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Apr 19, 2023

Sanjog Gupta: If there was a myth that linear TV dying when it comes to live sport, then that myth has been busted wide open: Sanjog Gupta

'Nearly 500 million TV viewers tuned in to watch IPL till play-off stage'

Record high viewership for IPL playoffs in 2023, 44% higher YoY

Jio Cinema's penetration jumped 4X on the back of free IPL streaming

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More than a year after the ₹25,938 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for India's auto sector came into effect, qualified manufacturers await clarity on whether they will receive sops for the first year of the programme.

Byju's has sued its lender Redwood, an American investment management firm, and its related entities in the New York Supreme Court for accelerating the repayment of a $1.2 billion Term Loan B (TLB). This marks a new twist in the long-drawn saga playing out between the Indian edtech major and its lenders even as Byju's missed its quarterly interest payment of about $40 million for the TLB that was due on June 5.

Sequoia Capital, the marquee Silicon Valley investor in early-stage companies, has broken away from its India and China partnerships, signalling a retreat from Asia for the fund that had backed technology giants Apple and Google in its early days.

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Listen Morning Brief Podcast ARIJIT: So straight off, This season of IPL was a first on many counts. It was probably the first time in a long time the TV and digital rights were split. It was also the first time that the split was happening at a time when, thanks to cheap data, we had seen exponential growth of the digital universe in India. So how was it like to compete? ARIJIT: I said the word compete because there was a personal angle to it. There were a lot of your ex-colleagues now on the other side, some might even go to the extent to say you were up against your own mentor Uday Shankar? ARIJIT: Correct. But the journey began, if I may say, with on a very aggressive pitch, the Jio Cinema or Reliance's positioning from the first week itself was very clear -- Linear TV is dead, and they were really aggressive about it. Were you initially taken back? And would you say, looking back, you were defensive in the beginning first? ARIJIT: But let me ask you the nub of the issue Is linear TV dead when it comes to live sports in India? ARIJIT: You know what intrigues me globally Disney is going underweight on TV and bulking up digital. The Indian strategy therefore looks like an outlier, but for how long can India remain ARIJIT: You touched upon a very important point, the viability. Now, if TV is. What you're betting on and you want to go strong, double down. The obvious question is why then did Disney or Star sub licence the ICC rights to Zee? That defies logic. ARIJIT: When we talk of growth, has the metro growth plateaued for TV? And as a consequence, are you losing premium consumers, high ARPU consumers to smart devices and digital? ARIJIT: Let me get to the elephant in [00:20:00] the room. There have been claims that digital revenues for the first time is higher than tv. Straight question, straight answer, yes ARIJIT: What's the, what's the feedback that you get from the trade? ARIJIT: But startups who are big spenders pulled out largely. Lot of belt tightening all across advertisers and advertising spends. Let me ask this directly.. Have you reached your revenue target on year one? ARIJIT: Is this a cryptic way of saying could have been better? ARIJIT: Because some are speculating there's been a 30% revenue shortfall. Your rivals it's actually 50% shortfall. ARIJIT: But there's a $3 billion meter (Disney -Star bid) that is already running? ARIJIT: We've spoken a lot about IPL. Now what next? Where does STAR Sports go from here? There is a 50 over ICC World Cup coming up and it's on Star. How are you padding up for that? ARIJIT: How much of revenue dependencies would you link the next two or three mega events that are coming up? ARIJIT: We have seen an explosion of short videos, attention spans are going down. Does it have a bearing on the way we watch longer version of the match?
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