NBA establishes a digital partnership with India’s Times Internet limited
The NBA will now have a dedicated section in the Times of India website after an agreement was reached between the NBA and Times Internet Limited (TIL), a subsidiary of the powerful Times group of India.
Basketball’s popularity and specifically that of the NBA is on the rise in the largest democracy of the world and a market comprising more than a billion sports loving souls is simply too large to ignore. The league and the Times
Group have thus acted to reach an accord, which has made NBA only the second sports league in the world, to feature in a separate section of the website. The first sports league to achieve this feat was the money spinning Indian Premier League (IPL).
Rishi Khiani, the CEO of the Times Internet Limited was upbeat about the deal and spoke to reporters at its announcement,
“We are proud to be associated with one of the most recognized sporting leagues in the World. The NBA is the premier men's professional basketball league in North America. With the growing popularity of basketball globally, and
more recently in India, we plan to leverage our audience to help popularize the sport further and drive newer audiences to the game.”
The NBA will now be able to reach out to over 12 million users a month through the Times of India website. The website will provide the fans with a comprehensive coverage of all the games, trades and the important developments
in the league. The website will also boost of original featured columns from the local journalists. The first step in this direction has already been taken and the journalists from the Indian media group are already in Miami to cover the 2011 NBA Finals.
For its part, the NBA is really pleased to have secured the deal with one of the largest media organizations in India and believes the coverage the game in one of the fastest growing economies in the world can only be good for
the league,
“The Times Group has unrivaled reach in India and they are an ideal partner to help showcase our game and engage more NBA fans throughout the country,” said Heidi Ueberroth, President, NBA International.
This step was taken as an effort to promote the sport in India. The country is already involved in the second season of the Mahindra NBA Challenge. This challenge is the largest community based league spread over multiple cities
of India and has done much to increase the popularity of the sport in the country.
NBA also has many partnership agreements with marketing brands in India like Nike and Adidas, not to mention the optimum coverage of the sport on Indian channels Ten Sports and Sony Pix. In partnership with the Basketball Federation
of India, NBA has also launched several programs across India to promote the sport on many levels. Under NBA Cares, the league’s social development program, NBA has been hosting a large number of coaching and youth clinics and has also provided funds and assistance
to refurbish many old basketball courts, all across India.