Neo Sports and ESPN excited about next cricketing wave

Televisionpoint.com Exclusive
Ashish Khurana - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
Cricket will rule the Indian television once again from September 2009 to March 2010. Broadcasters - Neo Sports Broadcast and ESPN Software India - are licking their lips at the prospect of getting a juicy slice of between Rs 650 crore and Rs 750 crore of advertising in this period.

Neo Sports Broadcast
Neo Sports Broadcast, which runs Neo Cricket and Neo Sports, is looking to sign lucrative sponsorship deals for telecasts. It has struck bulk advertising deals with Tata Do Co Mo, Hero Honda and Hewlett-Packard for all upcoming cricket series between October 2009 - March 2010 for which it holds the broadcast rights.

Tata Do Co Mo, one of the recent entrants in the GSM cellular services market, has committed investments worth Rs 50 crore for all the forthcoming four series. Neo Sports is also in talks with Tata Motors and Hyundai to get on board the fourth anchor sponsor for all these tournaments series. The four anchor sponsors together are expected to shell out Rs 120-140 crore.

From October 2009 to March 2010, Neo Sports Broadcast will play host to international cricket tournaments: India-Australia (seven ODIs), India-Sri Lanka (five ODIs and three test-match series), India-Bangladesh (two test-match series) and India South-Africa (five ODIs and three test-match series).

Its cricket focused channel, Neo Cricket will begin by telecasting the inaugural Corporate Trophy, scheduled to take place in September 2009. The tournament is a brainchild of BCCI and various corporates.

Prasana Krishnan, chief operating officer (COO), Neo Sports Broadcast, says, "These cricket series are being played between two or three nations and there is no fear of India getting knocked out early. We are confident of getting good advertising revenues and of course viewership."

Krishnan says, "In the coming six months, we have set for ourselves a revenue target of Rs 800 crore. Out of this, about Rs 600 crore will come be in the form of advertising revenue, and the remaining Rs 200 crore will be made up by subscription revenue."

Despite the slowdown in the economy, the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), earned around Rs 400 crore in television advertising for broadcaster Multi Screen Media (MSM) India, which owns SET Max.

Desiring to echo the same success, Neo Sports is also negotiating for ad rates of Rs 2.5-3 lakh per 10 seconds, which is 25 per cent less than what SET Max charged for IPL earlier this year.

Neo Sports Broadcast is promoting all the upcoming properties aggressively on its own network, comprising Neo Cricket and Neo Sports. It has taken up ad-space in leading English, Hindi and regional publications.

It began its promotional campaign by building excitement around the upcoming series through advertisements in The Times of India, Hindustan Times and regional publications, including leading Tamil daily, Dinakaran. It will also initiate cross promotions on select news and youth channels.

ESPN Software India
ESPN Software India, which owns ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket brands in India, is also excited about the Champions Trophy and Champions League, which also falls in the same 'cricketing period'.

The ad spot rates for Champions Trophy and Champions League on Star Cricket are pegged at around Rs 2-2.5 lakh and Rs 3-3.5 lakh per 10 seconds, respectively. Earlier, Airtel has signed a five-year deal with ESPN for the Champions League T20.

Sanjay Kailash, executive vice-president, advertising sales and new media, ESPN Software India, says that spots during the telecast of Champions League matches are selling for at least Rs 2 lakh for 10 seconds, while those for the Champions Trophy are going for at least Rs 3 lakh.

The broadcaster is preparing to flag off a high-voltage campaign to promote its big-ticket cricket tournaments that will be aired on Star Sports. It has lined up a Rs 70 crore marketing campaign across media platforms to boost viewer and advertiser interest in the Champions Trophy in September and Champions League in October.

The campaign, which rolls out in the first week of September, will market both tournaments. Advertisers such as Sony India, Samsung India Electronics and PepsiCo Holdings India have already signed up for package deals.

The Champions Trophy will be played in South Africa. Winners of the Twenty20 leagues from England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and India will play in the Champions League that India will host.

Although the BCCI is not launching a separate advertising campaign to promote the Champions League, as it did for IPL's inaugural edition with broadcaster Multi Screen Media, the board is working closely with ESPN on several marketing initiatives, said Sundar Raman, a member of the BCCI governing council and CEO of IPL.

Nirmal Dayani, senior director, marketing, ESPN Software India, says, "The campaign tag line, 'Diwali hogi cup wali', communicates a promise of victory and aims to add to the festive spirit."

The campaign includes television commercials of varying duration for which space is currently being negotiated across channels, as well as strategic tie-ups with news channels, radio stations and coffee houses to reach viewers.

"We have also added the Bollywood dimension to our marketing plan by tying up with some film releases and cross-platform promotions. There will be a star-cast involved in our communication, but names and details of this plan cannot be disclosed yet." said Dayani.

Apart from the joint marketing initiatives, a separate media plan is being designed specifically for the Champions League, which will include a new set of television commercials and a strong focus on local media such as outdoor hoardings and radio.

A music video by A. R. Rahman produced for the Champions League in 2008, which could not be held because of the Mumbai terror attacks in November, will also be resurrected and modified to suit the current campaign.

Third Eye
Shashi Sinha, chief executive officer (CEO), Lodestar Universal, says, "In the entire year, cricket telecasts will attract ad revenue of around Rs 1,500 crore. The number has never crossed Rs 500 crore in previous years."

According to Ajit Varghese, managing director, Maxus, a media buying agency which is part of GroupM, the viewership for the Champions Trophy could be between 4 and 5 depending on the performance of the Indian team.

Varghese is also bullish on the ability of the Champions Trophy to attract advertisers and audiences because it will see the participation of the top eight cricketing nations and is similar to a mini World Cup. He is not as bullish about the Champions League, a new concept where the top two teams from the Twenty20 leagues of several countries will face off.

Sejal Shah, vice-president, India Media Exchange, the media buying arm of Publicis Groupe, is convinced that the Champions League will find enough takers, given the hype around IPL. "After that, the next best bet would be the Champions Trophy. I expect ratings for both events to cross 4."

Sanjoy Chakrabarty, COO, Dentsu Media, says, "The tri-series would garner television rating points of 3 or 3.5, while a big-ticket event such as the Champions League or Champions Trophy should score at least 4-5."

Chakrabarty adds that Ten Sports' ad rates for the tri-series are anywhere between Rs 1-1.5 lakh for a 10-second spot, though Rukin Kizilbash, general manager, Taj Television, that owns Ten Sports, declined comment.