Despite the Rs 50 crore advertising budget, the second season of Essel Group-owned Indian Cricket League (ICL) has failed to deliver impressive television ratings, said aMap, the audience measurement and analytics company. The tournament, inaugurated on October 10, is being beamed in two channels ? Ten Sports and Zee Sports. The average ratings on Ten Sports of the first six matches, held between October 10-14, are 0.34%, 0.l8%, 0.20%, 0.36%, 0.38% and 0.39% respectively. On Zee Sports, the average rating for October 10 was 0.22%. CD Mitra, president, Mudra MAX, a media buying agency, feels that the tournament is coming head-on with the India-Australia test series. Also, with the series being Sourav Ganguly?s last apprearance before retirement, there is huge media hype for the series.
The test series, that began on October 9, is being shown on Neo Sports and the dates of the matches are directly clashing with ICL. The average rating of the first five daysof the first test match, held between October 9-13, was 0.50%, 0.45%, 0.54%, 0.78% and 0.60% respectively. While the India-Australia series has managed the highest net reach of 92.18 crore, the highest reach for ICL was 71.93 crore.
Mitra added, ?The tournament also lacks star power. The matches may be good but not enough to draw audiences.? However, Mitra also admitted that if people watch one match they would probably stay on for the whole tournament. Also, the festival season has played a spoilsport for the tournament, he added.
Sources said that the combined advertising rate for a 10-second slot on both Ten Sports and Zee Sports for ICL matches is around Rs 80,000. ?We expected better ratings this time. Maybe it will get better later,? said Mitra.
R Gowthaman, MD, MindShare India, feels that the slump that ICL is facing is not because of cricket alone. There are other economic perspectives. ?Cricket is entertainment. However, currently there are other burning issues for the common man that is overshadowing the tournament,? he said.