The Hindu Business Line : Ten Sports to hike ad rates for ODIs by 30 pc on DD feeds

ADVERTISING rates for the residual inventory of the forthcoming one-day international (ODI) matches between India and Pakistan are set to go up by 30-40 per cent.

According to media planners, with Prasar Bharati agreeing to carry the cricket feed provided by Ten Sports without inserting its own advertisements, the private sports broadcaster is expected to make some extra money.

"The series has done well, especially with a thrilling third test match. There are advertisers who are willing to invest in the sport by paying a premium," they said.

Ten Sports had managed to sell 90 per cent of its inventory by the end of November 2005. Industry sources had pegged the ad rates for the ODI at anything between Rs 3.25 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for a 10-second schedule depending on the size of the deals. But the rate hike would not impact advertisers, who had signed on earlier.

"In fact, the arrangement with DD would only work to the advertisers' advantage. Earlier, the series were sold as `live and exclusive' on Ten Sports, but now the matches would be available to terrestrial homes as well," a senior media planner said. The agreement with Ten Sports has deprived DD from earning additional advertising revenue. The broadcaster had last month sounded out potential advertisers in the hope that it would be able to market the series on its own.

But now Doordarshan would have to fork out Rs 15 crore by February 9 as full and final settlement for sharing an "uninterrupted feed".

Earlier, the national broadcaster was able to show only a one-and-a-half hour daily highlights package of the test matches.