IndianWeb2 Desk
New Delhi, April 8, 2021: Sports Flashes, India's first online Sports radio channel dedicated to broadcasting sports content including live updates and 24x7 chat commentaries, has been taken over by iTV network. Ltd, a subsidiary of iTV Network entered into an all-stock deal to become the majority stake holder in Radio Business of Sports Flashes. Ltd. acquiring a majority stake in Radio Business of Sports Flashes and consolidating its presence in the fast-growing Sports Media segment in India. On this occasion, Kartikeya Sharma, Founder of iTV Network said, "Sports Flashes comes as a strategic move in addition to our investments and diversified presence in Media & Sports. Sports Flashes will reinforce our position as a pioneer in the Indian Sports ecosystem." On the occasion, Raman Raheja, Founder, Sports Flashes said, "We are happy to be a part of the iTV Network. What started as a unique sports content platform, Sports Flashes is the leader in online sports radio space with the best content available for sports enthusiasts. With 50 millions sports buffs already following our Sports channel, we will now expand our reach in vernacular space through the iTV network. Using the Video production strengths of iTV, we will now present Radio with a Video screen.

iTV Network Acquires Majority Stake in Radio Sports Flashes

Sports Flashes , which is the only 24×7 sports radio channel of India, announced the launch of a sports quiz called Sports Quiz League. It will cover around 20,000 schools across ten cities of India during IPL 2021. It will be promoted and broadcast across the Sports Flashes app and web platform besides multiple other platforms, including top audio platforms, News Channels, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The estimated reach of Indian audience is more than 200 million fans during the IPL. Raman Raheja, Founder, Sports Flashes, said, “Sports is an ever-growing genre and Indian Sports Fans are always ready to showcase their knowledge, views and passion. With Sports Quiz League, we shall invite young fans to present their knowledge to the world. The League would also help fans to widen their knowledge about Sports and Sports stars.”
“We are happy to expand our footprint in India through this unique model. It will be a Hybrid Model with Online & Offline participation. We intend to reach to an audience of 200 Million Indian Cricket Fans during the IPL 2021. We shall be tying up with various radio, Audio & digital platforms for feeding of the content. It will be cracker of an IPL 2021 and Sports Quiz League will surely ensure a lively & exciting content to compliment it,” he added. About Sports Flashes
Radio Sports Flashes was launched in January 2018 as a 24×7 Internet radio channel, that broadcast sports content like live chat commentaries, talk shows, special sports programs, expert comments, sports news and updates, audio documentaries, university sports and sportainment content. It is the official global audio broadcast partner of Indian cricket. Post Views: 43

{Event Alert: Sports Quiz League} Sports Quiz in India to cover 20,000 Schools During IPL

Indian startup Sports Flashes becomes world’s biggest sports radio
Sports Flashes has rights of ICC World Cup; in talks to raise series A funding
By
0Comments
ThinkStock Photos
Sports Flashes has plans to launch services in various global markets and partner with local players. MUMBAI: At a time when video over-the-top ( OTT ) players are investing millions of dollars in creating content, there is an Indian startup that claims to be the largest sports radio channel, offering app-based, 24-hour, multi-sports services. Sports Flashes claims to have recorded a listenership of 3.6 million and a reach of 45 million audiences in December, managing director Raman Raheja told ET. It is currently in “deep discussions” to raise around $7 million (Rs 50 crore) in a Series A round, he added. Sports Flashes’ Internet radio service, which was launched in January 2018, broadcast sports content such as live chat commentaries, talk shows, special sports programmes, experts comments, sports news and updates, audio documentaries, university sports and sportainment content. The company has quietly picked up audio rights of the 2018/19 Premier League season, global audio broadcaster rights of India cricket, global audio broadcast rights of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 as well as footage rights of all the past World Cup cricket matches. “We have big plans around the World Cup. While we are in talks with leading OTT players for four-five web-series around top arenas and leaders, there is also a plan to increase our footprint by adding more languages,” Raheja said. The company will be broadcasting audio feed of the World Cup in 11 languages, including English, Hindi, regional Indian languages and Mandarin. The company is expecting to reach 1 billion consumers with the ICC World Cup and will be spending $7-8 million on content and packaging. It expects to earn over $10 million from the event, Raheja said. Sports Flashes has plans to launch services in various global markets and partner with local players there. It has already signed partnerships with BBC and TalkSports for the UK and three local radio stations in Australia. Currently, it is in discussion with radio players in South Africa, Sri lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Caribbean region. The money it plans to raise is to fund this expansion. “We raised pre-series A from a clutch of investors including SRI Capital. Now we are looking at a strategic partner. We are in deep discussions to raise around $7 million in a Series A round,” said Raheja. 0Comments

