BCCI has lessons to learn from ICL errors

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After Dhoni’s India proved punters wrong to win the maiden ICC 20-Twenty World Cup in South Africa, the new over-specific format caught the fancy of millions at home, whetting their appetite for more of this swashbuckling version of the game. Even India Inc moved in fast to cash in on the T-20 fever that had gripped a nation where cricket is religion. Essel Group made the first move with its Indian Cricket League (ICL) that, however, has not delivered the big bang it had promised. Learning from Essel Group’s mistakes, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is stepping on the gas to make sure that its Indian Premier League (IPL) doesn’t go the ICL way.

As ICL gropes to figure out why the fizz has gone out of its T-20 tourney, sports marketer Percept Holdings’ joint managing director Shailendra Singh bandies a theory for this blink-and-miss. Says Shailendra Singh, “It’s an interesting situation with IPL. After India’s One-Day World Cup debacle at the Caribbean, Zee moved first with its concept of a cricket league, launching ICL. The cricket board responded with its own league called the IPL, and probably, even they didn’t know that T-20 had the potential to make it big at that point in time.”

Singh points out that, while ICL had the first-mover advantage, IPL took time in creating a business model and even got the backing of the ICC. It helped that the BCCI runs cricket in India. So, obviously the board has a better say on decisions and the kind of players being involved in the league. It can also access various cricket boards and international players, which meant that it got a better deal than ICL.

“ICL could not raise much money and hence, the quality of ‘cricketainment’ and the marketing was not up to the mark. Even the stadia where the ICL matches were played weren’t well-known. But BCCI will ensure that IPL matches are taken across the country to ensure attendance. Also, if you see the kind of monies that are being invested in IPL, it shows that the BCCI is doing something right,” explains Singh.

Media mogul Subhash Chandra, chairman, Essel Group, pitched ICL as a parallel cricketing event. Although it never received any acknowledgment from the BCCI, ICL organisers managed to rope in players like Brian Lara, Chris Cairns, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Lance Klusener, Rohan Gavaskar, Dinesh Mongia and many others of repute. The first season of ICL kicked off on November 30, 2007 in Chandigarh, and media analysts say poor home cable penetration of the Zee Sports channel translated into poor viewership and advertising for ICL.

According to aMap, a television ratings agency, the online ratings of the first three ICL matches and even the combined ratings of all the 25-odd Zee channels for the first hour of the ICL tournament failed to attract significant viewership, with the average time spent on the channels being just eight minutes. The first three T-20 matches played on November 30 and December 1 generated peak ratings of only 0.5 on Zee Sports despite aggressive promotions and appearances by film personalities.

The maximum combined ratings for the first 30 minutes of the third match between Mumbai Champs and Hyderabad Heroes was 1.0. But this was because of the match being available across all the 28 Zee network channels. The stand-alone rating on Zee Sports for this match was 0.2. According to analysts, these ratings are the worst in recent times for any important cricket tournament held this year involving Indian cricketers.

So what really went wrong with ICL?

Says Harish Bijoor, renowned brand consultant, “The country is not very kind to interests or new formats, be it sports or in any other arena. A tried and tested formula is always preferred to something which entails taking risks. It is the day and age of connected commerce where connectivity and networking result in success.”

Bijoor feels that ICL did not succeed “because it is not just about getting stars and parading them at an event. It is about having the ability to garner business. The coffers of BCCI are deeper than that of any other sports entity in India, and this is one of the driving factors for its success. The operations of IPL have a deeper degree of commitment and follow a structured format.”

But some media planners don’t want to dub ICL as a flop show, not yet. Says Nandini Dias, COO, Lodestar Universal, “Fortunes in cricket fluctuate at the best of times. Business houses that are already investing in cricket have tried minimising their risks. They have put their monies on a known entity and one who has more experience. I think it is unfair to slot ICL as a failure. It takes time to build any property. We have been trying to build tennis, hockey for many years. We are now making inroads. This new format will take time too.”

IPL, which is slated to begin from April, has already caught much media attention due to the profile of its franchisers that varies from corporate goliaths to Bollywood stars. IPL organisers raised a whopping Rs 7,000 crore from the franchisers’ bids. The list includes GMR Holdings, which got the Delhi team for Rs 336 crore, Reliance Industries Ltd, which bagged the Mumbai team for Rs 447.6 crore, India Cements, which got the Chennai team at Rs 364 crore, UB Group, which grabbed the Bangalore team at Rs 446.4 crore, Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and Mohit Burman, who together got the Mohali team at Rs 304 crore and the trio of Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta, who got the Kolkata team at Rs 300.36 crore.

Recently, DLF bagged the exclusive title sponsorship for IPL for five years for Rs 200 crore. The players’ auction, which is supposed to be held on February 20, is predicted to be a much-hyped event with Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya and Shah Rukh Khan bidding. IPL has already set the base price for each team at $3.5 million and a maximum cap of $5 million. Besides, each player has a separate price tag, which IPL has disclosed only to franchisers.

Says Farokh Balsara, national sector leader, media and entertainment practice, Ernst & Young, “IPL has the official backing of the cricket board and the current Bollywood stars. In ICL, many of the players are retired cricketers. IPL is being viewed not so much as a sports entity but more as an entertainment event. And with organisers taking a different route through franchisers, they are creating an entirely different genre.”

Another media planner, who want to remain anonymous, says, “The business model that IPL is using for promotions is new and it has managed to rope in big names of contemporary cricket. The format of IPL is similar to that of the English Premier League, and organisers have managed to generate interest as well as business opportunity by cashing in on this smart strategy.”

Planners also say that by bringing in the franchiser format, IPL organisers have put the onus of promotion of each team on different franchisees. The bid winners are now mandated to brand and market individual teams. By introducing such a concept, IPL organisers have infused competition from the teething stages.

According to Ravi Krishnan, vice-chairman, Emerging Media (which also owns IPL’s Jaipur team), IPL is destined for success for a variety of reasons. “It is run by the BCCI, which has stated and demonstrated its commitment to ensure the off-field and on-field success of the league. The involvement of IMG, the sports marketing agency, which is effectively assisting the BCCI in all its efforts, and Sony as the host broadcaster, which understands the juxtaposition of sport and entertainment, have has also helped.”