The Dynamics of Sports Reporting in India Across Media Platforms

Sports reporting in India has come a long way – from brief match summaries tucked into the back pages of newspapers to 24/7 live streams, real-time social media updates, and dedicated digital platforms covering everything from kabaddi to athletics. For decades, cricket dominated the conversation so completely that “sports news” essentially meant “cricket news.” But the explosion of media platforms – radio, television, digital, and social – has fundamentally changed what gets covered, how it gets covered, and who consumes it. This is the story of that transformation.

The print era: where sports reporting began 🔗

In India, sports reporting found its earliest home in newspapers. For much of the 20th century, the morning paper was the primary way fans consumed sports news. Reporters didn’t have the luxury of video replays or live footage. They had to rely entirely on their writing to convey the drama of a match – the tension of a tied game, the crowd’s reaction, the decisive moment.

This created a very specific style of journalism: narrative-driven sports writing. Print reporters were essentially storytellers. Their job was to make a reader who wasn’t at the stadium feel like they were. Publications like The Hindu, The Times of India, and Sportstar magazine built loyal readerships through detailed match reports, player profiles, and analytical columns.

However, print had an inherent limitation – it was slow. By the time a reader opened the newspaper, the result was often already known through radio or word of mouth. What print did best was provide depth, context, and opinion that other mediums couldn’t match at the time. Research on Indian sports journalism has noted that newspapers steadily increased the number of pages dedicated to sports in response to growing reader demand, though coverage remained overwhelmingly focused on cricket at the expense of other disciplines.

Radio: the first live medium for Indian sports 🔗

Before television reached Indian households, All India Radio (AIR) was the lifeline for sports fans. Radio broadcasting had started in India in the late 1920s, and by mid-century, live sports commentary had become one of its most popular offerings. For millions, the experience of following a cricket Test match meant huddling around a radio set, listening to a commentator describe every ball.

The power of radio lay in its immediacy and accessibility. You didn’t need electricity for a battery-powered set, and you didn’t need literacy to understand a commentary. This made it a genuinely mass medium in a country where television was rare and newspapers required education to consume.

Some of the most iconic voices in Indian broadcasting history emerged from AIR’s sports commentary box. Jasdev Singh became legendary for his hockey commentary, while figures like Sushil Doshi and Narottam Puri defined cricket on radio for generations. These commentators had to master the art of painting a picture purely through words – a skill that remains central to good sports reporting even today.

Radio’s role extended beyond cricket. Hockey, in particular, found a dedicated audience through AIR commentary during India’s golden era in the sport – the decades when the Indian men’s hockey team dominated the Olympics. However, as television expanded in the 1980s and 1990s, radio’s primacy in sports began to fade, though it never entirely disappeared.

Television: the game-changer for Indian sports 🔗

The single most transformative moment for sports broadcasting in India came in 1982, when New Delhi hosted the 9th Asian Games. The Indian government decided to broadcast the event in colour – a decision that required Doordarshan, the state broadcaster, to undertake a massive and rapid technological upgrade.

Until that point, all of Indian television was in black and white. Doordarshan purchased four Outside Broadcasting vans to provide live colour coverage of at least two events simultaneously. Engineers were trained domestically and abroad. The colour test run began on April 25, 1982, and by November, the Asian Games were being broadcast in colour to millions of households across the country.

The impact was enormous. Colour television was introduced with the live telecast of the Independence Day speech on August 15, 1982, followed by the full colour broadcast of the Asian Games. This created a surge in demand for colour television sets and firmly established TV as a mass entertainment medium in India. Sports was the catalyst – not entertainment serials, not news – that made television a household necessity.

The rise of private sports channels 🔗

For nearly a decade after the 1982 Asiad, Doordarshan held a monopoly on television broadcasting. DD Sports became the go-to channel for cricket, hockey, and other sporting events. But the economic liberalisation of 1991 opened India’s skies to private and satellite broadcasters, and the sports television landscape changed permanently.

The entry of channels like ESPN, Star Sports, and later Sony Ten created fierce competition for broadcasting rights. Events that were once broadcast for free on Doordarshan were now acquired through expensive auctions by private networks. The Sports Broadcasting Signals Act of 2007 was enacted to address this, requiring private broadcasters to share live signals of nationally important sporting events with Prasar Bharati, the public broadcaster.

Private broadcasters transformed how sports were presented on screen. Multi-camera setups, slow-motion replays, on-screen graphics, expert panels, and multilingual commentary became standard. The Indian Premier League (IPL), launched in 2008, became the pinnacle of this transformation – a cricketing spectacle designed as much for television as for the stadium.

Television’s role in promoting non-cricket sports 🔗

Perhaps the most significant contribution of television expansion has been giving visibility to sports beyond cricket. The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), launched in 2014, is the best example. Television broadcasters took a traditional, largely rural sport and packaged it with professional production values, franchise teams, celebrity owners, and prime-time scheduling.

The results were remarkable. During its inaugural season, the PKL attracted 435 million viewers, making it the second most-watched sports league in India after the IPL. By Season 10, the league was reaching 225 million viewers per season with 38 billion minutes of total watch time. PKL has cemented its position as the most-watched non-cricket league in the country, consistently crossing 200 million viewers.

