Sony LIV Secures Hindi & English Rights for Esports World Cup 2025 via NODWIN Gaming

NODWIN Gaming, South Asia’s leading esports and gaming company, has announced that Sony LIV has acquired the Hindi and English language media rights for select matches of the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025, further amplifying the tournament’s reach and representation across India.

As part of the partnership, Sony LIV will stream select matches from the Esports World Cup in India, bringing the action to millions of fans in languages they resonate with. Coverage begins with Chess in Hindi on July 24, followed by a Hindi livestream of EWC matches starting July 25, featuring India’s BGMI team Aryan x TMG Gaming among others. Tekken 8 kicks off on August 13.

The Hindi-language broadcast will be available exclusively on the Sony LIV app and official website.

In addition, Sony LIV will also stream the weekly shows, behind-the-scenes features, and player interactions spotlighting EWC athletes and teams, curated for both core and casual esports audiences. This collaboration follows NODWIN Gaming’s recent partnership with the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) to manage media rights and regional distribution across South Asia.

Akshat Rathee, Co-Founder and Managing Director of NODWIN Gaming, said, “Our goal is to bring the Esports World Cup to as many passionate fans across South Asia as possible, and this partnership with Sony LIV is a major step in that direction. It combines Sony LIV’s incredible reach with NODWIN’s focus on building localized, fan-first esports experiences. With both Hindi and premium English content, we are creating a viewing experience that feels personal, immersive, and truly regional.”

The Esports World Cup 2025, organised by the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF), is set to return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in summer 2025, featuring the world’s top esports clubs and players across multiple formats. With a record-breaking global prize pool of $70.45 million (over INR 600 crore) and an ever-expanding international audience, the tournament continues to raise the bar for competitive gaming worldwide.

With the addition of Sony LIV as the exclusive Hindi broadcast partner and NODWIN Gaming as the strategic regional media and marketing partner, the EWC is poised to reach unprecedented heights in South Asia. This aligns with the mission of making esports more inclusive, accessible and locally relevant.

The momentum in India is already building as the country gears up for its first-ever representation at the Esports World Cup. AxTMG were recently crowned BMPS 2025 champions, earning their place to represent the country at the Esports World Cup. In chess, Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi made history as the first Indian to qualify for the Esports World Cup 2025 and will compete under the banner of global esports powerhouse Gen.G Esports. Joining him are Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa (India Rank: 1, World Rank: 4), Aravindh Chithambaram (India Rank: 4, World Rank: 11), Vidit Gujrathi (India Rank: 6, World Rank: 26) and Nihal Sarin (India Rank: 8, World Rank: 40), all representing the homegrown esports giant Team S8UL. Rising prodigy Aarav Dengla rounds out the contingent, making this India’s most formidable chess lineup ever on the global esports stage. 

With top-tier Indian talent competing across multiple titles, the Esports World Cup 2025 presents a unique opportunity to showcase India’s growing presence in global esports and to unite audiences around a shared national dream.

Cashfree Payments partners with Sony Entertainment and Sony LIV as Payments Partner for Shark Tank India Season 2

Leading payments and API banking solutions company, Cashfree Payments, has partnered with Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV as the 'Payments Partner' for Shark Tank India season 2. The partnership aligns with the company's vision of enabling India's budding entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into successful and scalable businesses. This is Cashfree Payments' second consecutive year of partnering with Shark Tank India which is set to premiere on 2nd January, 2023 at 10pm.

In the first season of Shark Tank India, 67 Indian businesses got investments out of the 198 pitches, serving as a significant boost to the Indian entrepreneurial landscape. Additionally, the show instilled enthusiasm about entrepreneurship amongst viewers of all ages. The second season aims to have a bigger impact with more episodes, pitches, and cracked business deals. It will have 50 episodes and the season will premiere on January 2, 2023.

Having enabled more than 3,00,000 merchants with state-of-the-art payments and API banking solutions, this partnership is a further testament to Cashfree Payments' commitment to the Make in India initiative.

Akash Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO, Cashfree Payments said, "We are excited to further our partnership with Shark Tank India for the second year in a row. The first season proved to be quite impactful, providing impetus to entrepreneurship and innovation. At Cashfree Payments, we value the entrepreneurial spirit and understand the importance of an enabling startup ecosystem."

"India's digital payments growth story is fuelled by a surge in the number of startups not just in metros but across tier 2 & 3 cities. These innovative businesses rely on Cashfree Payments' safe and trusted payments stack to scale their business. We believe this association goes a long way towards our philosophy of fostering innovation in the Indian startup ecosystem, which deserves to be encouraged and celebrated," Sinha added.

Sandeep Mehrotra, Head – Ad Sales, Network Channels, Sony Pictures Networks India said, "The revolutionary change that Shark Tank India has ushered into the mindsets of the viewers about business and entrepreneurship is a testimony to the impact that the property has created. We are thrilled to be bringing back another exciting season of Shark Tank India and welcome onboard Cashfree Payments as our Payments Partner. Together with Cashfree Payments, we are positive to take a step ahead and to further expand the horizon of Indian entrepreneurship. We are looking forward to an extended partnership with them."

Ranjana Mangla, Head Ad Sales Revenue, Sony LIV | Culver Max Entertainment, said, "Shark Tank India has revolutionised reality shows in India. This show has presented the audience with a unique viewing experience that is both educational and entertaining. This show is an excellent platform for brands and marketers to drive deep purposeful advertising in a highly engaged environment. It's an honour to partner with Cashfree Payments for the second year in a row for Shark Tank India, to bring forth unique integrations to promote brand messaging through contextual advertising."

With over 50% market share among payment processors, Cashfree Payments today leads the way in bulk disbursals in India with its product Payouts. Recently, India's largest lender, SBI invested in Cashfree Payments underscoring the company's role in building a robust payments ecosystem. Cashfree Payments works closely with all leading banks to build the core payments and banking infrastructure that powers the company's products and is also integrated with major platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Paypal, Amazon Pay, Paytm and Google Pay. Apart from India, Cashfree Payments’ products are used in eight other countries including the USA, Canada and UAE.

About Cashfree Payments

Cashfree Payments is a leading payment and API banking solutions company. It provides full-stack payments solutions enabling businesses in India to collect payments and make payouts via all available methods with simple integration. Cashfree Payments' offerings include an advanced and easy way to integrate payment gateways, a split payment solution for marketplaces, bank account verification API, and Auto Collect -- a virtual account solution to match inbound payments to customers.

Founded by IIIT Hyderabad alumnus Akash Sinha and IIT Kharagpur graduate Reeju Datta, www.cashfree.com is among the leading payment service providers in India processing transactions worth USD 40 Billion annually. It has leveraged technology to lead payment disbursals in India with more than 50% market share among payment processors.

Cashfree Payments enables more than 3,00,000 businesses with payment collections, vendor payouts, wage payouts, bulk refunds, expense reimbursements, loyalty and rewards. Apart from India, Cashfree Payments products are used in eight other countries including the USA, Canada, and UAE. Cashfree Payments is backed by Silicon Valley investor Y Combinator, Apis Partners, State Bank of India (SBI), and was incubated by PayPal.