Advertisers make hay as Sun shines on Team India

As the Men in Blue flew home to a hero's welcome in Mumbai, advertisers are betting over Rs 250 crore in the next 90 days on cricket TV broadcasts -- a hefty 16 per cent of average advertising spends in the festival season.

And they are putting in this money for 38 days of international cricketing action involving India, Australia and Pakistan.

Neo Sports, which is broadcasting the seven one-dayers between India and Australia starting September 29, hopes to rake in Rs 130 crore from the series. The company is selling 10-second spots at between Rs 3.25 lakh and Rs 3.50 lakh, 60 per cent higher than the average rate of Rs 2 lakh.

Harish Thawani, chairman of Nimbus Communications, the company that operates Neo Sports, sees the rates shooting up to Rs 4 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh with the 'bull frenzy' that is rapidly catching up in the cricket world.

Thawani said Neo Sports is expected to announce a Rs 100-crore sponsorship deal with a 'non-traditional advertiser of cricket' in a day or two. The contract will be for five years.

Significantly, the broadcaster has also roped in Korean electronics major LG India as sponsor. LG had announced withdrawal from cricket advertising in March after India's poor performance in the World Cup tournament in the West Indies.

Other sponsors confirmed so far include Pidilite, Intel and S Kumar's. Talks are on with Airtel, Hutch, Reliance Mobile, TVS Motors and Bajaj. Hero Honda, the anchor sponsor on Neo Sports along with Perfetti, may hold its advertising spends till the India-Pakistan five-match one-day series.

"Every category of sponsor wants to spend on cricket now. A telecom and an auto company will also be finalised soon as sponsors," said Shashi Kalathil, CEO, Neo Sports Broadcast.

Added Anirban Das Blah, vice president, Globosport India: "After the Indian team's early exit from the World Cup, corporate advertisers' interest levels declined. With the Twenty20 win, investment in the game is likely to go up by 30 per cent."

Meenakshi Madhvani, founder & managing partner of Spatial Access Solutions, believes that corporate interest in the upcoming one-dayers and Test matches will rise sharply.

"The regular biggies that spend on the game will end up contributing almost half their total advertising budget for the October-December period on cricket while the others will contribute up to 30 per cent, which wasn't the case earlier," Madhvani predicted.

Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group, the title sponsor for the India-Australia series, is investing around Rs 150 crore in cricket for the next three years.

"Cricket is a mass game and we intend to associate ourselves with all forthcoming cricket tournaments," said Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group.

Reebok also confirmed that its interest in the game will continue.