ESPN Star looks to cash in on cricket world cup
Aiming to cash in on the cricket world cup to be held in the sub-continent next year, sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports is understood to be planning to spend close to Rs 65 crore on marketing and production.
Aiming to cash in on the cricket world cup to be held in the sub-continent next year, sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports is understood to be planning to spend close to Rs 65 crore on marketing and production.
According to industry sources, the company which expects to garner advertisement revenue of about Rs 750 crore from the mega event, has earmarked Rs 45 crore for production alone.
"Besides, the company will spend about Rs 20 crore on marketing and promotion of the event," a source said.
ESPN Star Sports Managing Director Manu Sawhney, however, declined to comment on the figures.
"We will be investing significantly on the event and at the same time we do expect good revenues as well," he said.
The cricket world cup to be played in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from Feb-April 2011 will be telecast on high definition platform for the first time while there will also be live streams on 3G mobile and Internet.
"The process is still on to finalise the partners for the 3G and Internet telecasts. At the moment we are in talks with several service providers for partnership," Sane said.
Citing ICC, the company said the event is likey to have a viewership of one billion.
"Apart from providing English broadcast, we will also telecast 37 matches on Star Sports with Hindi commentary," he said, adding there will be 30 world renowned commentators.
Speaking about the company's preparations for the event, Sawhney said each and every match will be covered by 27 cameras, including innovative features such as a mid-wicket camera position for live running between wickets.
"We will have a crew of 350 people for the event and six OB (Outside Broadcasting) teams, of which four will be in India and one each in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh," he added.
On the advertising front, he said the broadcaster has already roped in sponsors like Sony, Pepsi, Maruti Suzuki India, CEAT, Philips and Nokia.
As per industry sources, the company is charging between Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 4 lakh for a 10 second ad spot and has already sold 46 per cent of its inventories.