Mobile, radio and cricket

1. HOW WORLD CUP CRICKET HAS EVOLVED FROM RADIO…. TO MOBILE
To know the scores and listen to the commentary of the first world cup cricket in 1975 all of us just relied on
one medium and that was radio. And this was only possible on BBC and to get the right reception one had to
stand on the balcony or terrace of your apartment holding the radio set in different direction to get the right
reception. It was exciting to hear the great radio commentators like Brian Johnston and Christopher Martin
Jenkins. Radio had its own charm and one could hear the commentary without any interruption and
interestingly there were no jingles or ad spots. The second world cup was more or less identical to 1975 and
we still depended on radio as the only source of medium to know the score.
The change in the medium emerged in 1983 as the matches were telecast on TV by Doordarshan. Here again
only the semifinals and finals were telecast. But the interesting moment and feature was that people who
had color sets could watch the matches in color as India went in to color after the Asian Games. Here again
matches were telecast without any interruptions as there were no advertisements. And this was one of the
most memorable world cup for Indians, as Kapil's men bagged the world cup by shocking the strong team of
West Indies who were defending the cup for the third consecutive year.
1987 saw a new dimension to the world cup as the cup was held in India. It was called the Reliance cup and
it was prestigious for India to hold it, as it was always held in England. We witnessed more brands getting
associated with cricket in a big way and the tournament was highly successful. India as an organizer put up a
good show and this was just the beginning of the game becoming biggerand reaching a larger audience. But
during those days DD was only channel and therefore had the telecast rights and all matches were telecast
only DD live.
The last few years the game has grown bigger and newer formats have come into play. This has been
complemented by the several medium starting from TV to radio and now the mobile were you enjoy live
scores on the go. The new technology and increase of mobile usage has made it possible that every second of
entertainment is captured and engagement with cricket on mobile has increased manifolds. It’s been a great
journey for cricket and so, it is for the new medium. For mobile this is just the beginning and we will see
more inventions and innovation in the mobile platform to make it more attractive and engaging to
advertisers and brands. Live engagement on the go is what consumers want, which only the mobile medium
can deliver with rich media content and interesting videos.
Author: Senior Vice -President, Eureka Mobile Advertising.