Category Archives for IPL

IPL cheer-girls are teachers, gymnasts & acrobats, not strippers!!!

Angela Carson a Californian, the media spokesperson for the Karnataka Premier League writes in her article The naked truth about the Indian Premier League cheerleaders in her blog: Angela’s Adventures in Bangalore 

The writer (centre) with the RCB White Mischief cheerleaders (from left) Kaylé Koegelenberg, Melissa Burke, Daniella De Silva and Nadine Theron.

These girls are smart, have huge hearts, warm personalities, volunteer their time to charity and can dance your socks off!

No one likes to be falsely labeled or judged. Sadly, I did it before I heard how ridiculous I must have sounded when I heard my buddy make his outlandish claims about women he’s never met. Thank goodness my “fight for the underdog” and “women’s equality” gene kicked in because if not I would have never spent a fun afternoon with Melissa, Nadine, Kaylé and Daniella – who for me were ambassadors for all of the white cheerleaders in India. These girls adore India, respect and are friends with the players and their wives and girlfriends, have a good head on their shoulders and dance their hearts out cheering for our one common goal – an IPL victory! 

….Here in India, although the girls do have official public relations obligations, one thing that touched me the most about them was the activities that they schedule into their own free time, away from the cameras and the limelight. In Kolkata they spent time at Mother Teresa’s Mother House charity where they all felt in awe of the impact she’s had on the world.  They also visited and donated their own time to an orphanage, which they all said left a lasting impression on them and has touched them more than any other experience to date in India.

Melissa Burke (26) team captain. … After high school, Melissa went on to university to study psychology and organisational psychology and next year plans to return to complete her honours and start a career in child psychology because of her passion for helping the young. …She water skis, wake boards and last year took a course in meditation, which she continues to practice here in India .

Nadine Theron (youngest of RCB cheerleaders)…At the age of four she started acrobatics training and is the only member of the RCB cheer team who does acrobatics, including front and back flips, to pump up the crowd at matches. Nadine holds her associate teachers certificate to teaches acrobatics to children. 

Kaylé Koegelenberg is 22, from Windhoek, Namibia…the town where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pritt’s daughter was born…. She’s been dancing since the age of five and has played so many sports – including hockey – that I couldn’t write them all down! 

Daniella De Silva(21) AKA Danimal, is the team joker. She started taking gymnastics classes at five and then modern dance classes at six, which she continued along with hip hop through high school.  ….. she will stay back in India and move to Mumbai after IPL is done. She hopes to make it big in Bollywood one day and work alongside Shahrukh Khan. In Hindi, she’s learned to count up to 23 so far, and is picking up the language quite quickly with a zealous and fun passion for pronunciation!

Back home most of the girls are involved in at least one, if not more, charity organisations. Melissa helps build new schools and improve the infrastructure in townships (slums) and hopes to work with premature babies as a kangaroo therapist.  Kaylé believes in giving her time, not money, and donates her time to underprivileged children’s homes. She’s now going through orientation and background checks in order to spend more time with those kids teaching them to play hockey, although she admits that struggling to generate funds to buy one hockey stick for each kid is a challenge.

Read the full article: The naked truth about the Indian Premier League cheerleaders

(Angela Carson is a Californian who moved to Bangalore in April 2011. Aside from writing for magazines, newspapers and various websites, she heads up the MarCom team for a leading Indian BPO company. She also works in the exciting world of cricket public relations as media spokesperson for the Karnataka Premier League. Angela is also a blogger)

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IPL 5’s TRP show consistent decline!

Arguably, brand IPL has all the ingredients to be a blockbuster, and has proved to be a superhit formula to encash sports entertainment both by BCCI and broadcaster Max. But is the high-octane IPL glitz and glamour on the wane? Comparing the average TRPs of the first 6 matches of all five IPL seasons, one sees a consistent declining trend. However, one must also keep in mind that being a cricket event the tournament can always attain its peak towards the end when the excitement level goes up.

But is there a saturation point? Hariharan Vishwanath, National Trading Director, MEC India, who is in-charge of the study on IPL viewership undertaken by MEC every year, does not see IPL 5 beating the IPL4 ratings. According to him, it should stabilise at an Average TVR of 3.4 – 3.8, which is good.

Commenting on the declining viewership trend, Naveen Khemka, Senior Vice-President, ZenithOptimedia India, said,

“The initial euphoria of the IPL has stabilised. We cannot expect ratings to increase every year. Brands have become cautious. Just because it is IPL is not reason enough for them to be willing to pay a premium. They want it at the right price as every marketing rupee spent is under pressure due to margins. As a result some brands have taken a wait-and-watch policy. They will get in only if they are sure the ROI is effective.”

courtesy: BestMediaInfo Bureau
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Who’s afraid of IPL? Not Hindi TV channels

Hindi television channels have geared up with new big ticket shows during the fifth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), displaying no fear of losing their loyal audience to cricket.

Starting March 31, Star Plus is coming up with a new singing reality show “Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar 2″, to be judged by Shaan and Shantanu Moitra and hosted by Mandira Bedi.

Sab TV has recently brought a new season of the popular “Movers & Shakers” with Shekhar Suman back to the telly world after 11 years.

Zee TV is set to launch the kids’ reality show ”

television

television (Photo credit: jeevs)

” and fiction show “Phir Subah Hogi“, while Colors too has two new shows on board — a social thriller “Chhal – Sheh Aur Maat”, which went on air Monday, and “Kairi – Rishta Khatta Meetha”, which will be telecast starting April.

The channels feel their core audience will remain unaffected during IPL, which will kickstart in April on Set MAX.

“We reckon there is a loyal audience for cricket just as for entertainment channels and don’t see a huge overlap of the two. Moreover, if the content and concept of a show are strong, the audiences will continue to watch their favourite shows over IPL,” said Prashaant Bhatt, head of fiction, Colors.

New shows are still being launched to grab eyeballs, but Bhatt argues: “We don’t plan to launch a show or postpone the launch because of IPL. Our programming line-up and launch plans are thought through months in advance keeping in mind the audience viewing preferences and content requirements of the channel.

“A lot of research goes into the decision of when is the right time to launch a particular show. With ‘Kairi’, it was just the right time to launch a new show as part of our new programme lineup.”

He has the same opinion about including high points in on-going shows.

“High points are planned as per the story’s progression and not merely to grab eyeballs. If the story demands a high point during IPL, we will go ahead and execute it,” said Bhatt.

According to Ajay Bhalwankar, programming head, Zee TV, IPL is usual competition.

“We had launched a big show like ‘Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo’ during a previous season of IPL and the show was appreciated by the audience.

“So this year, we are launching two major shows – ‘Dance India Dance L’il Masters 2′ in the non-fiction segment and ‘Phir Subah Hogi’ in the fiction space as we believe good content will always be a winner,” said Bhalwankar.

Danish Khan, marketing head, Sony Entertainment Television, says there are no immediate plans to launch new shows, and since “IPL will be on air on a sister channel”, there is no such concern.

Meanwhile, Set MAX has big plans to market the IPL. The channel has rolled out a special communication campaign — “Aisa Mauka Aur Kahan Milega” to get maximum viewership this season.

The fifth season of IPL will feature 76 matches over a period of 54 days in the months of April and May. Nine teams are participating in the cricket league and, of course, the channel is expecting good ratings.

“With this campaign, we want to bring alive the obsession and passion of IPL, which brings people together across the country with their friends and families, to enjoy the biggest extravaganza on Indian television. We look forward to yet another record-breaking edition of the DLF IPL this year,” said Gaurav Seth, senior vice president (Marketing and Communications), MAX.

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