Time-zone difference between India and West Indies coupled with the absence of star cricketers like Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Gambhir, among others, from ODI and T20 squads have adversely impacted advertisers interest in India?s upcoming tour of West Indies with spot rates witnessing 50-55% dip compared to the recently concluded cricket tournaments in 2011 including the World Cup.

Ten Cricket, the host broadcaster for the India-West Indies tour, expects around R70 crore in advertising revenue from the series, almost half of what it generated during India’s tour of South Africa before the World Cup with similar itinerary.

India is scheduled to play three Test matches, five one-day internationals (ODI) and one T20 match on its tour beginning June 4.

According to media agencies, advertisers have not shown enough enthusiasm in associating with the broadcast primarily because of the absence of key cricketers from its T20 and ODI squads and the awkward telecast timings. ?For the ODIs, the per 10-second ad rates are hovering around R 2 lakh, more than half of the average spot rates during the World Cup and around 35% lower than the India-South Africa series,? a senior media planner from a Gurgaon-based agency said requesting anonymity. However, advertisers have queued up for the only T20 match slated for June 4 which is expected to generate revenues of R6-8 crore for the host broadcaster ? Ten Cricket, sources said.

But Ten Cricket management sees opportunity even in the depleted Indian cricket squad. ?This team will be the nucleus of the next World Cup squad, we feel. And that is the positioning we are taking. Advertisers are enthusiastic about the series and we are closing the deals soon,?

Atul Pande, CEO, Ten Sports told FE. However, Pande conceded that the time-zone difference between India and the West Indies would push most of the ODI and Test matches beyond 10.30 pm, ending around 2 am, making it inconvenient for certain advertisers. ?However, we will have at least six sponsors among other advertisers,? Pande said. Sources said that Ten Sports stable is also actively looking at launching a high definition (HD) feed of the channel during the series to keep alive the interest of both advertisers and viewers. It will be branded as a separate channel tentatively called Ten Cricket HD.

Last two years have been high on cricketing fixtures which in turn has diverted around R3,000 crore of television-advertising moolah on the sports channels like ESPN, Star Cricket, Star Sports, Set Max, Neo Cricket, Ten Cricket and Ten Sports. The recently concluded IPL-4 is estimated to have generated around R900 crore worth of advertising revenue for Set Max.