The Pakistan Super League has come of age

SLUG: SPORTS

The Pakistan Cricket Board launched the Pakistan Super League in 2016, initially holding matches in Dubai before moving entirely to Pakistan in 2020. Since then, the PSL has become the second most-viewed T20 league in the world after the Indian Premier League (IPL). After Pakistan, the second-highest viewership of PSL is in India. It has achieved all this despite being the youngest among other major T20 leagues, starting with just five teams that have grown at the moment to just six.

Despite being a newcomer to T20, PSL has already gained a global following. The first three seasons of the tournament were held in the United Arab Emirates because some international cricket players were unwilling to travel to Pakistan. But since the league shifted all its matches to Pakistan, the league’s popularity has exploded. Its seventh edition held in Pakistan was the most successful, earning more revenue and viewers. 

This year, the PCB made sure that all the league’s matches were held in Pakistan, a plan that was only minorly obstructed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ahead of the tournament, 11 organizers tested positive for COVID, PCB Chief Operating Officer, and PSL tournament director Salman Naseer told The Express Tribune. Despite this setback, the tournament got off the ground with some organizers working from the ground while others operated from their rooms in isolation.

To make sure the tournament would happen no matter the scenario, the organizers made more than 200 schedules in case any team couldn’t partake. “If some team member gets COVID-19 or the whole team is tested positive, we have made every alternate for each team and each match," Naseer said. He added that if every team in the tournament had tested positive, they would have pasted the matches for seven days before resuming from the same venue.

More sponsorships

The seventh edition of PSL saw around a 200 percent increase in sponsorships and broadcasting rights from previous tournaments. With the help of international sponsors, the tournament also generated more revenue than any previous tournament – attracting viewership in many different regions.

Habib Bank Limited (HBL) retained the title of main sponsor until 2025, a deal of around PKR 3.5 billion. PSL has been promoting platinum, gold, and silver sponsorships since the first edition of the tournament. This year, sponsorship categories changed to brand partnership rights divided into two categories: seven partner rights and one umpire right[Ma1] .

TransGroup International (TGI), which submitted the highest bid according to a public tender process, won the bid for a four-year term of brand partnership rights beginning in 2022 and stretching until 2025. Naseer from PSL said the new sponsorship format raised the league’s value, with enormous investment amounts from sponsors. “Companies want to associate themselves with PSL,” he said. “This is the reason we went for selling the rights as partners. The sponsors believe that there is more valuable when they are called partner[s] of the event."

He explained the difference between the old and new format in terms of sponsorship rights. The league made a hybrid category between gold and silver sponsorships since there were so many interested sponsors. After six years working with sponsors, he said the PSL team now understands better what is attractive to sponsors. As a result, they tried to create more sponsorship packages to bring in more sponsors and create more revenue. Naseer said the league aims to make the experience as attractive to sponsors as it is to fans.

The highest bid for sponsorship was submitted by TGI. It is the same company that was previously accused by franchise owners of luring away sponsors of individual franchises during the third season. Despite this history, the company was added to the bidding process and won the sponsorship rights. Naseer said there were four bidders this time – three for brands’ partner rights and one for single sponsor rights. After a highly competitive bidding and rebidding process, TGI submitted the highest bid to win rights.

Naseer said he believes TGI committed to this high price tag for sponsorship because the company didn’t want to lose market control. According to sources close to PSL management, the PCB was selling the partner rights at a lower price than what TGI did. Naseer believes the bid amount was too high and TGI might not make a profit from it but it did put the company in a position to maintain market control.

Rana Atif, the franchise owner of Lahore Qalandars told The Express Tribune that franchises were previously against TGI’s bid because of how PCB distributed earnings to sponsors. He said, this year PCB fixed the issue with the new financial model, which franchises believe is more equitable. Previously, he said sponsors complained about low returns on investment, an issue the new arrangement has solved.

The massive increase in sponsorship for the most recent tournament was not just a result of new brand partnership criteria, but also about broadcasting and live-streaming rights. The consortium of ARY and PTV submitted the highest bid for an aggregated fee of around PKR 4.35 billion, which is 50 percent more than the last cycle. They also secured home TV broadcast rights for two years. 

