Days before the opening of the FIFA World Cup 2006, the exclusive TV rights holder for the event for India, ESPN Star Sports, is believed to have booked advertising spots for over Rs 45 crore.
According to entertainment and media industry sources, ESPN has managed to net Rs 17 crore (see table) from among its top three advertisers. Every 10-second spot for key matches had been sold at over Rs 1-1.25 lakh, they said. Big-ticket cricket matches mop up around Rs 2.5-3 lakh for the 10-second spot. SetMax is believed to have garnered around Rs 110-125 crore from the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa.
According to media planners, companies have locked in a bulk of their money for advertising on ESPN Star Sports, keeping in mind the year-round activity beginning with the FIFA World Cup. “All the ad-bucks will not be spent during the live coverage. A large amount will be distributed between live telecast and highlights and special packages on games between strong teams,” a media planner said.
“The FIFA World Cup is the next big thing on ESPN. I believe, it will break all viewership records in India,” ESPN India managing director RC Venkateish said.ESPN will cover all the 64 matches on its channel, but the last five games will be shared with Prasar Bharati. “We are expecting the final match of the World Cup to generate a TVR (television rating) of 18 or more on ESPN. If that happens, it will cross the viewership records of India-Pakistan cricket match ratings,” Mr Venkateish added.
It may be recalled that the FIFA World Cup’s last edition had created a cumulative audience base of 28.8 billion viewers worldwide.