The Magic of Hinglish: Connecting with the South Asian Community

As Sky Sports gear up to the highly anticipated ICC World Test Championship between India and Australia starting this week, the broadcaster is going the extra mile to make sure everyone feels included by promoting the tournament with both English and Hinglish promos.

Cricket holds a special place in the hearts of the South Asian community - on average, over half a million viewers tune in to Sky Sports every month. That's nearly one in every seven UK South Asian viewers and one in every five in Sky homes. The impact of live televised cricket on the South Asian community is evident, Take the fifth test match between England and India in 2022 at Edgbaston, which reached an impressive 244,000 South Asian viewers on the third day alone. Throughout the entire test, a total of 425,000 South Asians in the UK enjoyed the action, that’s around 12% of all South Asians.

This year's Indian Premier League (IPL) saw over half a million viewers tuning in. The IPL finals, featuring the Chennai Super Kings against the Gujarat Titans, reached a peak viewership of 183,000. Overall, IPL viewership in the UK saw an impressive 8% increase compared to previous year. The Indian Premier League cricket has also been a hugely successful attracting newer, incremental advertisers to TV like Tata Tea, Remitly, ICICI Bank, Star Tours, Tata Sampan spices, Lebara, who come on board with specific messaging and products catering to the South Asian / Indian community.

The Hinglish promos will run across Sky Media’s South Asian family of channels. Hinglish is a unique blend of Hindi and English languages that is commonly spoken among the South Asian community. It is a linguistic fusion where Hindi and English words, phrases, and grammar are combined to create a distinct communication style. Hinglish has become a cultural phenomenon, particularly in popular media, music, and entertainment. Incorporating Hinglish in promotional materials allows brands to connect more effectively with the community and create a sense of familiarity and cultural relevance.