Slowdown, defeat Down Under taking the fizz out of IPL
Advertisers aren’t really jostling against each other to buy spots for the controversial-yet-popular cricketing event that will be held in April-May despite official broadcaster SET Max slashing rates by more than 30%. Himani Chandna Gurtoo reports.
Team India’s poor performance in Australia, off-field spats among players, falling TV rating points (TRPs) and a general economic slowdown are threatening the take to hype of out of the Indian Premier League’s (IPL’s) season 5.
Advertisers aren’t really jostling against each other to buy spots for the controversial-yet-popular cricketing event that will be held in April-May despite official broadcaster SET Max slashing rates by more than 30%.
Brand experts and media buyers said that the five-year old league may be fast losing its status as a “property to invest”among advertisers clamouring to grab eyeballs to build brands.
“Outlook for IPL is sheer negative as people are sick of watching cricket,” said Santosh Desai, MD, Futurebrands.
SET Max has priced a 10-second ad spot for IPL 5 at Rs 5.5 lakh, down from Rs 8.5 last year. However, media buyers said most brands haven’t not yet committed any funds yet, and would rather wait until next month to negotiate a lower price.
“This season, the practice of locking huge money would be carried out only, if, the rates will match the comfort of advertisers,” said Navin Khemka, managing partner, Zenithoptimedia, a brand management firm that manages Toshiba, a brand endorsed by Sachin Tendulkar.
The broadcaster, however, sounded bullish. “We have received good traction like always,” said Rohit Gupta, president, network sales, at Multi Screen Media India, which owns SET Max.
Companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, HUL, Samsung, Idea and Vodafone may be among the first ones to book the ad spots, industry sources said.
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