With cricket included in the LA 2028, the Summer Olympic Games viewership is set to grow manifolds.
It will also potentially increase the ways of story-telling with a chance of cricketers collaborating with the regular Olympians. Moreover, in a first, the likes of Rishabh Pant or Surya Kumar Yadav, will be dubbed as Olympians, set to bring laurels in a new format to the country.
Addressing the inclusion of cricket in Olympic Games at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit, Aditya Aditya, Head of Media Business Strategy & Intelligence at the International Olympic Committee said: “Cricket was one of the big things for us. We wanted to make sure that cricket becomes part of the Olympics. And the mission was very clear: how can we get closer to every fourth person in the world that is living in India and the subcontinent? Imagine cricket stars sitting and watching athletics and swimming or hanging out with Neeraj Chopra. Those moments go a long way in creating those stories.”
Aditya highlighted the impact that a populous country like India can produce along with Artificial Intelligence in use now.
“India is a leader in media consumption and digital innovation. With a massive audience of over 1.4 billion people, the opportunities are tremendous. We are excited about the prospects in commercial programs and how they can translate into new opportunities for our partners to engage.
“We could be using AI to make sure that fans can have the voice of a leading commentator. Translating to India, it could be a leading commentator that exists now, or a leading Bollywood character or the character of your choice,” he added.
He advised to start storytelling around athletes and events early.
“We need to start way early in terms of planning and all the promotion that goes into building the stories about athletes, that must go one year in advance. Looking at the Indian context, imagine if we knew Dipa Karmakar and millions of people knew she was a potential talent. This would have created an amazing buzz ahead of Rio 2016,” Aditya said,
“We are looking to create an Indian audience or local audience in any market. Knowing about their athletes, possibly six months or a year in advance, however early we can create, and then transcend the boundary of sports as well. We want to look at movies, look at TV shows, look at digital creators, and create those relevant stories around the year,” he added.