The Hindu Business Line : Cricket's back with a blast

The ongoing Sri Lankan tour of India has seen master blaster Sachin Tendulkar return to form, Ranchi boy Mahender Singh Dhoni fire away for his swashbuckling 183 runs and others like Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan and Captain Rahul Dravid himself taking the country to victory.

Just a month ago, the ugly squabble between coach Greg Chappell and erstwhile captain Sourav Ganguly and more dressing room politics coupled with the team's middling performance, had taken their toll. The men in blue were not attractive as brand ambassadors, what with declining viewership for cricket, and the emergence of other sports personalities such as Sania Mirza.

However, like all good men, cricketers too can't be kept down for long. Cricket is back with a bang. And how! Says Latika Khaneja, Director, Collage Sports Management, who manages Virender Sehwag's fortunes: "Yes, after the current performance cricket will be back in favour with advertisers." That, perhaps, explains the resurgence of commercials for Pepsi and Boost featuring Sachin Tendulkar or the long queue of sponsors hoping to sign on the muscular Dhoni.

Bang for buck

Advertising industry officials feel that advertisers were always supportive of cricket, but the Indian team's lacklustre performance had taken off some of the sheen. "Cricket is dependent on India's performance. The poor performance had led to some negative energy seeping in. But now, the game is back with a bang and so are advertisers. Doordarshan (DD) has managed to sell its inventory and rates too are expected to firm up," says Sandip Tarkas, CEO, Media Direction, part of RK Swamy/BBDO.

The 12 one-day international matches (seven against Sri Lanka and five against South Africa) are expected to generate advertising revenues of Rs 120 crore - Rs 150 crore for the national broadcaster.

"We have once again managed to sell all the spots overnight and we have a whole range of advertisers. This is because of the affordable rates, a transparent rate card and the trust advertisers repose in us," says Vijayalaxmi Chhabra, Director, Marketing, Prasar Bharati. These include biggies such as Hero Honda, Hindustan Lever, BSNL, Castrol, ICICI, Coca-Cola and Maruti who have sponsored the series, and smaller advertisers such as Emami, Surya Bulbs and Natco Tiles who are also visible.

The advertising rates have been fixed at Rs 2.5 lakh per 10-seconder on DD Sports and Rs 2 lakh for a spot on DD National. However, the basic condition is that advertisers would have to buy across channels for both the series. These rates are just a shade lower than the rates charged during the India-Pakistan matches played earlier in the year. A 10-second spot on DD National and DD Sports were available for Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh respectively.

According to Punitha Arumugam, Group CEO, Madison Media, "Cricket always has a set of advertisers (such as the telecom and consumer durable brands) which swear by the sport and continue to invest in it forever. The other set of brands are those that use cricket as a regular buy, just as they would invest in any other programme. A third category of brands gets excited about the innovations such as owning the fours, branding of the third umpire and so on. While the first two categories of advertisers are normally consistent in backing cricket, the third group associates itself with the sport only when it is doing well."

Viewership spikes

The India-Sri Lanka clash may not be as high-profile as games in which India takes on Pakistan. But viewership numbers have been on the rise. Data from rating agency TAM India, covering DD1 and DD Sports across India, indicates that for the first match of the ongoing series, the viewership rating stood at 6.3 TRPs (television rating points). This went up to 8.4 TRPs during the second match. "The viewership numbers show that interest in cricket is on the rise. These are a shade lower than those recorded during the India-Pakistan series played earlier this year," says Atul Phadnis, Vice-President, TAM India. The first match then got a rating of 9.5 points, which rose marginally to 10.2 TRPs in the second game.

Catch 'em quick

Brands seem to be eyeing budding cricketers. Pepsi and Reebok, for instance, have already signed on Dhoni and some others are in talks with him. Other new kids on the block such as J. P. Yadav, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao and Sreesanth are potential stars. While seasoned cricketers like Tendulkar or Dravid charge endorsement fees running into crores, the newcomers can be signed on for just a few lakhs, say officials of sports management companies.

Josy Paul, Chairman and National Creative Director, David, says, "India lives for the moment, and cricket decides the weather of the nation. When the team does well, the buoyancy increases. When the cricket stars failed on the field, there was a move towards the second line of Bollywood stars such as Boman Irani and Rajpal Yadav. But youngsters like Dhoni are rocking on the field, advertisers' attention would definitely turn towards them."

However, with the festive season coming to end, one would have to wait and see the number of new endorsements.

"Signing a new brand is a time-consuming process as a player would endorse only a handful of brands for a period. Endorsements tend to be more player-specific and are linked to not only performance but also to the personality of the player and whether there can be a distinctive branding for him. For instance, players such as Dhoni or Irfan Pathan have a distinctive brand image and even if their on-field performances were not that good, they might still get endorsements," adds Collage's Khaneja.

Now, all eyes are on Sachin Tendulkar, whose Rs 100-crore contract with WorldTel is expiring later this year.

Coming season crucial

The endorsement deals are dependent on the number of high-profile events and the future looks exciting. Following the South Africa tour, India is expected to tour Pakistan early next year, besides taking on England. The mini World Cup is yet another event that will be eagerly watched as it precedes the World Cup in 2007.

Says Himanshu Mody, Executive Vice-President (Corporate Strategy & Finance), Zee Sports, "One has to wait and see whether the recent good performance of the team would tempt advertisers to invest more money. It is a known fact that the Indians always perform well on home ground. There is no guarantee that the team would repeat its good performance on foreign soil."

Sums up Jasmin Sohrabji, President, Mediacom, "We live in extremely dynamic media times, and advertisers and their agencies review their strategies on an on-going continuous basis ... be it cricket, be it any medium, any media vehicle!" Cricket could have its ups and downs, but as long as it delivers its unique audiences at a price point acceptable to advertisers, there will be takers. "One needs to evaluate cricket within the options available, not as an isolated media property. The important point to note is, evaluate your options at the current times, in the existing market dynamics, not make a long-term decision for or against cricket," she adds. Be that as it may, given current dynamics, cricket is right up there on the advertisers' agenda. For now, that is.

(Reporter Associates: Ajita Shashidhar & Neha Kaushik)

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