Wimbledon Serves Up India: Tennis Giant Courts Cricket-Crazy Nation for Growth

Wimbledon Courts India: From Cricket Pitches to Centre Court Dreams

New Delhi: The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), organizers of the prestigious Wimbledon Championships, are strategically eyeing the Indian market, leveraging the nation's love for cricket to expand its global footprint.

The presence of Indian cricket icons like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, and Dinesh Karthik at Wimbledon signals the tournament's intent to resonate with a wider audience. Rohit Sharma's Wimbledon-related Instagram post garnered a record 4.5 million likes, underscoring the potential for cross-sport engagement.

AELTC Chief Executive Sally Bolton has identified India and the US as key markets for brand expansion. Brendan Dinen, Head of Marketing at Wimbledon, emphasized the collaborative approach in an interview with TimesofIndia.com: "Cricket is much loved and certainly king for Indian audiences. So rather than trying to compete with that, I think it's about trying to find interesting ways to collaborate."

Wimbledon is actively pursuing innovative strategies to bridge the gap between tennis and cricket. This includes:

• Collaborating with Indian social media influencers to provide unique Wimbledon experiences.
• Partnering with Star Sports to create tennis-cricket crossover trailers during the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Dinen highlighted the potential for growth, stating that Wimbledon had 60-70 million engagements last year across broadcast and social media. With a billion potential viewers in India alone, there's significant scope to increase engagement, especially among the younger generation.

"Younger audiences and audiences of the future are crucial to us," Dinen explained, emphasizing the importance of content strategy on platforms like Instagram and YouTube. He added, "India is a sport loving country. Obviously, cricket is king, but Wimbledon is also a broad mainstream event. So there's certainly an opportunity to engage wider audiences."

To further connect with Indian fans, Wimbledon aims to host events in India. However, the monsoon season poses a logistical challenge. To overcome this, AELTC is collaborating with PVR INOX to broadcast the finals in theaters across India.

Another strategy involves inviting Indian cricket stars like Kohli, Tendulkar, and Rohit to the Royal Box. Although concrete plans are yet to be finalized due to the Indian cricket team's tour of England, this remains a viable option.

Wimbledon is also embracing technology to enhance the fan experience. The tournament has introduced AI-powered features on its app and website, including a 'Match Chat' assistant that provides real-time answers and analysis during live matches. This allows spectators to engage with the tournament in new and interactive ways.

Dinen concluded, "We continue to embrace technology, and it sits at the heart of the balance between heritage and innovation... We absolutely want to make sure we bring the brand and the Championships to life in new and interesting ways."