 "Sponsors are banking on a huge viewership for the upcoming India-South Africa cricket series")
As Indian fans gear up for South Africa's tour of India starting October 2, advertisers are lining up to be a part of the proceedings on-air and on the field. Star India, the official broadcaster for the tournament has locked in 10 sponsors in all for the series which includes three twenty-twenty, five one-day international and four test matches. Paytm, Raymond and Lava have signed on as co-presenters while Maruti, Hero, Idea Cellular, Intex, Airtel and Pernod Ricard are on board as associate sponsors.
Having three co-presenters for a series is a rare occurrence, even for cricket. And these sponsorships have not come cheap. Sources in the know reveal that the co-presenters are shelling out anything between Rs 17-20 crore each for the deal while associate sponsors have forked out Rs 12-14 crore.
Paytm which is the lead sponsor for the series is giving out more as it has both the online rights as well as on-field rights that it acquired from BCCI. In June this year One97 Communications, the company that owns Paytm, snagged the title sponsorship rights for Indian cricket till 2019 for a little over Rs 203 crore. As per industry estimates, Paytm will pay close to Rs 2.4 crore per match which takes the amount that it will be shelling out for the upcoming series to close to Rs 29 crore. And as co-presenter it will pay Star close to Rs 17 crore, taking the total to a whopping Rs 45 crore for the entire series.
'The series between India and South Africa will be a fascinating contest with some of the best names in world cricket on show. With the competitive cricket played between the two teams, this series will usher a new era of rivalry for cricket fans across the globe. Sponsors have demonstrated their trust in cricket again and we have already almost sold out most games across T20s, ODIs and Tests series,' says a Star India spokesperson.
This is the first time since the end of 2014 that India will be playing an opponent from the top five in the ICC team rankings; the 2014 tour was an away tour against Australia. Since then, it has played Bangladesh, Zimbabwe (both broadcast on Star network) and Sri Lanka (Sony Six), all ranked below India in the test rankings. 'Cricket continues to be the most popular sport in the country and we remain committed to cricket,' a Hero Motocorp spokesperson says. A top ranked opponent coupled with the home-ground factor will attract viewership and hence advertisers are lining up according to Ramakrishnan R, director and co-founder, Baseline. 'Also its the first major cricket event post IPL in India. For sponsors the return on investment is there as two evenly matched teams will be locking horns and with festive season around the corner the sponsors are ready to spend.'
Raymond, which invested in the Pepsi Indian Premier League, this year is looking at further deepening its engagement with cricket through this sponsorship. Madhu Dutta, head - marketing, Raymond Limited says, 'Post IPL, there was a bit of a lull. This platform gives us a great opportunity to start the 2015 communication with a high television viewing male audience.'
A similar logic seems to be driving many others. Star has already signed 10 sponsors and has hardly any spots left to sell. Sources reveal that almost all the inventory on the T-20 and ODI matches has been sold while nearly 80 per cent of the inventory on the test matches has also been taken up. As a result, analysts believe that last minute spot buys will come at a staggering cost, almost similar to the numbers clocked during the Pepsi IPL (Rs 4 to 5 lakh).
While cricket is definitely the flavour of the season, many brands are also eyeing the upcoming Indian football and tennis championships. Hero is backing the Indian Super League while the Champion Tennis League sponsorships are still to be finalised, but it has seen a lot of interest from several top brands. Let the games begin.
(With inputs from Swaraj Baggonkar)
