It is not just India's dismal performance Down Under but the early morning timings which have taken a toll on the viewership ratings of the India-Australia cricket series. According to TAM data supplied by ESPN for C&S 15-plus category, ratings for the India-Australia series stand at an average TVR (television rating) of 1.5 (1.7 and 1.3 for the first and second test matches).

Different takes

According to Mr Ravi Rao, Leader, Mindshare, South Asia, a Group M-promoted media agency, “Clearly the ratings have fallen… but what has compounded the problem is also “the timing of the matches, and we are not expecting at any great ratings from the rest of the matches in the series.''

However the official broadcaster Star Cricket (part of ESPN-Star Sports) is not losing heart. Test matches in any case do not command high ratings compared to the ODI and T-20 formats and the official broadcaster was never expecting the TVRs to go above two for a test series. In fact, even for the last India-Australia series played in 2007, TVRs did not reach an average of two, as recorded by TAM data.

Mr Sanjay Kailash, EVP & Head Ad Sales, ESPN-Star Sports said, “We got an average of 1.5 TVR and nobody was expecting more than that in any case. The Australia series was almost 15-12 per cent more in terms of TVRs compared to the recent India- West Indies series (1.4 TVR).

The sponsors

“Besides, most of the advertisers for the previous England series (where India had lost) came on board. There is not much difference in viewership in the matches played between England and Australia which start 6 AM onwards.”

Havells, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Docomo are the co-presenting sponsors of the series. While associate sponsors comprise Reliance Netconnect, Perfetti, Toshiba, Nokia, among others.

Mr Vijay Narayan, Vice-President Marketing, Havells, said: “India was tipped to do well and that is why we had been investing in this test series as co-sponsor. Now that India is not performing, obviously our satisfaction levels are down. We have been spending largely on cricket, and even during 2007 when India had played in Australia, we had been the co-presenting sponsors.”

Mr Navin Khemka, Managing Partner, Zenith Optimedia, added, “While the current test series has not lived up to the benchmarks of the previous series in Australia four years ago, the ratings are not that bad. Controversies have fuelled viewership to a certain extent.

“Besides, the entry-level cost for advertisers in a test series is always low compared to an ODI. In fact, most advertisers spend nearly 80 per cent of their ad budgets on ODIs, and just because India has not done well in the test series does not mean that the advertisers will shy away from the forthcoming ODIs… ” Zenith Optimedia handles the Toshiba account, one of the associate sponsors of the series.

Revenue expectations

Media buyers predict the current India-Australia series will garner around Rs 250 crore in revenues, and ad spots on an average would have sold between Rs 60,000 and Rs 80,000 per 10 seconds. However, they feel there would hardly be any takers for the early morning matches and selling the left over inventory might also be a problem for the official broadcaster.

purvita@thehindu.co.in

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