It’s raining ads for IPL, reports Ashish Sinha.
Too many showers may have dampened the television ratings of the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but the flood of advertising hasn’t stopped – not as yet.
No wonder, Rohit Gupta, President of Multi Screen Media, the company that runs SET Max (the host broadcaster of IPL in India), is elated. “We couldn’t have asked for more. According to TAM ratings, available for the first six IPL matches, the cumulative reach of IPL on SET Max has increased over last IPL.
An estimated 64 million viewers have watched the first 10 IPL matches, at least 5 million more than last year – a good enough reason for all top advertisers to flock to SET Max. Not surprising that the broadcaster has already closed deals worth about Rs 400 crore from over 80 brands. Leading the pack are categories like telecom, consumer goods and automobile, which have together consumed 70 per cent of the on-air advertising time.
According to data provided by overnight viewership ratings agency Audience Measurement & Analytics (aMap), telecom companies — Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular — have together consumed 30 per cent of the on-air advertising time, or about 6,000 seconds, so far.
Next in line are fast moving consumer goods companies, which have together consumed nearly 4,500 seconds of ad time on SET Max, or about 23 per cent of the overall ad time. Automobile majors come next, accounting for 17 per cent of the advertising time (see table).
Among companies, Vodafone is ringing the loudest. The company accounts for nearly 11 per cent of the total advertising time on SET Max. Bharti Airtel is the next biggest spender, followed by auto major Hyundai and Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), says the aMap data.
Advertisers agree that the sheer excitement of the Twenty20 cricket is too hard to resist. Listen to Havells India Vice President Vijay Narayan: “We are not big spenders on television but the Twenty20 cricket has worked for us. We started with the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 in South Africa, and now IPL”.
The leading electrical equipment company is spending over Rs 25 crore on SET Max during IPL.
However, it’s not raining sixes all the way. Some advertisers are concerned about a dip in ratings. While Multi Screen’s Gupta says the ratings have actually improved, many media planners and advertisers are not convinced.
A top executive in a leading media agency says all the leading advertisers on SET Max, so far, are also the top sponsors of the tournament. “Be it Vodafone, Bharti, HUL or Hyundai, they are all on-air sponsors of the IPL on SET Max. So, they all have already committed certain amount of money. But the real test for IPL and SET Max will come from spot advertisers,” he says.
That is surely a concern as 20 per cent of the slots have been kept for these spot advertisers, who may think twice now. But Gupta dismisses such concerns. “We have sold almost all the inventory barring 10-15 per cent. That will be sold soon as TAM ratings have also confirmed that more people are watching the IPL this year compared to last year,” he says.
Others like Ravi Kiran, CEO South Asia, Starcom MediaVest, a leading media agency, agrees with Gupta. “There are many advertisers who take a long-term view of their ad spends on cricket. For them, IPL has been a safe bet, so far. It is a high stake proposition and a short-term view of a dip in ratings for some matches should not be a cause for panic,” Kiran says.
Hope the rain gods are listening.
