Two years ago at the T20 World Championship finals in South Africa, Pakistan fell short by five runs to a resurgent India led by Mahindra Singh Dhoni. On Sunday, Pakistan was at the arena once again, this time at Lord?s, and going all the way to be crowned champions. India had exited early, leaving fans enraged and advertisers very unhappy.

For even when the finals was being played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and viewership wasn?t high because of India?s exit, ad breaks were dominated by Reliance Mobile, Nokia, Hero Honda, Pepsi, HP, Reebok, Maruti Suzuki, Perfetti, Visa, LG and so forth.

India?s shock exit couldn?t have come at a worse time. Already, the entertainment industry was trying to tide over a liquidity crisis, then the tiff between multiplexes and producers led to a strike stalling new releases from April 4. So, cricket seemed to be the only respite for viewers. Indians tuned in to watch the Indian Premier League season 2 matches in huge numbers despite the initial hiccups over broadcast rights and a shift in venue to South Africa.

For the TV industry so far, the major draw has been IPL. The finals, between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers, were watched by 11.4 million viewers?no other TV soap or reality show has been able to match this.

With cricket ruling the roost, host broadcaster for the ICC T20 World Cup, sold off 90% of its inventory at premium rates at least three weeks before the tournament began on June 5, thus ensuring that majority of the funds were in the kitty, with or without India going all the way to the finals. Thus, the broadcaster, according to insiders, already had Rs 190-odd crore from advertisers before even the first ball was bowled. It?s the advertisers who have borne the brunt of India?s early ouster.

?With viewership plummeting, the advertisers who were already committed will be impacted,? says Sandeep Lakhina, COO, South Asia, Starcom Worldwide. ?There?s always a risk attached to properties like the World Cup,? he adds.

For T-20, according to industry sources, ESPN Star, which was earlier selling spots at Rs 3-3.25 lakh, had hiked the price of ad spots to more than Rs 5 lakh for a 10-second spot and was aiming at revenues of over Rs 240 crore from the event. Insiders said advertisers like Reliance Mobile, Hero Honda, PepsiCo, Reebok, Maruti Suzuki, Nokia may even seek compensation from ESPN due to a considerable dip in ratings after India?s exit.

ESPN-Star Sports? revenue collection targets too went awry, at least some of it. The absence of the Indian team from the Super 8 stage impacted at least 10% of the revenue collection. ?If India was playing the ad rates in the last stages would have been much higher,? says Lakhina.

According to Shailendra Singh, joint managing director, Percept Ltd: ?India?s exit from the T20 World Cup hasn?t affected the future of cricket as there is always a demand and supply situation. However, with India?s ouster, advertisers may not have been able to demand the premium that they would have for the finals. The viewership for the T20 matches is also likely to have dropped by almost 80%, leaving as low as only 20-25% Indians watching the matches.?

According to television rating agency aMap, the first match that India played during the tournament scored 3.9 ratings with a net reach of 9.5%. The ratings soared further to 5.3 and a net reach of 13% was seen during the match between India and West Indies on June 12. The ratings dipped again to 4.8 in India?s last match of the tournament against England.

Towards the end of the tournament, as it reached the semi-final and final stages, the ratings showed that very few Indians were watching the matches. Mahesh Ranka, general manager, India Relay Worldwide, Starcom MediaVest Group, mentions, ?The situation could have been different had India been in the finals. The major share of the money that the channel would have raised would have come from the semi-finals and finals. Also, the amount of inventory that was kept aside by advertisers for the finals have had to be reduced or sold to other existing categories due to India?s exit.?

Timmy Kandhari, executive director & leader, entertainment & media practice, PWC India, says, ?IPL had experienced huge ad spends. The T20 could have experienced major eyeballs if India performed well, but the ad spends for the tournament cannot be compared to the IPL. The fact that the matches was around 10 pm also hindered the growth of viewership.? But as Kandhari points out, India remains the largest market for cricket.

Says Sneha Rajani, EVP & business head, Max: ?In terms of both revenues and ratings, IPL season 2 was better than season 1. We collected at least 40-50% more than last year.?

Rajani adds that the only thing lacking was that the matches were not played in India. ?There?s no doubt about it, IPL belongs to India and we will be back with a big bang next year,? she says.

At the T20 event, at least one film promotion was a hit due to India?s early return home.

Saif Ali Khan?s soon to be released film, Love Aaj Kal, starring Deepika Padukone had planned promotions during the T20 matches. ?With India?s early exit, the publicity has also taken a backseat,? said an analyst.

As far as cricket goes, next in line is the Ashes series that will be starting from July 1. Media planners are not sounding too optimistic about the test matches between Australia and England due to India?s absence and the fact that test matches have a shrinking audience compared to the crisp Twenty 20 formats.

Navin Khemka, senior vice-president, ZenithOptimedia, points out, ?The Ashes will not see an average of more than 1 rating point at the most. The tri-series post-Ashes traditionally does better. Only the advertisers who look at cricket as a part of their overall strategy would invest in the Ashes since it helps keep the connect with the game alive with purists.?

The Essel group promoted Indian Cricket League (ICL) is the other tournament that will be aired in the last quarter of this year. ICL officials have confirmed that the tournament will be held in November.

However, as far as the advertising revenue in terms of a cricket event is concerned, a media planner points out that this year it will be very difficult to push ICL. ?There is too much cricket lined up for the rest of the year. The IPL has now become the biggest tournament after the World Cup, since the World Cup happens only once in four years.? Some industry experts also believe that the overdose of cricket?T20 following IPL?may have affected viewership of the T20 matches.

Advertisers will hope that this is just a passing phase, and Indians will go back to watching cricket with a vengeance.