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Indian Obsessions
Bigger than Becks, bigger than Jonny... In a nation of a billion people, Sachin Tendulkar is the most admired celebrity, beating even the Bollywood stars - and cricket is of course the national sporting obsession. In the first of two articles based on a survey by Synovate and Blackstone Market Facts, DRNO looks at sport and celebrity in India.
As well as looking at attitudes towards sporting teams and heroes, the survey asked Indians about awareness of brand endorsements and about their own leisure and sporting activities. DRNO will look at these last two tomorrow.
Asked to name their favourite celebrity, sporting or otherwise, 33% chose film stars and 30% cricketers. Tendulkar (14%) pips movie icon Amitabh Bachchan (13%) for the top spot. Cricket is comfortably the favourite game to watch on television (93%), is watched live by 74% and played by 29%.
The survey asked how Indians spend their leisure time. Watching television is way out in front with 86%. Reading (40%), listening to music (31%), watching movies (27%) and cooking (13%) are also popular.
Only 8% listed outdoor sports as a leisure pursuit, much lower than the percentage who play cricket at least once a week! Seemingly sport, and cricket in particular, are too serious or too energetic to be classified as mere 'leisure'. 29% of all respondents currently play cricket and twice that number have played at one time or another. 55% of 15-25 year olds play now, versus 17% of 36-45 year olds. Among cricket players, 47% play at least once a week and many manage to squeeze in up to three games a week.
A massive 93% of respondents watch cricket on television, with 4% watching football / soccer and only 1% watching badminton, baseball, tennis, track & field and other Indian sports. 74% watch live cricket while only 3% watch football / soccer and 19% watch no live sports. 18% have attended a live sporting event in the three months prior to the late October study, despite there being no international cricket in India during this period.
Indians' most admired Indian cricketer of all time is, unsurprisingly, Sachin Tendulkar with 64%. Kapil Dev is second with 10% and Saurav Ganguly third with 4%. The reasons are as follows:
Turning momentarily away from home, the Australians have won Indians' respect. Ricky Ponting is the most admired international cricketer from another nation (14% of the votes), while Steve Waugh is close behind on 12%. Interestingly, 4% voted for Pakistan's Wasim Akram.
Respondents were also asked which other national team they would prefer to see win a match if not India. Australia was overwhelmingly the team of choice with 53% - three possible reasons are Australia's current tour in India (which started just after the survey ran), the Indian appreciation of sporting excellence (Australia are still the holders of at least one World Cup), and the fact that it's no great shame to be beaten by the Australians, if respondents were perhaps assuming India to be the opposition...
64% of respondents would least like to see Pakistan win an international cricket game, followed by 12% Bangladesh. England and New Zealand received negligible mentions in either the 'love' or 'hate' categories.
Synovate's Global CEO Adrian Chedore, on a visit to Blackstone Market Facts' Mumbai and New Delhi offices, said it was not surprising to see the survey findings dominated by cricket, cricket and more cricket. 'Sport is a passion - people laugh, cry, cheer and jeer for their teams - and this makes it big business as well. And there's no bigger sports business in India than cricket...'
According to Alok Shanker, Managing Director of Blackstone Market Facts, 'While cricket is obviously a national obsession in India, our survey also turned up some quirky details and some areas that marketers could target in the future.
'For instance, television is the hot communication medium - with 86% of Indians enjoying it as a leisure pursuit. And some people obviously classify sport as more serious than mere leisure because the number of television watchers leaps even higher when it comes to watching sport. Indeed, 93% of those surveyed watch cricket on television, and the next highest viewership is only 4% for football / soccer.
'This passion for watching cricket cuts across all ages and genders so the company that can credibly establish itself as a cricketing partner - via sponsorship, advertising or other promotional activities - goes a long way towards reaching the bulk of the Indian populace'.
Synovate acquired Blackstone Market Facts in September 2003, and the company will rebrand as Synovate India on 1 February 2004. Mr Chedore's visit to Mumbai and New Delhi and the Synovate sports survey are both part of the launch celebrations for the rebranded company across India.
1,007 people aged 15 to 55 were interviewed face-to-face in home in late October and early November, split between Delhi and Lucknow in the North, Kolkata in the East, Mumbai and Ahmedabad in the West and Chennai and Hyderabad in the South Zone. 60% of respondents were male and 40% female.
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