Indian startup Sports Flashes becomes world’s biggest sports radio

Online Sports Content Aggregator Sports Flashes Recently Raised $1Mn Funding In Pre-series A Funding Round From SRI Capital
On Sunday, football fans were glued to their TV sets to cheer on team India as they lifted the trophy in the Intercontinental Cup 2018 Finals, telecast on Star Sports. Those who prefer to do their viewing online turned to Hotstar. Similarly, for live streaming of cricket matches, there’s Cricbuzz, ESPNcricinfo, Yahoo! Cricket, and Hotstar, and for news and updates, there’s Sportskeeda. But these are India’s most loved games, and there’re a host of websites, TV channels, and apps focused on them. There is no single online platform where one can stream cricket matches, watch tennis or boxing, get football updates, and catch up on news from around the sports world. Realising this gap, Raman Raheja , a seasoned entrepreneur with experience in both live entertainment and sports franchising, decided to build a one-stop online sports platform that would cater to all the popular sports played in India. The result: Sports Flashes. In Raman’s words, the company aims to become an online ESPN for the Indian sports community. “Everything that you can think of sports will be available on Sports Flashes. This is what we are building,” says Raman Raheja, founder, Sports Flashes. Online sports video content aggregator Sports Flashes streams live videos, provides live scores and updates as well as the latest news through a website and a mobile app. The platform recently added an online radio channel to its other properties — Live TV, Live Score and News — becoming the first startup in India to do so. The startup is backed by India’s biggest media conglomerate, the Times Group , which has also invested in Cricbuzz. Recently, Sports Flashes raised $1 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round from the US-based early-stage venture capital firm SRI Capital. With the funding, the startup aims take impactful and strategic initiatives to expand its business. Sports Flashes: Upping The Online Sports Content Game
Raheja, who has previously handled projects for the Commonwealth Games, the World Kabaddi League, the IIFA Awards, and the IPL, among others, also ran an event management company of his own. He found his entrepreneurial goal after he kicked off Sports Flashes in August 2016. Unlike most other websites and apps, which are limited to cricket, football, or a handful of other sports, Sports Flashes aggregates content across 34 sports and games genres and events — football, kabaddi, hockey, archery, shooting, wrestling, taekwondo, volleyball, basketball, and even yoga — both in India and abroad, bringing it to users a single platform. Sports Flashes streams live sports events, airs interviews, live commentaries, and fanbase commentaries on Live TV, provides real-time event updates and scores on Live Score, and also has a section for news. The live matches are later available as recordings. Sports Flashes: Show Me The Money
The startup has built a B2B module around sports and categorised its revenue monetisation mainly into four categories — content indication, content creation, content broadcast, and advertisements. It has plans to expand into paid subscriptions later. Here’s how Sports Flashes is running its business:
Content Indication: It is an established model which has big players such as Yahoo! and Google consuming contents from India on sports. Raheja says being a platform that provides content in seven Indian languages, the startup has an advantage over other existing sports platforms which mainly cater to English and Hindi audiences. Content Creation: Franchises, club owners, and event organisers organise a host of sports events in kabaddi, hockey, football, billiards, snooker, weightlifting, etc all round the year in India. Sports Flashes has a bunch of specialists who create content that is not easily available — interviews, feature articles, news stories, audio-video bytes etc, in multiple languages — and can be monetised. Content Broadcast: The startup plans to help smaller sports events at a regional level get a wider audience. “Regional events don’t usually get the opportunity to be highlighted on the major TV channels, so we broadcast such events on our platform,” says Raheja. Advertisement: Sports Flashes also runs ads on its website like many other content aggregators. Subscription: The startup is in the process to garner more premium content. “Once we have enough premium content, in a year or so, we will introduce paid subscriptions,” says Raheja, citing Hotstar’s example, which was a free platform earlier. “Slowly, they decided to push their content towards paid subscriptions. That’s what we will eventually do as well,” he adds. What About Competition? As a traditional medium, television continues to dominate major sporting moments. An over 1.5 Bn global audience tuned in to TV broadcasts of the Commonwealth Games 2018. According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), Sony Pictures Network (SPN)’s coverage of the 22-day FIFA U-17 World Cup was viewed by over 47 Mn people across India. Similarly, IPL 11 saw up to 378.6 Mn TV viewers. Apart from websites of major sports channels like ESPN, Star Sports, etc, and online-only sports platforms like Cricbuzz and Sportskeeda, there are online sports platforms in India that cater to specific sports categories. For instance, Khel Now is a mobile-based social networking platform for sports, Athletto is a sports venues and fitness arenas finder, Football Solutions provides solutions on football, and others. Television viewership may not change majorly, but time spent online is poised to increase to many times than it is today. According to a recent report by Ficci-EY — Reimagining India’s M&E sector — India, by 2020, is expected to become the second largest online video viewing audience globally, fuelled by the exponential growth of video consumption in digital media. There are currently around 1-1.5 Mn “digital-only consumers” in India and this is poised to touch over 4 Mn by 2020, generating significant digital subscription revenues for the country’s media and entertainment sector. Startups that are providing digital contents include POPxo , Arre, Yaap , Voot etc. In such a crowded space, we asked Raheja how does Sports Flashes plan to carve out a space for itself. Also, how scalable is the business model that he has created? “We are not going ballistic when it comes to pitching Sports Flashes as the ultimate sports platform. Our approaches are specific. Our marketing initiatives are very localised to certain communities. It is not about going over-the-top (OTT),” says Raheja, about his marketing strategy. According to him, Sports Flashes has touched over 5 Mn viewership so far, and the number reach for live sports events is between 100k to 300k. The startup has an employee strength of 55 in its Delhi office and about 50 stringers across the country. Sports Flashes team with Jitu Rai, an Indian shooter. Keeping Up The Sporting Spirit
Sports Flashes has also acquired some exclusive sports content rights from both international and domestic markets. “This includes TV rights,” Raheja said. “Even Star Sports may haven’t acquired some of these rights,” says Raheja. Raheja maintains that Sports Flashes is in the process of acquiring more rights for broadcasting international and national sports content. It has already bought rights from United World Wrestling to telecast wrestling matches live and exclusive for Indian viewers. Then there are other non-exclusive content, which don’t require rights, that are available on the platform. Sports Flashes is adding value to the content it streams with real-time graphic representations, says Raheja. For instance, the graphic below does a live representation of on-field action — which team possesses the ball, who’s attacking, offside positions, who’s throwing, who’s making goals, etc — with live notifications. The startup has developed an in-house intelligent system which monitors users behaviour to provide relevant feeds and notifications by tracking the first 10-30 mins of the time spent by users on the platform. “We don’t seek any user data. Moreover, users don’t have to upload any information on the platform,” says Raheja, on the issue of data privacy. The Game Ahead
Like most digital companies looking to go tap into the next 100 Mn Indians who are going online, Sports Flashes is also taking a hyperlocal approach to make its platform popular. In a bit to bring its viewers a wide selection of sports events across genres from a regional level, the startup has tied up with league organisers, sports federations, and franchises of different leagues. “For instance, if there is a kabaddi match happening in Haryana, our production team goes to the venue to provide live coverage of the match on our platform,” he said. For all those football fans who are waiting eagerly for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018, Sports Flashes will be streaming ‘Special Shows’, bringing commentary from football enthusiasts across the country. It also plans to stream sports matches from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, among others. “There are some big announcement to be made soon,” Raheja signs off, cryptically. While Sports Flashes in its initial stages and still hasn’t got “everything about sports” down pat, it has big plans, and as Raheja says, big announcements waiting. Let’s see what these big announcements are and if Sports Flashes manages to achieve its goal of being a one-stop online sports content destination for Indian sports enthusiasts.

