Advertisers feast on "fast food" cricket

NEW DELHI: Unfazed by the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, Indian advertisers seem to be devouring what’s being referred to as the “fast food” of cricket. Just two days before India’s first match at the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) first Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, there is a flurry of big-ticket last-minute buying.

Advertisers wanting a piece of the action are paying up a huge premium — Rs 2.5-3.5 lakh per 10 seconds — for India matches. Those who have bought or are close to buying spots include Ford, Maruti, Airtel, R-ADAG, Aviva, IndianOil, IBM, Intel and Cadbury.

ESPN-Star Sports (ESS), which is broadcasting the tournament simultaneously in English, Hindi and, for the first time, in Tamil, had kept aside around 25-30% of its inventory for last-minute sale. The broadcaster is now selling these spots at a huge premium, almost 70-100% higher than the World Cup spots held in March-April this year in the West Indies. Spots on the India-Pakistan encounter on September 14 are being sold at Rs 3-3.5 lakh per 10 seconds while the India-Scotland match scheduled for September 13 is selling at roughly Rs 2.5 lakh for a 10-second spot.

Different advertisers are buying different formats. Ford, through its media-buying partner Group M, has bought spots across all 27 matches over the 15 days. Airtel, on the other hand, is leveraging its long-term association with ESS to get an exclusive property, industry sources said.

So, what’s attracting advertiser interest? The quick-fix format and prime time schedules of the tournament are expected to garner television rating points (TRPs) of 10-12, which is about twice that of a regular one-day match. Says Sundar Raman, MD of media-buying house Mindshare: “The tournament has entertainment value, which is interesting from the advertiser’s point of view.”

According to Lintas Media Group’s Interactions V-P Kajal Malik, the three-hour match format gives advertisers a distinct advantage over one-day internationals (ODIs). “Since the match lasts three hours, advertisers can get enough or more mileage even from two-three spots, as against a day-long ODI, which requires at least five-six spots to make a big impact,” says Mr Malik. The inventory of the Twenty20 format is limited to 55-60 spots per match, which is about one-third of a regular ODI.

Madison Media Plus CEO Basab Datta Chowdhuri adds: “Even if India isn’t playing, the matches will be advertiser-friendly because of the shorter format.” ESS’ Tamil feed, to be telecast on Star Cricket, is being bundled along with the English feed on ESPN and Hindi feed on Star Cricket. “We have not broken up the advertising packages, and most advertisers are doing combined buys across the three feeds,” says ESS India MD RC Venkateish.

For the tournament, ESS has sold inventory through different formats. If India doesn’t qualify for the Super 8s (or Stage II), rates average Rs 1.75-2 lakh per 10 seconds; if India qualifies for the Super 8s, but doesn‘t go beyond the second stage, rates are in the range of Rs 2-2.5 lakh for 10 seconds; and if India reaches the semi-finals and finals, rates are upwards of Rs 2.3-2.6 lakh. Besides, the rates for one-off India-specific matches are upwards of Rs 2.5 lakh per 10 seconds.

While Nokia, Havells and Hero Honda are the tournament’s co-presenters, Pepsi is the associate sponsor. Others such as ITC have bought exclusive airtime on properties such as post-match analysis. ICC’s global sponsors for the tournament are Reliance Communications, PepsiCo, Nokia and Emaar MGF.