When Dhoni's team wilted, ad rates went for a toss

When M S Dhoni walked into the dressing room in Edgbaston on Saturday, his drooping shoulders said it all.

While no one knows whether the Indian cricket team will be able to regain its number one Test nation status in the near future, the consensus is that advertisers will refuse to play ball for some time at least.

Media buyers said upcoming cricketing properties would suffer in terms of advertising revenues and viewership.

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The trend was set last week, when telecom giant Bharati Airtel pulled out of the title sponsorship of the Champions League even before the three-year deal ended, citing low viewership and other brand investments.

In 2009, the telecom firm had signed a Rs 100-120 crore (Rs 1-1.2 billion) three-year deal, which was extendable by two years, with broadcaster ESPN Star Sports (ESS).

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While ESS said it had already signed Nokia as the title sponsor and was in talks to rope in other sponsors, leading  media buyers negotiating these deals said these would be done at much lower amounts compared to last year.

Rathindra Basu, senior director, corporate communications, corporate development and event management, ESS, said talks were on.

The India-England series, which started reasonably well with advertiser hopes riding on Sachin Tendulkar's possible 100th international century, has failed to sustain viewer interest because of the team's lacklustre performance.

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According to TAM Media Research, the first match had a television rating point of 0.98, while the second match had 1.15 in the hope of an Indian fightback.

While the figure for the third Test is not available yet, it's a safe guess the rating would have plummeted.

Media buying companies said the 10-second ad slots for Test matches had already gone down to Rs 45,000-55,000 from the earlier Rs 65,000.

"Around 30 per cent inventory for the Test series is yet to be sold," said a media buyer. ESS said it had sold out the inventory for the upcoming one-day series.

"The World Cup had a lot of buzz around it as India did exceptionally well. As a result, the property delivered. Any cricketing property after a big-ticket event like the World Cup will suffer," said Mona Jain, CEO, Vivaki Exchange, the centralised buying agency for Publicis Groupe SA.

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Media sources said if it wasn't for the World Cup and the IPL, other cricket tournaments would have commanded at least 20 per cent higher ad rates.

The trend began with the India-West Indies series held in June, which was aired on Ten Sports.

The channel was able to get just five sponsors, including Tata Docomo and Perfetti Van Melle, for the series.

Most media buyers are concerned the falling ratings for cricket signal viewer fatigue, which does not bode well for broadcasters who have more cricket lined up.

ESS will cover India's tour of Australia, and Neo Sports will telecast Australia, West Indies, and England's tours of India.

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A lot of attention will get diverted to general entertainment channels, which have lined up several high-decibel celebrity shows such as Bigg Boss, to be anchored by Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt on Colors, KBC 5 hosted by Amitabh Bachchan on Sony, and Master Chef India on Star Plus.

Most of these shows will fetch Rs 20-25 crore (Rs 200-250 million) each for title sponsorship.

"Most advertisers have already exhausted their budget for cricket. A clutch of telecom, auto, banking and consumer durables firms will spend on these television shows.

Owing to the festive season, there could still be some spending towards cricket, but broadcasters may not be able to command a premium like before," said Sai Nagesh, managing director and CEO, Polestar Content and Media.

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Broadcasters are, putting up a brave face and say cricket will continue to attract advertisers.

"Series held at home have attracted a lot of attention in recent times. We are certain that advertisers will line up," said a senior official from Neo Sports Broadcast.

The first six months of 2011 have been high on cricketing fixtures.

Both the World Cup and the Indian Premier League diverted around Rs 1,800 crore (Rs 18 billion) of television-advertising revenue to channels such as ESPN, Star Cricket, Star Sports and Set Max.