IPL6: digitisation, LC1 markets pull down ratings

While ratings of the current season remain almost 15% down, broadcaster, advertisers remain unperturbed and bullish

The spot-fixing scandal may have tarnished the overall brand of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but the sporting extravaganza is still on.

While there are allegations, controversies and corruption charges, in addition to a drop in the overall ratings this season, advertisers are not unhappy, and see value in the property.

First the fact

The ratings of IPL this season have seen a drop compared to previous years, despite the buzz. In the first six weeks (59 matches), the average ratings on an All India level is down almost 14% to 2.9 TVR, while in the Hindi speaking markets, it is down 15% to 3.0 TVR.

So is IPL losing it sheen? Industry pundits don't think so. As per Shailesh Kapoor, CEO of media insights firm Ormax Media, IPL 6 has generated more interest than last year.

“This season has generated more interest than than the 2011 or 2012 seasons of IPL. It is difficult to compare viewership, as the universe for TV ratings changes every year. But in terms of the viewer interest, this season has been received very well,” Kapoor said.

Change in the universe:

This year, TAM Media Research, the TV viewership monitoring agency, added LC1 towns (with less than a million people) in the mapping universe, which constitutes to 25% of the total universe.

“LC1 towns have their specific problems, including electricity cut-off for many hours in a day. Uttar Pradesh LC1 market itself is 7.5% of the HSM universe, and the state is seriously power deficient, which has affected the viewership of overall TV consumption,” a media research executive explained.

Neeraj Vyas, Business head of MAX, which broadcasts IPL, agrees. “TV ratings of cricket per say is low in LC1 towns. And there is a lot of flux in the market because of phase II of digitisation. The transition to digital ratings will take another 5-6 weeks,” Vyas said.

But are advertisers not upset with the kind of ratings, specially PepsiCo and Vodafone, which have invested heavily on IPL both on-ground and on-air? Answers Kapoor, “The association between Pepsi and IPL is far stronger than what existed between DLF and IPL. This is reflecting in Pepsi's astronomical recall and effectiveness scores in Ormax Trac20 this year (the syndicated study). Vodafone is the other brand which had benefited from a long-running IPL association. It is now evident that brands which associate with IPL over years, and use a mix of on-ground and break advertising, benefit the most.”

A media agency executive added that despite of controversies, scandals and low ratings, IPL remains the biggest property to reach the masses. And the fact that Multi Screen Media (MSM), the rights holder, has roped in maximum advertiser this season, is a testimony to that.

MSM is expected to make over Rs 800 crore from the advertising in this season as per various media agency executives. In the previous year, the company could not get enough sponsors on board and had managed less than Rs 700 crore.

In the beginning of this season, MSM had dropped ad rates to woo advertisers, however, later it increased the rates again. It has got 12 sponsors and over 70 advertisers on board.

However, while analysts believe that spot-fixing scandal will affect the popularity of IPL, many other believe that scandals are not new to IPL and controversies may create media debates, but they will have limited impact on viewership.