IPL in South Africa - Comments from Media Professionals

9:50 PM

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I asked a question in a previous post a few days back on what is going to be the effect of the IPL being moved to an international location this year on viewer behavior and what impact, if any, will this have on media revenues during the season.

Well apart from the expert comments I received from two of our "panel" experts - Abhishek and Ajit, I also came across this article on exchange4media.com where some eminent media professionals of the country have shared their thoughts and I quote below:

Nandan Srinath, COO - Radio Mirchi:
“Cricket always has had healthy revenues. Now, even though the matches won’t be played in India, the viewerships would not be affected”. He added, “So, basically other than the venue change, everything else pretty much remains the same.” He further said that the ad campaigns for IPL would go on air at the FM station in the coming week.

Anant Chakravarty, Sr. VP - Big FM:
“Although we have not finalised a fixed revenue figure, we have already started working towards the campaigns and various advertising packages. With the change of venue now, the only difference in terms of advertisements is the variation in the content that we are going to create. There is a little ambiguity regarding the dates, but once that is cleared, we will be out with our ad campaigns.”

Neeraj Chaturvedi, Delhi Station Head, Fever FM:
“According to me, all the three media – print, television and radio – will miss out on some revenue with the tournament being played outside India. Personally, I would have never wanted the venue to be shifted.”

(a bit of trivia - did you know Fever FM is Virgin Radio's India venture? I didn't!)

So there doesn't seem to be a clear verdict yet on how media will be affected. Personally I think while agencies which handle on-ground promos and activities will definitely miss out on the revenus and brands the opportunity to make a solid connect with the consumers on the ground, traditional media like television and radio will only gain viewership from last year.

Amit Budhiraja

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1 Response to "IPL in South Africa - Comments from Media Professionals"

March 25, 2009 at 3:22 AM
In contiunuation to feedbacks on the blunder of shifting IPL to South Africa ,I came across an article in Rediff.com which shows the amount of revenue lost ,CHECK IT OUT:-

The decision to relocate the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament to South Africa has prompted several key advertisers such as Hyundai, Havell's and Reebok, among others, to consider cutting back budgets or pulling out.

On-ground advertising and promo spends for the IPL were expected to go up 40 per cent over last year's Rs 150 crore, advertising industry sources said. For on-air advertising, companies were expected to spend over Rs 500 crore.

Sports and fitness brand Reebok, one of the key spenders in last year's IPL, said it may cut spends 15 to 20 per cent. Reebok is the team sponsor for Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Bangalore's Royal Challengers and the Chennai Super Kings.

"The magic of IPL will not be the same outside the country. Last year, we generated a good percentage of sales from on-ground promotions; that will not happen now. We may have to activate our marketing efforts overseas and then will have to work out the revenue-sharing with them," Sajid Shamim, executive director for marketing, Reebok India, told Business Standard.

Havell's India, one of the associate sponsors on air, confirmed that it has cancelled the Rs 7 crore to Rs 8 crore allocated for on-ground promos at each of the domestic venues. "We may cut our spends for on-air advertising too," Vijay Narayanan, director, marketing and communications for Havell's India said. Havell's had set aside about Rs 30 crore for on-air promotions.

Like Havell's, Hyundai is considering cutbacks. "Had IPL been played in India, there were plans to back our on-air advertising with on-ground marketing activities. Now, no such possibility exists and we are also looking at re-working our on-air spends," a senior executive in Hyundai Motors said.

A senior executive of a leading beverages company said: "Nearly 20 per cent of the value of our team sponsorship contracts is on-ground marketing activities like pouring rights in the stadiums, meeting players, and free tickets that we can leverage. Now all this is gone and we have to reduce our budgets."

Media buying agencies confirmed the trend. Said Pavan Chandra, managing director, (South & East) of ZenithOptimedia: "Unless the parameters of IPL � timings, venues, dates or its broadcaster � are clear advertisers will re-evaluate their advertising spends for sure

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