Will advertisers stick to the high pitch?

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

: first match was 0.9, of which Zee Sports garnered 0.2 and Ten Sports 0.7. The combined peak rating of the second match was 0.5. Of this, Zee Sports contributed 0.2 and Ten Sports 0.4. In the third match, the combined peak rating was 0.7, of which Zee Sports acquired 0.2 and Ten Sports 0.4. In terms of GRPs, too, all the three matches failed to draw inspiring figures. The GRP of the first three matches on Zee Sports was 1.16, 1.04 and 1.40, while on Ten Sports it was 2.47, 2.1 and 2.5.

So, in a situation like this, what inspires on-air sponsors to stick to league cricket and not a soap opera?

Ashish Kaul, executive vice-president, Essel Group, says, “In a tournament that spans across 34 matches, on-air sponsors build a significant reach and audiences spend a considerable time. These past few days have been a fair start for us, considering the last tournament where we started at 0.2 and the finals delivering 0.8. This time, our current ratings are equal to a non-India ODI and it’s highly encouraging. With ground sponsors like Edelweiss, JVC, Bharatstudent, Dabur Glucose and on-air sponsors like Airtel and Intel, it only shows that the property has taken off extremely well and is on its way up. We are in the process of signing more associates and team sponsors.”

He adds “We have just started off, and the response is getting better and encouraging. With global broadcast partners, Ten Sports delivering us the required reach, lock-in on-ground sponsors, team sponsors, on-air sponsors and audiences increasing up after each match, our clients are only going to benefit as the tournament progresses.”

The question is: with competitor IPL around and low TV ratings, are sponsors likely to walk out on the ICL?

Says Pratap Bose, CEO, Ogilvy & Mather, “As far as the ICL is concerned, it is a new format in India and there are two kinds of advertisers riding it. Some look at it as a long-term investment and, therefore, even if the tournament fails to deliver the numbers—those sponsors will stick to it. That’s because once the property is established, it will start fetching everybody returns. Secondly, those riding ICL with short-term objectives will most likely pull out if it fails on TV ratings. Also, with the IPL just a month away, it will be interesting to see what kind of television rating it harvests.”