Govt diktat garners a windfall for Neo Sports

Channel now expects to almost double revenue.

Contrary to Neo Sports' fears, the ordinance that forced the sport broadcaster to share its feed with public broadcaster Doordarshan has brought it a windfall gain.

Neo Sports, which was initially averse to sharing rights with Doordarshan, is now expecting to almost double advertising revenue from the four One-Day International (ODI) cricket matches between India and Sri Lanka beginning February 8.

In comparison, Neo Sports collected an estimated Rs 22-24 crore as advertising revenue from the recently concluded four-match India-West Indies series.

The downlinking guidelines say the advertising revenue generated from the cricket series will be divided in a 75:25 ratio, with 25 per cent going to Doordarshan.

Going by that estimate, Doordarshan will earn a revenue of approximately Rs 14-15 crore, while the remaining Rs 35-40 crore will go to Neo Sports.

The series with West Indies came under the spotlight because of a dispute over sharing of telecast rights between Neo Sports and Doordarshan. As a result, the government issued an ordinance making it mandatory for all sport channels to share their feed with Doordarshan, live, free-to-air and without advertising.

Neo Sports CEO Shashi Kalathil said the ordinance had resulted in a higher reach and more eyeballs, which in turn had led to more advertisers buying ad-spots.

He said, "Because of the composite feed of Neo Sports and Doordarshan, we will reach a universe of 110 million television homes." The revised ad rates of Rs 2,50,000-2,75,000 per 10 seconds marked an increase of Rs 50,000-70,000 over the time the feed was exclusive on Neo Sports during the India-West Indies series, he added.

An additional 10-15 advertisers have come on board after the composite feed of Neo Sports and Doordarshan was announced. The new advertisers include Nokia, General Motors, Nestle, ICICI and HDFC, among others.

"Standalone, most advertisers have not expressed interest in advertising on Doordarshan. On Neo Sports, the ad-rates continue to be between Rs 1,80,000 and Rs 2,00,000. We have not dropped rates, contrary to the expectations of media buyers," Kalathil said.