Similarly, leagues like the Indian Super League (ISL) for football, the Premier Badminton League, and the Hockey India League owe their existence to the commercial viability that television provides. The creation of dedicated leagues for these sports – complete with broadcasting deals – has given athletes outside cricket a platform, visibility, and in many cases, financial security they never had before.

Digital platforms: the new frontier of sports reporting 🔗

The rise of smartphones and affordable internet in India – accelerated by the launch of Reliance Jio in 2016 – created a seismic shift in how sports content is consumed. Digital platforms have democratised sports reporting in a way that no previous medium could.

OTT platforms and streaming 🔗

Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms have become central to sports viewership. The growing use of smartphones and affordable data charges has fuelled the popularity of OTT platforms for sports in India. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated this shift, as audiences turned to digital platforms during lockdowns. Today, broadcasting rights for OTT platforms are sold separately as digital rights.

JioCinema’s decision to stream IPL matches for free in 4K was a watershed moment. It proved that digital-first sports broadcasting could attract massive audiences. Disney+ Hotstar, SonyLiv, and JioCinema are now major players, and the competition for digital sports rights is as intense as for traditional television.

Sports-specific digital platforms 🔗

Beyond the major streaming services, a new ecosystem of sports-focused digital platforms has emerged. Sportskeeda has evolved from a humble blog into a powerhouse for sports news, esports coverage, and fan-driven content, building its strength on personalised content, video features, and social media presence. The Bridge has carved a niche by focusing on Olympic sports, women athletes, and grassroots competitions, using a multimedia approach that includes podcasts, YouTube content, and social media campaigns.

The government-backed Khelo India initiative has also developed its own digital platform to showcase school, college, and state-level competitions, functioning as both a content hub and a talent discovery platform. These platforms are filling a gap that mainstream media often leaves – consistent, dedicated coverage of sports that don’t make primetime television.

Social media and fan engagement 🔗

Social media has fundamentally altered the relationship between sports journalists, athletes, and fans. Platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube have turned sports consumption into a two-way interaction. Fans aren’t passive consumers anymore – they comment, share, debate, create content, and participate in fantasy leagues.

Research indicates that 75% of sports enthusiasts now use social media as their primary platform for watching sports videos, signalling a major shift away from traditional television. Athletes themselves have become media entities – a cricketer’s Instagram post or a badminton player’s YouTube vlog can reach millions without any traditional media involvement.

For sports reporters, this means the job has expanded dramatically. The modern sports journalist needs to be a multimedia professional – someone who can write a breaking news story, shoot a short video, host a podcast, analyse data, and manage social media engagement, often all in the same day.

Beyond cricket: how media is reshaping India’s sporting culture 🔗

For the longest time, Indian media’s relationship with sports was essentially a relationship with cricket. Research has consistently shown that cricket’s dominance overshadowed other sports due to disproportionate media coverage, which limited the growth potential of non-cricket disciplines – particularly for young athletes interested in other sports.

This is slowly changing. The proliferation of channels, platforms, and digital media means there is now space for stories that would never have found an audience a decade ago. Consider the following shifts:

Athletes as national heroes beyond cricket: Consistent media coverage of athletes like Neeraj Chopra (athletics), P.V. Sindhu (badminton), and the Indian women’s hockey team has created sporting icons outside the cricket ecosystem. Neeraj Chopra’s Olympic gold in 2021 was a massive media event precisely because digital and television platforms had been covering his journey for years.

Regional sports gaining national audiences: Kabaddi, kho-kho, and wrestling have found new audiences through professional leagues and digital distribution. The PKL’s multilingual broadcasts in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu have been instrumental in building a pan-Indian audience for a sport that was once seen as purely rural.

Accountability and investigative reporting: Greater media attention also means greater scrutiny. Issues like corruption in sports federations, inadequate funding for athletes, and poor infrastructure now receive regular coverage, putting pressure on authorities to act.

Challenges and the road ahead 🔗

Despite the progress, Indian sports reporting faces several challenges. The credibility gap between traditional print journalists and digital content creators remains an issue. The pressure to publish quickly on digital platforms can sometimes come at the cost of accuracy and depth. The economics of digital media – heavily dependent on advertising revenue and clicks – can incentivise sensationalism over substance.

There’s also the question of equitable coverage. While non-cricket sports have gained visibility, the gap remains enormous. Cricket still commands the overwhelming majority of media attention, advertising revenue, and prime-time slots. For sports like wrestling, archery, or rowing, sustained media coverage is still rare outside of major events like the Olympics or Asian Games.

Looking forward, emerging technologies like AI-driven analytics, augmented reality, and personalised content delivery are set to further transform sports reporting. Real-time data visualisation during broadcasts, AI-generated match summaries, and immersive viewing experiences are already being tested by major broadcasters and platforms in India.

The sports reporter of the future will need to be as comfortable with data dashboards and video editing software as they are with a notepad and pen. The medium has changed, the tools have changed, and the audience’s expectations have changed. What hasn’t changed is the core requirement: telling a compelling story about the games people love.

What do you think? Has the explosion of digital platforms genuinely diversified the sports we follow in India, or has it simply found new ways to deliver the same cricket-dominated content? And as a consumer, do you find yourself watching or reading about sports you wouldn’t have discovered five years ago?

References

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