Wimbledon Eyes Indian Market: Leveraging Cricket Craze to Ace Growth Strategy

Wimbledon Courts India: Leveraging Cricket's Popularity to Expand Reach

New Delhi: The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), organizers of the prestigious Wimbledon Championships, are strategically targeting the Indian market to broaden their global presence. Regular attendees at the AELTC include prominent Indian cricketers such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, and Sachin Tendulkar.

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain serves during a practice session prior to The Championships Wimbledon 2025 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Rohit Sharma's photograph on Wimbledon's Instagram account garnered an unprecedented 4.5 million likes, marking their most engaging post ever.

According to AELTC Chief Executive Sally Bolton, India and the United States are key markets for expanding the historic brand. Brendan Dinen, Head of Marketing at Wimbledon, emphasized the importance of collaboration with cricket, India's most beloved sport.

"Cricket is much loved and certainly king for Indian audiences. So rather than trying to compete with that, I think it's about trying to find interesting ways to collaborate. Both sports are rich in heritage. England and India Test matches are happening now. So I think there's interesting ways to be able to bring that to life for audiences, so that they might want to come and watch it as well," Dinen told TimesofIndia.com.

Wimbledon is actively exploring innovative ways to connect with Indian audiences. One initiative involves partnering with an Indian social media influencer who will experience a day at Lord's during a Test match on July 10th, followed by an afternoon at the Championships. This experience will be documented and shared with their audience.

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates Wimbledon 2024 title (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Furthermore, Wimbledon collaborated with their broadcast partner, Star Sports, to create a tennis-cricket crossover trailer that aired during the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Despite its prestige, Wimbledon acknowledges the potential for further growth. Last year, the tournament had 60-70 million engagements across broadcast and social media platforms. With a potential audience of over a billion in India, there is significant opportunity for expansion, particularly among the country's young population.

Dinen clarified, "Younger audiences and audiences of the future are crucial to us. It's clear in the activity that we focus on and our content strategy, whether that's for Instagram, YouTube and the sort of content we create."

He added, "So ensuring that we can have the content and different parts of the Championships, with tennis at the centre of that approach - whether that's through social media platforms or working with influencers and content creators - to be able to look to be able to engage those audiences."

Organizers are also considering holding events in India to strengthen their connection with the audience. However, the timing of the monsoon season presents a challenge. To address this, AELTC is collaborating with PVR INOX to broadcast the finals in large-screen theaters.

Another strategy involves inviting prominent Indian cricketers like Kohli, Tendulkar, and Rohit to the Royal Box, leveraging their vast social media followings to generate buzz.

Wimbledon embraces technology to enhance the fan experience. This year, they are ditching line judges, and using AI. During live matches, the 'Match Chat' assistant, powered by AI in coordination with IBM, provides immediate responses and match analysis to fan inquiries.

"We continue to embrace technology, and it sits at the heart of the balance between heritage and innovation. And in terms of things like Virtual Reality, we work on areas such as gaming. We've brought experiences to life in places like Roblox. So we absolutely want to make sure we bring the brand and the Championships to life in new and interesting ways," Dinen stated.