With Doordarshan opting out of the simultaneous coverage of the India-South Africa three-test match series, sports channel Neo Sports the exclusive telecast rights holder for the series hopes to rake in Rs 70 crore in advertising revenue.
Neo Sports has eight on-air sponsors (two co-sponsors and six associate sponsors). Coca-Cola, Airtel, Hero Honda, Pidilite and Asian Paints are putting about Rs 26-28 crore, while the remaining amount will come from spot selling.
Neo Sports is aiming to rake in around Rs 24 crore from each test match (about Rs 4.8 crore from each of the five days), roughly about the same as that earned by STAR Cricket, the cricket channel of ESPN Star Sports, from the recently concluded three-test series between India and Australia. According to industry sources, STAR Cricket generated about Rs 70-75 crore from the three-test matches.
Nimbus (owner of Neo Sports) executives are upbeat about the exclusivity of the India-South Africa series now that Doordarshan has backed out of the mandatory sharing deal. This has helped the sports channel to demand higher rates from the advertisers.
According to Sunil Manocha, executive vice-president (ad sales), Neo Sports, a 10-second spot is now being sold for Rs 65,000-80,000 and companies such as Pepsi, Barcklays Bank, IBM and Bajaj Auto have already booked spots.
"We have about 4,500 seconds to sell on each of the 15 playing days. With a bulk of the inventory already booked between the fixed sponsors and other advertisers, only about 60-odd spots remain to be sold for each of the 15 playing days. All spots for the first test match beginning on Wednesday are sold," Manocha told Business Standard.
"These rates are along the expected lines," he added.
Nimbus Communications, the parent company of Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus, bagged the five-year telecast rights from BCCI in 2006 for all matches to be played in India.
However, the downlinking guidelines issued by the ministry of information and broadcasting in November 2005 made it mandatory for all sports channels to share cricket matches involving India with Doordarshan on a 75:25 revenue sharing arrangement due to mass viewer interest.
The downlinking guidelines were supported by the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007, which made it mandatory for all sports broadcasters to share any sporting event of national interest with Doordarshan.
Under this Act, the government has to declare a sporting event to be of national interest. The I&B ministry has not classified the India-South Africa cricket series to be of national interest.
Therefore, Neo Sports automatically gets the exclusive telecast rights for the three-test match series, generating interest among the advertisers.
