IPL-4 to ride high on World Cup thunder

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: If the World Cup was a box-office hit, IPL season 4 is set to be a blockbuster. The more glamorous cricketing extravaganza is expected to match, if not exceed the just concluded tournament's advertisement revenues when it gets rolling next week.

SET Max, the official broadcaster of the Indian Premiere League (IPL), is likely to earn over Rs 1,000 crore from the fourth season of the tournament, an official at the channel said requesting anonymity.

"IPL has grown bigger since inceptio. While the format developed during the first season, IPL-2 held in South Africa earned ad revenues of Rs 400 crore, which increased to Rs 650-700 crore in IPL-3. With India stealing the thunder in the ICC World Cup, IPL-4 will now be a blockbuster," said an official at Multi Screen Media (MSM), which runs SET Max.

The broadcaster has already sold most of the ad inventory for the 74 matches to be played between 10 teams during the April 8 to May 28 period. Initial ad spots for IPL-4 have been sold for over Rs 6.5 lakh for10-second slots to big advertisers such as Vodafone , Godrej, Cadbury, LG and Samsung. In contrast, ESPN Star Sports (ESS), the official broadcaster for the World Cup, sold ad spots for Rs 4-5.5 lakh for 10-second spots for the India matches before the tournament started.

ESS, which is said to have earned a little over Rs 800 crore in advertising revenues from the tournament, raised prices to Rs 10-12 lakh when India reached the quarter-finals, and eventually to Rs 20-24 lakh for the limited inventory it had for the final match. An ESS spokesman refused to comment on advertising revenues, but said it had exceeded expectations. ESS had three co-presenting sponsors, Sony , Hero Honda and Vodafone, and associate sponsors such as Reliance Communication , Nokia, Airtel digital television, Maruti Suzuk , Philips and PepisCo.

While the co-presenting sponsors spent about Rs 60 crore each, associate sponsors doled out Rs 32-35 crore each. Yet, media planners forecast that IPL's advertisement revenues will match that of the World Cup, if not surpass it. "It would be difficult to compare, but SET Max would earn comparable revenues," said Punitha Arumugam, group CEO of Madison Media , which buys media for advertisers such as ITC, Cadbury, Bharti Airtel and Britannia.

This is despite the World Cup having higher ad inventory. The World Cup had 49 matches of 100 overs each, while IPL-4 will have 74 fortyover matches. Hence, "despite having fewer matches, ESPN had higher number of secondages to sell due to the 50-over format of the World Cup, unlike the IPL which has a 20-over format," said Sanjay Chakrabarty, CEO of Dentsu Media , which buys media for Aircel, Honda and Toyota among others.

Yet, the fact remains that advertisers preferred crucial matches during the World Cup, especially those played by India. But IPL matches will have no such precincts.

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