Advertisers shun T20, Prefer ODI cricket

Data from TAM, the audience measurement agency, show that in the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy, the India matches had average ratings of 6.2, compared to 1.3 for the non-India matches. The average event ratings for India-Australia (6.6), India-England (4.8) or India-Sri Lanka ODIs (4.6) on Neo Sports were higher compared to the average event ratings of IPL-2 (4.17), ICC Champions Trophy (2.3) or Champions League (1.2 for games played between October 8-10).

TAM data helps advertisers and media planners decide which TV channels to put their money on. Annually, cricket tends to attract Rs 1,300-1,500 crore in ad revenue and is growing at high double digits, say sources in the media industry.

Media planners back the TAM data. "Any bilateral ODI involving India gets a very high rating and wider reach, compared to a tournament or a Twenty20 cricket (excluding IPL) for the advertisers. This is because there is no fear of India getting knocked out. Therefore, an India-Australia match is lucrative for advertisers, as it delivers guaranteed results," says Pavan Chandra, MD, west & south, ZenithOptimedia, a leading media agency.

This is good news for Neo Sports, that runs two channels, Neo Cricket and Neo Sports. It is host broadcaster for nearly 70 days of international cricket, beginning October 25. India is set to play seven ODIs with Australia. Then, India will play Sri Lanka in a three-Test and five-ODI tournament, followed by a tri-series involving Bangladesh, apart from India and Sri Lanka. Next, South Africa will visit India for another three-test and five-ODI series early next year.

Neo Sports aims to generate close to Rs 90 crore in ad revenue from the seven ODIs, having signed on a host of advertisers, including DoCoMo, HP and Tata Motors, among others.

When the Indian Premier League was launched, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the game’s top administrative body, saw it as an additional revenue stream at best and a minor misadventure at worst. Two seasons later, it seems like the overwhelming popularity of the 20-over format of tournaments such as the IPL and Champions League T20, is eating into BCCI’s mainstay revenues.

Mumbai’s Nimbus Communications has won the broadcast rights to BCCI’s games (one day international and test matches) played in India till April 2014 (via TOI). The company had won the same contract in 2006 as well, and holds the telecast rights till March 2010. In 2006, the company paid $612 million (Rs2,722 crore then) for the deal. This time, however, the company is only paying $425 million (Rs1,960 crore), according to the TOI story. This is despite the fact that overall, ad rates as well as ad spends are expected to go up during the four years from 2010.

Sale of media rights is the single biggest source of BCCI’s revenues, so the deal must come as a dampner to India’s richest sports body.

In September, Hindustan Times carried a prescient story about the decline in ratings of one-day cricket.

The story said that even the big India-Pakistan game, which has in the past unfa