Livestreaming rights were sold to Daraz, which submitted the highest bid for PSL seven and eight. Their bid amount was 175 percent higher than bids for live-streaming rights during the previous two tournaments. This was a second major success for Daraz in this category after the company saw 300 million views as the exclusive digital streaming partner for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in Pakistan. During previous editions, rights for PSL live-streaming sponsorship were sold to multiple digital platforms.

"The reason for giving away the digital right to one entity is to give them the advantage of exclusivity. When they know they will be the only ones, they will pay a huge amount," Naseer said.  He said giving exclusivity to a company allows them to decide how to use it according to their business model – something that companies prefer.

Naseer said the bidding for PSL’s seventh and eighth seasons was extremely competitive. Contenders for exclusion live-streaming rights included Daraz, ASports, Geo TV, Trans Group, and Tapmad. Daraz further sold the rights to Tapmad, where users can watch matches after subscribing, whereas Daraz offers free streaming options for all Daraz App users.

Naseer says the growing interest from sponsors and the amount they were willing to pay shows how big of a brand PSL has become. He said the reasons behind the growth in popularity had a lot to do with the PCB’s new packages and the increased return sponsors believe they will get from their investment.

Increased viewership

Viewership of the previous PSL tournaments was both from TV and digital but this season many more people watched digitally. According to Daraz, during the first 12-days of the tournament in Karachi, viewership of PSL surpassed 200 million views. This means there were around 16 million views per day. 

The second leg of the tournament, which includes playoffs and championship final game, is expected to have even more views. Naseer said compared to the heavy focus on TV viewership when the league first started, fans are now much more likely to watch games via mobile applications. He said this might spell the end of the TV-based broadcasting industry for cricket matches since the lion’s share of sports fans are under the age of 35 and prefer to watch through mobile apps.

"Livestreaming plays an important role in the growth and promotion of sports,” Naseer said. “I am optimistic that the next two editions of the PSL will attract even more eyeballs.”

While digital viewership of PSL has gone up in recent years, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person viewership has gone down. In the first leg of this year’s PSL tournament, only 25 percent in-ground attendance was allowed following National Command and Operations Center (NCOC). According to COVID regulations, capacity for the first days of the tournament in Lahore was only allowed to be 50 percent. After that, the stadium was running at full capacity.

The decrease in in-person attendance doesn’t bother Naseer who sees TV and digital viewership as being the most important. For sponsors, he said, remote viewership is what matters. “A full stadium will accommodate around 28000 people while the TV audience is bigger and digital even bigger. Sponsors want to see how many people see their logo.”

Because of the increased reach of the tournament through digital platforms, sponsorships opportunities have been extended to companies outside Pakistan. In Australia, for example, there are broadcast deals with Sky Sports, Fox Sports, and Willow TB. On the digital side, PSL’s accessibility has increased in European and African markets through ICC TV.

He added that with the rise in digital broadcast opportunities, PSL will reach countries where people were not watching before. When this happens, Naseer said the PCB will be able to analyze demand around the world and approach sponsors from those regions as well. Companies will opt for rights because they see the potential for growth in the industry in their countries. "This is the long-term strategy,” Naseer said.

More entertaining

People in Pakistan love cricket, but PCB had a vision with PSL to make it an even more entertaining and celebrated event in the country. They chose to hold the entire tournament in Pakistan at any cost to capitalize on the excitement levels of Pakistani fans. They also made TikTok the official entertainment partner and sponsor of the tournament’s anthem.

TikTok spread PSL-related content to its billions of users around the world. PCB even released the anthem first on TikTok and the opening ceremony featuring Prime Minister Imran Khan. This helped extend PCB’s reach and made the opening and the anthem go viral.

During the first leg of the tournament, a TikTok user’s dance to the anthem went viral when the cameras of the stadium filmed him dancing to the song. PCB used the opportunity to launch a trend on TikTok, asking fans to share their dance moves and tag them with official PSL hashtags #LevelHai #AgayDekh and TikTok's #KhelegaPakistan.

