India won the inaugural ICC World T20 in the year 2007 in South Africa and is now the defending champions for T20 World Cup 2009, which is scheduled to be held on June 5-21, 2009, in England. The success of the T20 World Cup in 2007 has prompted sports broadcaster ESPN-STAR Sports (ESS) to hike its ad rates by 50 per cent for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.
According to industry sources, more than 90 per cent of the inventory had been sold. ESS will charge over Rs 5 lakh for a 10-second spot, and is expecting revenues of over Rs 240 crore from the T20 World Cup this year. Earlier, the sports broadcaster was selling the spot for around Rs 3-3.25 lakh.
Sanjay Kailash, Executive VP (Advertising Sales and New Media), ESPN Software, said, “Though I cannot talk specifics, we are indeed selling the balance inventory at a premium; we feel that the event demands such a premium, given the popularity of T20.” ESS has signed up more than 30 clients for the telecast related to the tournament, including 10 sponsors.
exchange4media speaks to a few media planners to find out whether T20 World Cup 2009 would see similar ratings as was seen in 2007.
Depends on how India plays
Sandeep Lakhina, COO, Starcom Worldwide, South Asia, observed, “T20 World Cup undoubtedly is a good property, but it all depends on how India plays, especially with whom. I believe the 10 pm time slot will get very good viewership to start with, but doubt how many will stay back to watch the entire match, and if India is not playing, then the interest goes down significantly. That is going to be a big challenge.”
He further said, “In 2007, the India-Pakistan finals saw overall TRP of 16.94, however, it will all depend on specific matches and whether India is playing in it or not. Advertisers’ response is definitely positive, one reason is because India is the defending champion, and secondly, a lot of Indian players are doing well in IPL as they are getting a lot of practice during the tournament and, therefore, the expectations are going to be high. Also, T20 will be a good opportunity for brands that have missed out on IPL.”
Rajneesh Chaturvedi, National Director, MEC Access, said, “T20 is certainly a good property to invest in for advertisers, especially since India is the defending champion and is expected to do well. In terms of ratings, it is expected to do well, however, I am not sure if it will be able to deliver the same kind of ratings as it did last season. The India matches are expected to deliver anywhere between 6 and 10 TRPs, nevertheless high ratings will mainly depend upon the performance of the Indian team.”
Sanjay Sharma, GM, Mediacom, noted, “In one of the 50-over World Cup matches India got wiped out in the earlier stages, so yes, there is kind of a risk for advertisers, and yes, viewership certainly depends on how high India gets in the T20 World Cup. I believe it will be very difficult for advertisers to pay more than the IPL rates, however, there is high chance of India going ahead, one of the reason being that they have got enough practice in the T20 IPL. I believe initially it won’t be a welcome move. The ratings depend on the Indian team’s performance.”
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