Advertisers, who had locked airtime deals with ESPN-Star, are staring at lower viewership ratings for the remaining matches.
India’s premature exit from the World Twenty20 could lead to drastic dip in viewership. Advertisers, who had locked airtime deals with ESPN-Star, are staring at lower viewership ratings for the remaining matches. This could, eventually, mean much lower returns for the Rs 3 lakh they paid for every 10 seconds of airtime.
Leading advertisers for the championship are Reliance GSM, Nokia, Maruti Suzuki, Max New York Life and Perfetti, all of whom were betting for an encore from MS Dhoni’s men, who had won the title in 2007. Media buyers point out that 100 per cent of the channel’s inventory was sold out before the start of the tournament and advertisers were sure of India making it to the final. Now the viewership levels are bound to fall.
“There is no scope for renegotiation now. The deals were signed before the tournament itself,” affirms Amin Lakhani, head, exchange, Mindshare. “This wasn’t the case too during the first edition. There was still a certain element of risk, since the T20 format wasn’t proven. But now after the IPL, advertisers’ bullishness about this format has increased,” he said.
Advertisers then may have seen the peak of audience viewership rating in the tournament already. According to TV audience measurement agency aMap, the India-England match delivered a rating of 4.8 (Cable and Satellite homes, 15+ years, All India). The India-Bangladesh match gave a rating of 3.9 for the same demographic. The odd hours of the matches could also contribute to fall in viewership. Not many are likely to stay past midnight to watch a non-India match.
India’s disastrous exit from the 2007 World Cup also had caught advertisers in a similar spot. Lakhani points out that in that tournament, some were “performance-linked deals”.
“Certain deals would be taken forward, cancelled or renegotiated depending on the performance of the Indian team. It happened partially,” points out Lakhani.
However, media buyers estimate ESPN-Star to have negligible losses because of India’s exit. “To say that the channel would make a loss in revenues due to India’s exit, would be foolhardy. It’s an ICC tournament, and the remaining few matches inch towards the climax of the tournament. Interest levels would dip, but partially. The format is an exciting one,” said a senior media buyer.
According to aMap, matches without India so far have been delivering ratings in the region of 1.5 to 2.0, which are modest numbers.
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