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MSM lowers IPL run rate to Rs 800 cr from Rs 900 cr last year

Despite many television viewers glued to the ongoing festival of the 2014 general elections…

DESPITE many television viewers glued to the ongoing festival of the 2014 general elections, the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Super Bowl of India, has had a blazing start with sponsorships, reports Anushree Chandran in Mumbai. Official IPL broadcaster Multi Screen Media (MSM) has already sold 60-70% of its ad inventory and expects to earn R800 crore revenues from IPL-7.

MSM has managed to get Vodafone and Karbonn Mobile as presenting sponsors, while Amazon, Havells, Perfetti, Marico, TVS and Cadbury are associate sponsors. Parle, GoDaddy, Flipkart, Airtel, Nerolac, Kent RO, Blue Star, Idea Cellular and Reebok will be significant spot buyers, said Rohit Gupta, president, MSM.

Gujarat Ambuja and United Breweries too have come in as spot buyers, and are expected to advertise a lot during IPL.

?We will make key announcements on sponsorships in the coming days. The total number of sponsors could go up to 10,? Gupta said. Other MSM executives said they were in advanced negotiations with Pepsi to come in as television sponsor.

Valuations firm American Appraisal India had recently pegged the total value generated by the IPL at $3.2 billion and the total value of various IPL franchise brands at $400 million.

Gupta said MSM was extensively promoting the property, and that promotional spends are up by at least 15-20% over the previous season.

?The IPL is an iconic brand. We have had a very positive response for our ad campaign Bulawa aaya hain. The increase in spends are justified,? he said.

IPL?s cumulative reach grew from 102 million (TAM, C&S 4+, All India) during season 1 to 123 million, 144 million, 161 million and 215 million during season 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Media buyers do not expect the general elections to take the sheen off IPL.

Anita Nayyar, chief executive of Havas Media Group, India and South Asia said that she expects ratings to be in the same league as last year and score an average 4.5 TVR and 10-plus TVR for the semi-finals and finals. ?We have conducted an internal study and tried to understand the impact of general elections on other genres. Sports is not impacted at all. We expect the IPL to be as successful as previous seasons. A lot of our clients are looking at buying inventory around the league. Others are signing deals with the franchises. Quikr has just signed up with the Delhi Daredevils,? she said.

Satyajit Sen, chief executive at Zenith Optimedia said the number of matches has dropped from 76 to 60 and is a cause for concern for media-buying agencies. ?But there is no impact on the popularity of the games. The elections will be around for a good part of May, but are not expected to reduce the appetite for the games. No one watches election news through the day, but people are glued to cricket,? he said.

Harish Shriyan, chief operating officer at Omnicom Media Group said there was enough buzz already on the back of the teams, players and TV ads. ?Four of my clients are advertising heavily on IPL. We will disclose plans in due course. We expect the league to fare in the same range of matches as last year, if not more,? he said.

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First published on: 15-04-2014 at 04:26 IST
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