR 3.5 crore, and for associate sponsors is INR 2.4 crore.
In addition, for this edition, the media company hopes to reach more than 100 million viewers. With cricket, athletics, and hockey knockout matches coming up in the next few days, viewership is bound to skyrocket.
The businesses’ interest in sports events outside of cricket in India is motivated by an ambition to be a part of something important and inspirational, as well as to reach out to supporters in smaller areas and become a part of the wonderful stories that these athletes represent.