The frenzy over the Men in Blue and Black Caps semi-finals clash at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is getting reflected in the rising television advertising rates. Televising advertising rates have inched up 15% for the semi-final matches at Rs 35 lakh per 10 seconds for last-minute spot buys, according to media industry sources.
Ad rates have so far hovered at Rs 30 lakh per 10 seconds during the league stage, which is double the rate charged during the 2019 edition of the tournament. The premium for the final match in terms of spot ad rates could increase significantly, as much as 25-30%, if India make it to the final stage of the tournament, media industry sources said.
“India have extended their winning streak to nine games in the 2023 Cricket World Cup after Sunday’s win over the Netherlands. This is their longest ever in the tournament,” says Sajal Gupta, chief executive officer at Gurugram-based media consultancy Kiaos Marketing.
“So, viewer and advertiser interest in India’s semi-final clash with New Zealand will be high and so will the interest be in the second semi-final match where Australia will square off against South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday,” he says.
The final match will be played on November 19 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. While hotel rates have zoomed in the three cities ahead of the crucial matches, most of the India matches have been wrapping up at least an hour-and-a-half ahead of schedule, leaving the broadcaster Disney Star having to utilise the time for post-match analysis.
Karan Taurani, senior vice-president, research at Mumbai-based brokerage Elara Capital, expects a 5-10% ad revenue loss due to matches concluding ahead of schedule. This works out to around Rs 125-250 crore, given that overall ad revenues riding on the ongoing Cricket World Cup have been pegged at around Rs 2,500 crore, according to media industry experts.
“Not all matches have concluded ahead of schedule. But some of the crucial India matches have finished early. This will impact overall ad revenue by around 5-10%,” Taurani said.
Sponsors of the 2023 Cricket World Cup include PhonePe, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dream11, Hindustan Unilever, Coca-Cola, Havells, IndusInd Bank, Pernod India and Booking.com out of a total of 26 advertisers, Disney Star, the official broadcaster of the tournament, said.
The broadcaster also said that in the first 34 matches of the tournament, the live broadcast had attracted nearly 430 million viewers on TV. Quoting BARC data, Disney Star said that the total watch time (consumption) on television for the live broadcast of the tournament had witnessed a 10% increase compared to the 2019 edition so far. The average time spent per viewer for the tournament had increased by 18% versus the 2019 edition.
“All India matches have registered peak live concurrency of more than 50 million viewers with the highest peak concurrency being 80 million viewers for the India vs New Zealand match (on October 22),” the broadcaster said.