There’s one question you can randomly ask cricket and non-cricket lovers in the country today and guess the answer correctly 100% of the times: “What are you doing tomorrow at 2?”
If the television viewership history is anything to go by, the response will be: “Watching the India-Pakistan World Cup match on TV/mobile.”
Expanding that thought, if you were to ask media buying/planning executives how the spot rates for the fixture are doing, four out of five times the answer will be: “Shot up beyond expected lines”.
On October 6, FE had projected that spot rates on TV for the India and Pakistan matches were being sold for as high as Rs 30 lakh per 10 seconds, which according to Jehil Thakkar, partner, Deloitte, was a 40% increase compared to 2019. As per the latest updates from industry insiders, live programming inventory for TV and connected TV for the October 14 India vs Pakistan match was sold out two days in advance, and the last spot on TV was sold at a whopping `50-55 lakh for a 10 seconder. For its lone match against Pakistan in the 2019 tournament – which India won – the spot rates were in the Rs 16 lakh/10 second range.
The inventory of a total of 85 seconds – comprising the advertising slot during one break before the start and one break after the end of each inning – was still available at the time of going to press. It is priced at Rs 20-22 lakh per spot.
Contrary to early conjectures, every category of brands is on television now – including auto, fantasy leagues, BFSI, construction (cement, steel) e-commerce, pan masala, beverages, consumer durables, alcobev – you name it.
On TV, one can still buy a package of six L-shaped ads (Powerplay & Fan Moments package) for around Rs 50 lakh. For mobile streaming, spots are being sold at Rs 25-30 lakh per spot, that too without any impressions commitment.
“Overall, for the entire World Cup, the bundled rates for India and non-India matches were around Rs 15-20 lakh per 10-second spot on TV; the bundled rates were around Rs 400-500 CPM (cost per thousand) for mobile and around Rs 900-1,100 for CTV,” informed Shashank Srivastava, senior executive director, marketing & sales, Maruti Suzuki India. Ten-second spots on TV during the 2019 outing went for Rs 8-10 lakh.
For its part, Maruti Suzuki itself has bought time on 18 matches in total – comprising nine India matches and nine key non-India matches, including the semi-finals and the final. Its total World Cup investment is approximately Rs 50 crore, of which about Rs 35 crore is on TV and another Rs 15 crore is on OTT/CTV.