Notwithstanding the temporary pull back in sponsorship money for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi by public sector companies, national broadcaster Doordarshan is confident of raking in Rs 300 crore in advertising revenue from the telecast of the games.
The commercial team of Doordarshan is currently engaged with over a dozen top advertisers for on-air sponsorship for the 12-day telecast of games, beginning October 3. A deal is expected to be signed next month, sources said.
?Soft drink firms, banks, telecom operators, insurance firms, and PSUs are among various companies that are being roped in to sponsor the telecast of the biggest sporting event the country will hold in 28 years,? a source said.
DD insiders say big spenders like LG, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Airtel, Vodafone, Hindustan Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, State Bank of India, Reebok, Addidas and many others have been approached by Doordarshan for on-air sponsorship, which may be event-led.
?In tennis, badminton, hockey, boxing and other such events where India has an edge, sponsors will be keen to associate with Doordarshan?s telecast for the games as it will fetch them higher eyeballs,? a senior media planner from a leading agency said.
Government sources said that even the committed sponsorship amount, worth over Rs 550 crore, for CWG by public sector firms like NTPC, IOC, Air India, Railways and others will finally come to the games by the middle of September. ?A part of the sponsorship money from PSUs will obviously flow to Doordarshan too,? a top DD official said.
Aruna Sharma, director general, Doordarshan said: ?We are confident of meeting our targets on telecast sponsorship. We will soon announce the main sponsors for CWG telecast.?
As part of its commitment to the government against the expenditure being incurred on the telecast of the CWG, Doordarshan has to generate a minimum of Rs 100 crore in revenue from sponsorship.
However, internally Doordarshan has kept for it self a target of Rs 300 crore from various on-air sponsors. This comes after it awarded the CWG telecast production contract to UK-based SIS Live (Satellite Information Service), Europe?s largest outside broadcast and up link supplier, earlier this year. The outsourced telecast deal between Doordarshan and SIS Live is estimated to be around Rs 240 crore. Additionally, SIS Live has to impart training to 300-plus DD officials for helping it in the live production coverage of the games.