Broadcaster Disney Star has begun making presentations to advertisers and media agencies for the upcoming ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, which begins on January 19 in South Africa.
The tournament will mark the start of the international cricket calendar for 2024. However, given that several senior cricket tournaments featuring India are in the pipeline including the India-Afghanistan three-match T20 series starting this week (Thursday) and the India-England test series beginning later this month (January 25), Disney Star is keeping advertising rates competitive, media industry sources said. The aim is to attract sponsors, they said.
Television ad rates for non-India matches for the U-19 World Cup are pegged at around Rs 50,000 per 10 seconds. India matches are being pitched for Rs 1-2 lakh per 10 seconds, while the semi-final and final matches are being pitched for Rs 3 lakh per 10 seconds, media industry sources said. Disney Star did not respond when contacted.
On digital — mobile and connected TV — non-India matches for the U-19 World Cup are pegged at around Rs 30,000 per 10 seconds; India matches plus matches in the Super Six stage as well as the semi-final and final matches are available for Rs 90,000 per 10 seconds, while only semi-final and final matches are available for Rs 1.15 lakh per 10 seconds, persons in the know said.
“Advertisers are likely to conserve their marketing energy for the major cricket tournaments that will soon begin. There is a lot of cricket in the first half of the calendar year,” Sajal Gupta, chief executive officer at Gurugram-based media consultancy Kiaos Marketing, said.
Apart from the India-Afghanistan and India-England bilateral series, the Women’s Premier League will kick-off on February 22, end on March 17. The Men’s IPL will begin on March 29 and end on May 26. The ICC T20 World Cup will start on June 1 and conclude on June 29.
Of these, Disney Star will telecast the Men’s IPL tournament on television and has the TV and digital rights for the ICC T20 World Cup like it does the ICC U-19 World Cup. In the absence of a conclusion to the $1.5-billion TV sub-licensing deal with Zee that Disney Star had entered in August 2022 for 2024-27 ICC tournaments, Disney Star has no choice but to telecast the tournaments on its sports channels. The broadcaster had retained the digital rights of the 2024-27 ICC tournaments.
In its recently released FY23 Annual Report, Zee said that the acquisition of the ICC TV media rights was subject to certain conditions precedent. This included submitting financial commitments, bank guarantees, and ICC approval for sub-licensing to Zee, which was pending.
Industry sources said that Disney Star’s late pitch for the U-19 World Cup was linked in part to the uncertainty around the ICC TV media rights deal.
The Walt Disney Company last month had signed a non-binding agreement with Reliance Industries (RIL) to merge its Indian unit Disney Star with Viacom18. Zee and Sony are in negotiations to salvage their proposed $10-billion merger under a one-month extension which expires on January 20.