Cricket programming is raking in big moolah for TV channels, across different genres. The channels expect to roll out over 2,000 hours of cricket-related shows during the 45-day World Cup, garnering Rs 150-160 crore (Rs 1.5-1.6 billion) in advertising revenues.
This will be about 20 per cent of the advertising revenue that Set Max (Sony TV) will garner (over Rs 800 odd crore) from the tournament, which starts March 13. Set Max is the official broadcaster of the ICC World Cup.
On news channels, advertisers are paying 15-20 per cent premium for adspots that are getting sold between Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000 per 10 seconds. Even anchor sponsors on news channels are paying 10-15 per cent higher price for cricket-related shows, advertising industry sources said.
Giving the rationale for higher ad spots on news channels, Harish Doraiswamy, CEO, Zee News says: "Cricket shows on news channels attract women and children alike. This gives advertisers the reach and viewership, that's why they pay us the premium."
News channels are also upbeat on attracting large morning viewership as the World Cup matches in the Caribbean will go on till late in the night.
"We will be a preferred destination for quick updates in the morning so we will get large viewership and, therefore, advertising," Q W Naqvi, news director, TV Today Network, said.
The World Cup has also made ex-cricketers a rare resource, with news channels each forking out between Rs 20 lakh and over Rs 1 crore to hire them as experts.
While Kapil Dev, Syed Kirmani, Madan Lal and Arun Lal, will be on Aaj Tak, Maninder Singh, Zaheer Abbas and Vinod Kambli will be debating cricket on Zee News. Ajay Jadeja and Navjot Siddhu will be on NDTV, while Krish Srikkanth and Yashpal Sharma will be in West Indies analysing cricket for CNN-IBN.
Star News, in a bid to woo female audiences, will launch Crazy Kiya Re, an interactive show featuring leading television actresses and models who will search for the 'World's Sexiest Cricket Team' and 'World's Sexiest Cricketer'.
To celebrate the spirit of cricket, the TV18 Network, with its four news channels CNN-IBN, IBN 7, CNBC-TV 18 and CNBC-Awaaz has planned 'Cheer for India' initiative along with regular analysis driven shows.
NDTV India will telecast six shows Pitched Report, Googly, Khel India to name a few. Ajay Jadeja will be the guest on 'Pitched Report' and Googly. And 'India kare sawal' will be with Rahul Dravid.
Even music channels such as MTV and Channel V have geared up for the Cup. MTV is showing 'Aila Tendulkar', a 5-7 minutes show featuring cricket based gags and sketches. "It not for the World Cup alone. it is more because it is cricket season," said Sandeep Dahiya, director communications & consumer products, MTV Networks.