Deepak Choudhary, Event Capital gives Insights on the Year Gone By; Year Coming Up

Industry Watch | January 2, 2020 | Guest Article

Deepak Choudhary Event Capital

Happy New Year! Welcome to the 2020!

As every year, I continue the tradition of bringing you a note to take you through the highlights of the rollercoaster journey of our beloved event industry from last year, and what we have in store in the coming year.

Other than being a numerically auspicious date that stands at the gateway of a fresh new decade, the year 2020 will probably be like any other year for the events industry: full of unpredictability yet filled with exciting and noteworthy moments. But, before we look at what’s in store for the coming year, here are some of the notable memories from the year gone by. 

Notable Hits of 2019

In 2019, our industry had an amazing roster of larger than life events and witnessed the stellar growth of some large event IPs. Brands continued to invest marketing monies to create events, except that in 2019, we witnessed some of the grandest branded IPs taking shape.   

U2: The Joshua Tree Tour 2019

The year continued to end on a musical high with India’s biggest event IP: Sunburn, keeping its date at its home-ground: Goa. International music fans in India had an amazing year with a bunch of amazing talent making pitstops in the country. Musical giants, U2 performed to a record-breaking turnout at the famed DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. The stadium continues to be the choice of an entertainment destination for some of the largest events, when One Plus also decided to host their One Plus Music Festival organized by Wizcraft featuring the likes of Katy Perry, Dua Lipa, Ritviz, amongst others at the same venue. OML’s iconic NH7 Weekender celebrated 10 years of being the happiest music festival of the country in Pune with a sold-out attendance. Zee Live’s new property, Supermoon got two acts – Russel Peters and Prateek Kuhad to tour the country spread out over the year to packed venues. Bollywood Music Project (Mumbai’s only Music Festival)  in its 5th edition in Mumbai saw amazing performances by Vishal Bhardwaj, Sunidhi Chauhan and 50 more artists and most special was a surprise by Arijit Singh for the audience.

Zomaland by Zomato

Zomato has entered the branded event IP space with its differentiated Zomaland becoming a part of the annual festival calendar for multiple cities. Reliance Group has also entered the festival space with the first edition of its wonderful Jio Wonderland held in Mumbai.

NEXA IIFA Awards 2019

Sports fans had a lot to cheer with NBA stars coming to India for a series of matches, and the cheer is going to get louder with a league reportedly in the works for 2020. IIFA – Wizcraft’s global event IP made a stop in India this year and gave an opportunity for everyone to witness the magical star-studded weekend.

WOW Awards Middle East 2019

Seventy EMG’s India Bike Week made a comeback and how with the event brand re-establishing why it is India’s largest destination for biking enthusiasts. WOW awards made a debut in Dubai this year with a terrific response.

Champions Boat League 2019

Two interesting event IPs grabbed my attention this year. One was the Champions Boat League, a pioneering step by Kerala Tourism, which was executed by Samit Garg’s E-Factor Entertainment and Mandeep Malhotra’s The Social Street. And the second one is the Make Me Up by Touchwood Entertainment and Vibgyor. I am sure that these two event IPs will go on a long way in establishing newer avenues for event IPs in the country in completely unexpected categories.   

Sunburn 2019

On the business side, Havas Group acquired Sameer Tobaccowala’s Shobiz. Ticketing major, BookMyShow continued with its magical year with the acquisitions of prominent event IPs: Sunburn and Grub along with a host of other events. Event Capital continued its stellar growth by acquiring India Gaming Expo and Indian Bridal Fashion Week. Event Capital also partnered with One Digital to launch Social Nation, a festival for fans and creators.

In the talent management space, TM Talent management got the exclusive account of Kapil Sharma while Shreya Ghoshal will now be exclusively managed by BTOS.

Bengaluru will soon have a new large entertainment venue for events being developed by Phase 1 experiences and Embassy group near the airport.

IPL continues to be the biggest and most-watched event IP of the country, and this year saw Oppo moving out as the title sponsor to be replaced by Byju’s. In industry news, the year also saw the launch of Karnataka Event Management Association (KEMA), and the industry body hosting a cache of events and workshops for its members in the inaugural year itself. 

What’s Hot in 2020

The upcoming year promises to be bigger than before for the events industry, with some of the biggest properties all scheduled in the same year: T20 World Cup, Dubai Expo 2020 and Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Some of the events that I am looking forward to include are Arijit Singh’s sold-out show in Mumbai on January 25 by Paytm Insider, Roshan Abbas’ Spoken on January 11-12,  Viacom’s Supersonic which is scheduled on February 6-7, Nick Windmill Festival on February 22-23. Moreover, Bookmyshow is getting International artists like Khalid in April 2020 in Mumbai along with Lauv and Trevor Noah during the year to tour India with shows in Mumbai and Bangalore.

With Delhi elections being held in February 2020, events in Delhi NCR might use a different approach.

IP conclave and Yearly IP calendar this year is planned in April, St. Regis Mumbai which debuted last year and gets all IP creators and managers along with brands on the same platform to discuss the development and IP industry of the country.

Read more on WOW Awards Middle East Debut EditionU2: The Joshua Tree Tour 2019, One Plus Music FestivalNH7 WeekenderZomalandIIFA 2019India Bike Week, Social Nation.

Deepak Choudhary, Founder, Event Capital writes about the notable hits of 2019 and what is in store for the industry in 2020.

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