Ten Cricket fares poorly in India-West Indies series

An overdose of cricket, the absence of stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir and a different time zone have hit the viewership ratings of the ongoing India-West Indies cricket series.

According to overnight rating agency aMap, the match held on June 4 had recorded a television viewership rating of just 1.71, that held on June 6 clocked 0.78. These ratings are comparatively lower than the viewership ratings for the recently concluded Indian Premier League matches, which had an average rating of 2.6 and the India -South Africa series matches, which clocked 1.8.

Industry officials say the broadcaster could rake in around Rs 60-65 crore in advertising revenue from this series. The sum would be almost half of what it collected during India's tour of South Africa before the World Cup.

For one-day internationals and T20 matches, the broadcaster, Ten Cricket, is selling 10-second spot rates at around Rs 1.8-2.3 lakh. This is a decline of nearly 45-50 per cent, compared to the rates for the recent cricket tournaments in 2011, including the World Cup, the Indian Premier League and the India-South Africa series.

During the World Cup, ESPN Star Sports had sold 10-second spot rates at Rs 4-5 lakh for group matches, while Ten Cricket had kept the spot rates at Rs 2.5-2.8 lakh for the India-South Africa series. Media buyers suggest advertisers have not shown interest in the tournament after the slump in the viewership of the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League. “ The absence of key players and the matches being played late night have added to the woes,” said a leading media buyer.

Ten Sports Chief Executive Officer Atul Pande said the difference between the time zones of India and the West Indies would result in most of the one-day international matches and the test matches starting at around 2 am, which, in turn, would make it inconvenient for viewers.

The broadcaster had signed five sponsors, including Tata Docomo and Perfetti Van Melle for the series. “We have also launched a high definition feed during the series, which is available on Dish, Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV and have started live-streaming the series on YouTube,” said Pande.

The last six months have been high on cricketing fixtures. Both the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League have diverted around Rs 1,800 crore of television-advertising revenue to sports channels like ESPN, Star Cricket, Star Sports and Set Max.