Ad rates for India-NZ Test series to set bar for India-England tournament

The ongoing World Test Champ­io­n­­ship (WTC) in England, featuring Ind­ia and New Zealand, may act as an adve­rtising benchmark for the forthcoming India-England Test series in August.

WTC is being broadcast on Disney-Star, while the India-England Test series will be telecast on Sony Pictures Networks. Disney-Star has charged Rs 250,000-300,000 per ten seconds of ad time on TV, media planners said. Digital ad rates have been pegged at Rs 180-200 cost per thousand impressions (CPM) for the same duration.

This is higher than the average ad rates charged for Test cricket, industry experts said. A Test series attracts around Rs 100,000-150,000 per ten seconds of ad time on TV, while the digital rate is around 100-120 CPM for the same duration.

Interest for WTC is coming from diverse categories: gaming and edtech to financial services, automotive, durables, construction and handsets. It’s a sign that advertisers are seeking high-impact properties on both TV and digital to make their presence felt as the economy unlocks following the second wave of Covid-19.

“The buzz can be felt after the Indian Premier League was called off mid­way last month,” said Sajal Gupta, vice-president, me­dia buying, digital at Zenith, a national media agency. “Everybody, including advertisers, want to partake of the excitement. I see a positive rub-off of this on cricket, es­pecially on forthcoming tournaments.”

Sony Pictures Networks has already set the ball rolling by announcing on Friday that it had obtained an injunction from the Delhi High Court to protect itself from piracy with regard to the India-England Test series and the India-Sri Lanka tournament, which begins next month. “The injunction order restrains internet service provi­ders, cable operators and websites from carrying content that violates Sony Pictures Networks’ copyright in the broadcast and digital transmission of the cricket series,” a statement from the network said.

The statement added that the Delhi High Court had appointed two local commissioners to ascertain and report whether multi-system operators and local cable operators were likely to illegally distribute the two tournaments on their platforms. This is significant since illegal distribution of TV signals during key sporting events has long plagued the broadcast industry.

Meanwhile, Disney-Star has locked over 16 sponsors on TV and seven on digital for the WTC. These include Byju’s, Dream11, Cars24 and Thums Up on TV. And, CoinDCX, Xiaomi, Accenture, Cred and Upstox on digital.

Disney-Star will telecast the tournament in five languages (Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada). Viewers can also catch the WTC action on Doordarshan, which will broadcast it on its direct-to-home platform DD Freedish and its terrestrial TV network. The first day of WTC play was, meanwhile, called off due to rain.