The Hindu Business Line : Ads thunder before Indian wonder Down Under

AS India inched towards a historic win over Australia in the second Test match of the ongoing cricket series, advertisers - big and small - too jostled for their share of the limelight.

The penultimate day of the Test match witnessed a surge in interest by advertisers across diverse categories, with the objective of buying whatever little unsold airtime available on Star Sports - the channel which was exclusively telecasting the match live.

According to Mr Ajit Varghese, General Manager, Madison Communications, ad rates were jacked up by as much as 50-60 per cent, and clients were more than willing to buy air-time at those rates.

"A lot of big clients called up during the fourth day of the series, wanting to buy air-time during the match telecast. Given India's historic win, viewership would have obviously gone up. So it was quite worth it," Mr Varghese said. He added that to the extent possible, last-minute advertising requests were accommodated.

Usually, during cricket matches channels hold back 10-15 per cent of their total inventory for last-minute spot buys which attracts a premium if India does well.

"Clients usually enter into bulk deals with sports channels for one-day matches and later sew deals for Test matches. With India's good performance on the fourth day, Star Sports would have managed to sell all their air-time on the fifth day," said a Mumbai-based media planner.

The ad rates for the ongoing series have been hovering at about Rs 1-1.1 lakh for a 10-seconder.

And in addition to regular big spenders such as Coca-Cola and Samsung, corporates such as Pidilite, BPCL and Shaw Wallace advertised in a big way on cricket for the first time during the match.

Airtel and Hutch too advertised aggressively during the match, a trend not visible earlier, according to media planners.

Corporates obviously got enough bang for their buck. A spokesperson for Samsung India, the presenting sponsor for the cricket series, said: "India's performance certainly got us benefits. This series obviously presented us a good opportunity to leverage our Team Samsung property."

High-profile advertiser Pepsi, meanwhile, was conspicuous by its absence. Mr Rohit Ohri, Senior Vice-President & Area Director, JWT (the agency handling the Pepsi account), said, "For Pepsi, December is generally off-season as far as advertising goes. But Pepsi will be present in a big way in all forthcoming cricket matches beginning next year."

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Ads thunder before Indian wonder Down Under