Few people know it. And, as the eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) gets underway in Multan today, even fewer recall that the league might not have happened seven years ago if the TransGroup, the country’s oldest and largest sports marketing company, hadn’t stepped in to rescue the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that was struggling to launch the tournament after having postponed it twice in 2014 and 2015 owing to lack of interest from sponsors and broadcasters.

Since its launch in 2016 in the UAE due to the absence of international cricket in Pakistan over security concerns, PSL has arguably morphed into the country’s top brand in sports entertainment, as is evident from the audience ratings and engagement to marketing investment levels.

But not many could have imagined at that time that it would even survive, let alone become the world’s second-biggest Twenty20 cricket league after the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“No sports channel was interested in buying PSL broadcast rights, raising concerns over the financial viability of the league given the fact that TV revenues are overwhelmingly the largest source of income for such tournaments. The TV broadcasters didn’t have faith in its potential to succeed or become big,” Rao Usman Hashim Khan, TransGroup Chief Operating Officer (COO), reminisced during an interview.

Marketing company may be diversifying into player management as league games become more important than bilateral series

“What these channels were offering for broadcast rights was a very small amount. That didn’t make any sense; the league couldn’t have been possible with that money. We knew how important PSL was for Pakistan’s cricket and its image. So we decided to fill the void and partnered with Blitz, a major media buying firm, to form a consortium and purchased the broadcast rights for three years at the desired value of the PCB to make the league viable.

“It was for the first time that a media marketing company had ventured into this area. Now PSL is a big respected brand and is regarded by international cricketers better than IPL,” said the 42-year old Usman, who has played for the Pak U-15 team and was part of the Pakistan Reserves Cricket Team before saying good-bye to his cricket career for resuming his studies and later join the family business.

That wasn’t the only occasion when TransGroup and Blitz had moved in to save PSL. Back in 2019, when IMG-Reliance, an Indian company, suddenly pulled out of its deal to produce television coverage of the fourth season of the tournament three days after the relations between India and Pakistan were strained following a suicide bomb attack in Kashmir, the consortium again stepped in to help out the PCB and produce TV coverage for the remainder of the tournament.

The group started its journey in 1985 as an advertising agency, Transmedia, founded by his father, Rao Nasim Hashim Khan. But it soon found its niche in sports marketing when Transmedia started to acquire the ground rights — or the rights for in-stadia advertising and sponsorships — for all domestic international cricket fixtures across the country.

“Again, it was a first in Pakistan for an advertising agency. At that time, no one knew how to sell sports or cricket to advertisers; there were only a few sponsored sports events,” Mr Khan said. Today, TransGroup controls 85 per cent of the world in-stadia cricket rights in partnership with a UAE-based company and has diversified into various areas related directly or indirectly to sports marketing from in-stadia advertising, broadcast, TV production, event management, and so on, offering a one-window solution.

“Today, we are one of the few companies in the world that do everything under one roof,” he said.

According to Mr Khan, TransGroup is the biggest sports marketing company in Asia and is working to promote other sports like polo, hockey, kabbadi, wrestling, volleyball, rugby, tennis, etc. The focus, however, remains on cricket as it remains the only money-spinning sport in Pakistan and South Asia because of its large viewership.

TransGroup has seen bad times, but its resilience to adapt to new technologies and changes in sports culture has helped it survive and stay ahead of the competition. “The game of cricket has changed into cricket entertainment after the launch of leagues. It is no longer a game for people who buy tickets to watch matches in the stadium. It is as much for those who are watching the games on their TV screens.

“That means we also needed to change to stay relevant and profitable. Luckily, we were ready to adapt to this change as the pioneer sports advertising firm and had our foreign partners onboard. When Pakistan cricket was forced to shift to the UAE after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team, we were the first Pakistani company to move there and break India’s hold over sport event management there.

“It also exposed us to an international experience and we learnt a lot from our foreign partners,” said Mr Khan, who had joined the group in 2006 to help his elder brother, Rao Umar Hashim Khan, as he was single-handedly managing and expanding the business following their father’s preoccupation with politics.

After creating its own TV production setup and bringing everything related to sports events organisation and management under one roof, TransGroup is now focusing on other lesser-known games.

“The global sports industry is fueled by money today… and lots of it. When we are watching a game for free in the comfort of our homes, we often tend to forget that it is not possible without money that comes from sponsors and advertisers. In Pakistan, as in the rest of South Asia, sponsors and advertisers are hooked on cricket only. Hence, both a vacuum and vast opportunity exist simultaneously in other less watched sports,” Mr Khan pointed out.

He says everyone wants to become Imran Khan or Wasim Akram because “they watch these heroes on their TV screens from their early years. Unless they also see volleyball, hockey, kabbadi and other players on the TV screens, who would want to follow them? Unless people know who the kabbadi players are, how will they become their heroes? When our hockey was in good shape, everyone wanted to be Hassan Sardar or Shahbaz Senior. Now we do not even know the names of the hockey team.” Nonetheless, he agreed it was not an easy job.

“For starters, the sports bodies and associations representing these games are not as well organised as the PCB. Nor do they have enough financial resources to support leagues. On top of that, the sponsors and advertisers don’t find these sports much attractive for their investments because of low audience ratings and engagement. For brands, cricket still remains the fastest platform to reach their audience due to high return on their investment, locally and globally both.”

With PSL becoming a ‘big boys’ game’, he was hopeful that the less watched games would now be able to “attract certain brands if their tournaments are organised properly to entertain our TV viewers just like cricket”.

TransGroup has a unique business model where employee turnover is almost negligible and the client retention rate is very high. “Employee welfare and client focus define our business ethics. From the inception of this business, we’ve ensured that we use our business growth and profits to raise the living standards of our employees. Likewise, we focus on retaining our clients rather than replacing them with new ones.”

Where does he see their companies five years from now?

“The sports industry in Pakistan has changed drastically in recent years. The business will be of a totally different nature five years from now. We would want to give something back to the country by way of promoting smaller sports.

“In cricket, there will be fewer bilateral cricket series, with leagues like PSL taking over the game. The players will become more important. So we want to diversify into player management.

“Last but not least, we plan to grow into the digital sphere because the internet is fast transforming the sports business, with more and more people watching matches on their cell phone screens rather than on TV screens. But, then, five years is a long time, and in our business, you live and plan on a day-to-day basis,” Mr Khan concluded.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, February 13th, 2023