Since then, the hashtag #LevelHai has gained more than 700 million views, #AgayDekh has around 200 million, and #KhelegaPakistan has 2.3 billion views. These numbers reflect viewership in Pakistan and other countries around the world.

Cricket franchise owners also believe this partnership with TikTok helped the league reach a larger audience. Javed Afridi, the owner of Peshawar Zalmi, said making TikTok a sponsor for the tournament was a smart move because it brought in more young viewership. “Youth is our primary target segment. And TikTok has managed to penetrate deeply in this segment. Although people of all ages, backgrounds, and demographics follow PSL, the youth is our primary target segment,” he said. “It is a positive sign for promoting cricket and specifically PSL in Pakistan and worldwide.”

He added that Peshawar Zalmi is also using TikTok to promote its brand and its players. Through the platform, the team can show their players’ personalities more. Through TikTok, the team does shout-outs to new initiatives, while promoting values of harmony, unity, perseverance, and equality. Afridi said it has allowed the team to build a community around the Zalmi brand which has had a ripple effect in other parts of the business.

These positive results pushed PCB to take the partnership with TikTok forward, signing the company as the title sponsor for the home series between Pakistan and Australia starting from March 4.

Players first

The quality of cricket, involvement of young players, and format of the tournaments has helped make PSL one of the most competitive T20 crickets leagues in the world, even though other leagues have been around for longer. Rana Atif, owner of the Lahore Qalandars franchise said over the years franchises have produced quality young players who are now receiving recognition on Pakistan’s team.

Players including Fakahr Zaman, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Haris Rauf have come out of the PSL. Through the PSL umbrella, he said the team has been able to partner with clubs and teams around the world including the Melbourne Stars, Yorkshire Cricket Club, and the Titans. Atif said teams from Australia, England, and South Africa are also coming to Pakistan to play with the Qalanders. "The PSL has become such a huge brand that we hold activities throughout the year, not only in Pakistan but in other countries as well.”

He said Pakistani talent adds value to PSL and allows local cricketers to play alongside foreign players in the tournament. It also gives emerging fast bowlers an opportunity to showcase their talent on the world stage. Atif said he appreciates the PSL because it promotes young players, which is not something that other leagues always do. "The player development plans and the activities throughout the year around the world are all centered on giving the young talent the chance to come in the limelight," he said.

Recently, former England captain Michael Vaughan called PSL the second-best T20 league globally. “Outstanding standard of cricket," Vaughan tweeted.

Afridi, the Peshawar Zalmi owner said the passion of young people in Pakistan has helped make the PSL brand what it is. The enthusiasm of Pakistani people for cricket has only increased as the brand has become more popular. He said increased interest among sponsors also shows a strong understanding between stakeholders about what the league can achieve. But Zalmi said there’s still more to achieve; He hopes to see a Women’s PSL come to fruition and is also working to get a kids’ league of the ground.

“E-Sports is another untapped market. There is a lot of room to further grow and leverage the PSL brand and make it a world-leading brand."

Although trying to organize major sporting events during the pandemic has been difficult, he said the efforts of PCB, security forces, and franchises have allowed PSL to run smoothly. And with great viewership comes great responsibility, which Zalmi believes PCB can use to have a more progressive social and environmental impact. Given the way PCB and PSL teams handled the hurdles brought about by COVID, he thinks it's something the league can handle. “Each edition taught has numerous lessons. We believe in continuous improvement, and you will see that through our collective wisdom, PSL shall grow further in its vision and mission in the coming years."

Meanwhile, PCB COO Naseer believes that the quality of cricket, the bond within teams and franchises, and the hospitality of Pakistani cricket fans will make visiting players want to return to Pakistan to play in the future. He said this welcoming attitude extends to all levels of the PCB and even to the government of Pakistan. “The government also wants them to feel welcome; they are treated as state guests," he said.

Naseer believes that small initiatives during the tournament made the most recent edition that much bigger. Including the Prime Minister in the opening ceremony and displaying matchup clips before the start of the match were a couple of things he thought added to the atmosphere of excitement the league tried to cultivate. “This creates hype before the match, he said.

He added that the league is only beginning to build its brand – there’s much more to come. "The more people get involved, the bigger it will become over the years," he said.