The Hindu Business Line : Asia Cup garners less ad revenue than Indo-Pak series

THE ongoing Asia Cup one-day international witnessed a 30 per cent drop in advertising spends. The six-nation tournament could only garner around Rs 100 crore compared to the Rs 140 crore ad revenues generated during the one day matches of the India-Pakistan Samsung Cup series, according to industry sources.

This was much to do with decline in spot buying rate, which fell to Rs 2.5 lakh per ten second of television advertising during Asia Cup cricket as against Rs 4 lakh spot rate throughout the Samsung Cup, sources pointed out.

"The Samsung Cup probably had a greater appeal for a vast spectrum of advertisers, by virtue of the massive public interest in a long-awaited India-Pakistan series," said Mr Ravi Krishnan, Senior International Vice-President, International Management Group (IMG).

According to AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, which analysed the first six league matches of the Asia Cup and the five ODIs aired during the Samsung Cup in March this year, the average commercial time bought by advertisers has decreased from 77 minutes per match during the Samsung Cup to 67 minutes during the Asia Cup, a decrease of 13 per cent.

The recipe of honour, national interest and cut-throat rivalry between India and Pakistan during the Samsung Cup cricket series brought better advertising value vis-à-vis the six nation Asia Cup.

The other thing symbolic about the Samsung Cup was that media buyers did not have a reference to predict television ratings (TVRs) since India was playing a full test series with Pakistan after 15 years. "Though buying cricket (airtime) has become fairly efficient with more predictable TVRs, for the Samsung Cup, we took the India-Australia cricket series as the reference," said Mr Manish Porwal, General Manager, Investment & New Initiatives, Starcom India, a Mumbai-based media-buying agency.

"The India-Australia series was the only match played prior to the Samsung Cup and keeping that TVR as a reference, the India-Pakistan series fell short by around 1 TVR point," Mr Porwal added.

The decline in purchase of commercial time could also be attributed to the timing of the Asia Cup which is being played during the monsoons, typically, a lean season for sales for many product categories. "Many companies might also be saving up for the ICC Champions trophy in September, which is right before the onset of the peak season," IMG's Mr Ravi Krishnan said.

According to the cricket calendar, India plays for around 90 days a year and after the tremendous excitement built around the Samsung Cup, the demand for media buying has begun to exceed the inventory or the supply of airtime provided by the broadcaster.

Advertisers are also perceived to be putting their money on the Holland tri-series between India, Pakistan and Australia scheduled in August where each match promises to be a classic, the IMG chief opined.

The demand has also resulted in emerging media properties such as Master Blaster, Super 4s, Super 6s, Great Catches, which has now become an avenue for advertising, says Mr Sandip Tarkas, CEO, Media Direction India, the media planning and buying outfit of RK Swamy BBDO.