With cricket driving television viewership, almost 30 percent of all the advertising money on television this financial year will be spent on cricket programming.
Industry experts say that advertisers are expected to spend over Rs 1900 crore on cricket this year out of the Rs 7000 crore which is expected to be forked out on TV advertising by corporations.
The first two months of 2007 saw advertisers spending Rs 80-odd crore on Neo Sports for the West Indies and Sri Lanka series.
Another Rs 900 croreto Rs 1,000 crore worth of ad-spots have already been booked on SET MAX, the official broadcaster for the World Cup, while Doordarshan is expected to get over Rs 80crore to Rs 100 crore for India matches held in the World Cup, sources said.
Then there is more to come. Advertisers are now eyeing the home series with Australia and Pakistan later this year as the next big sporting event (which will spill over to January and February 2008).
Advertisers including Maruti, Airtel, Reliance, Nokia, Hutch, HDFC and others are engaged in talks for long-term sponsorship deals with Neo Sports, the host broadcaster for all India matches. The two series are expected to rustle up over Rs 400 crore in advertising.
Also, there would be advertising from various cricket matches that India plays abroad. India will tour England, Australia and New Zealand while Pakistan and Zimbabwe will come to India later this year.
Neo Sports already has Hero Honda and Perfetti as its two anchor advertisers for next four years with the auto major committing Rs 200 crore while Perfetti will spend Rs 100 crore.
Others are now in the race to take up the remaining four anchor spots on Neo Sports, sources said. The channel expects to close these deals worth over Rs 800-odd crore in next two-three weeks.
"Indian cricket ensures guaranteed eyeballs to the advertisers for the long term and Neo Sports is the only source for back-to-back India cricket that's why we will raise another Rs 800 crore to Rs 900 crore from our anchor sponsors," Shashi Kalathil, CEO, Neo Sports said.
Advertisers are also in talks with ESPN-Star Sports, which has bagged the ICC telecast rights till 2015.
ESPN also has the rights for England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.Giving the rationale for advertisers banking on cricket, a senior media planner said 50-60 percent of advertisers's money has been spent on cricket in last 5 months as it gives advertisers a clutter-free media environment.
"Ad-spends of all major companies are growing 10-20 percent annually. The success of Indian team ensures sustained eyeballs and that is why more money is being spent on cricket in recent past," the media planner said.
In 2006, there were more than 100 new advertisers on cricket compared to 2004. The new advertisers with increased spends on cricket included Motorola, Nokia, General Motors, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Britannia, Microsoft, HCL, and Yahoo among others.
Even ratings ratify the facts. The India-Sri Lanka ODIs last month on Neo Sports and DD delivered 7.3 TVR for the full match, higher than Kaun Banega Crorepati's 6.3, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi's 5.7, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki's 5.6.