Beyond Cricket: Sports Flashes Wants To Be A One-Stop Online Platform For ‘Everything About Sports’

Other players in the digital sports content segment include Sportskeeda, Sports Asia, Khel Now and Floodlightz. SRI Capital
The seed-stage investor focuses on the Indian consumer market, enterprise software, data analytics, deep technology and enterprise software-as-a-service. It invests around $500,000 typically, but can go up to $1 million. Its investment portfolio includes startups such as budget hotel aggregator FabHotels, fitness app Healthify, and software-as-a-service providers YellowDig and Zuppler. In 2018, it made two bets— LetsMD , a fin-tech startup in the healthcare space, and personal financial advisory portal IndianMoney.com . In an interview with TechCircle in May this year, founder and managing partner Sashi Reddi said that his firm will make four to six more investments this year. He added that since the last two deals the firm made was in fintech, it would be more selective in its bets going forward. According to Reddi, a pure digital/online/tech strategy does not work in India, and hence, his firm looks for a strong offline component in the startups it invests in.

Exclusive: SRI Capital invests in content platform Sports Flashes

World Kabaddi League

Mint

Corporate Majority

Sports Flashes is a sports content app that offers sports TV, live scores, streaming videos, news, views, highlights, statistics, live updates and commentary.

Wells Fargo Success Story

Professional Services

Platform Overview

Sports Flashes

Compete with Sports Flashes?

Compete with Sports Flashes?

Discover the right solution for your team