Unlike last year, when Team India exited early from the T20 World Cup and ad revenue for the event’s broadcaster and streaming platform remained at the lower end, sentiment amid advertisers this year is strong after India made the semifinal of the tournament.
Ad prices for the semifinal will be high because India has qualified after a long time, said a marketer.
“TV ad rates are Rs 15-18 lakh per 10 seconds and ad rates on Disney+ Hotstar could go as high as Rs 850 CPM (cost per mille/thousand impressions),” said Nitin Menon, cofounder of NV Capital.
Advertisers were upbeat even before India qualified for the semifinal, said Suraj Karvi, head of media at Blink Digital.
“Some of our clients have also invested in the T20 World Cup. With India qualifying for the semifinal, the anticipation for higher audience traction for the tournament among advertisers has increased,” Karvi said.
The India-Pakistan match on October 23 recorded a peak viewership of 18 million on Disney+ Hotstar, the streaming partner of the tournament.
“The nail-biting finish during the India versus Pakistan match and India’s performance have raised anticipation, so the semifinal will have stronger viewership. But not as much as India versus Pakistan,” said Karvi.
More ad revenue
One analyst said if India and Pakistan make it to the final, then viewership numbers could go higher.
“Fans in India are gearing up to cheer for the men in blue in the approaching semi-finals. This enhanced customer sentiment is expected to have an effect on brand performance and viewership,” said Mitesh Kothari, Co-Founder and CCO, White Rivers Media, a digital ad agency.
On the back of more eyeballs, Disney Star, the official broadcaster of the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, is estimated to earn more ad revenue than expected at the start of the tournament.
“We were not expecting a peak because ad spends of fintech and edtech categories are under pressure. Despite the cutdown on ad spends, T20 has been a positive surprise, especially with the smaller nations performing well. While larger contracts are presold, some of the contracts are picked up based on the performance of such teams. Secondly, India qualifying has a big positive impact, especially on the semifinals, which are sold at a premium, and when India qualifies, the premium is higher,” said an analyst.
The average ad rate for a 10-second slot during the ongoing tournament has been about Rs 10 lakh and this increased to Rs 18 lakh for the India-Pakistan game, a 20 percent premium over Indian Premier League ad rates. A similar premium is estimated for the T20 World Cup semifinal.
“Semifinals have the lowest share of presold inventory. Overall, 60-70 percent of the inventory is sold, but this is lower for playoff matches where the larger inventory is sold, depending on India’s qualification, the analyst said.
He added that the last few matches will have higher realisation due to India’s performance, which will lead to an increase in overall ad revenue to about Rs 1,050 crore, as compared to the expected ad revenue of Rs 800-1,000 crore.
“We were expecting the tournament to be flattish, but now ad spends are estimated to see mid- to high single-digit growth,” the analyst said.
While India is on a growth path, globally there is uncertainty, which has had some impact on Indian companies, said an advertiser whose brand was last marketed during IPL 2022.
“Due to the current scenario where globally companies are cutting down ad spends, Indian brands have to invest in something which is bang for the buck and we have always seen that cricket delivers good ROI (return on investment). India’s strong performance is leading to more eyeballs and brands automatically spend on such properties. This performance of Team India will attract more advertiser money,” he added.
Pakistan plays New Zealand in the first semifinal on November 9 and India takes on England in the other semifinal the next day. The final is on November 13.
This story first appeared on Moneycontrol.