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While cricket remains the most-marketed sport, others are making their mark too.

Advertising spends across sports such as Formula One, tennis, wrestling, soccer and golf has seen a significant rise coupled with the sheer increase in the number of brands that associate themselves with these emerging sports.

According to AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, the number of brands advertised grew by 51 per cent on cricket and by 74 per cent on golf from 2002 to 2005. Also, after a fall in 2003 and 2004, the number of brands that advertised on soccer increased by 41 per cent in 2005, as wrestling in particular saw a mammoth growth of 315 per cent.

The reasons are varied. Lakshmi Narasimhan, national director, central trading group, Group M, pointed out, "While cricket continues to have the highest reach, football, Formula One and Tennis are looking up. Cricket as a sport is also getting increasingly expensive to advertise, hence a lot of clients have adopted a portfolio approach, spreading their monies across different sporting events."

Narasimhan also pointed out that the rise in ad rates in cricket has led to smaller companies looking at other emerging sports and larger companies looking a mix. The other factor is the emergence of sport icons such as Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupati and Narain Karthikeyan.

Says Mahesh Ranka, general manager, Relay Worldwide,India "� the sports practice of Starcom Media Vest, "With icons from other sports coming into the limelight, advertisers have also looking at these sports in a different light. Marketers are now looking at associating themselves with other sports so as to create a distinct identity for themselves."

Ranka, however, admits that one can reap returns on investing in a sport only for a sustained period of time.