Star Sports is estimated to earn around Rs 100 crores from advertisements for the India-Pakistan ICC Cricket World Cup clash, on June 16, at Manchester.
As the bilateral cricket ties among the countries have no certainty of resuming, cricket fans look forward to this match with much more eagerness as the chances of them playing again in near future have reduced. Because of that, there is a lot of hype regarding the match and a lot of cricket fans all over the world will watch it. That is the reason why Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the tournament is cashing in on this hype. The channel which has sold most of its ad inventory is now charging a 50 percent premium for booking last minutes ad spots.
"The inventory on World Cup was being sold as packages, which included all matches (India and non-India) customized as per brand requirements available. There may not be a whole lot of inventory available to be sold on India-Pakistan matches and whatever little unsold inventory that is left may go at 40- 50% hike on the current rates," said Vinita Pachisia, senior vice-president at Carat India, a Dentsu Aegis Network-owned media agency as quoted by the Livemint.
The ad rates for a match India is playing is Rs 16-18 lakh for a 10-second slot whereas for the India-Pakistan match the ad rates have surged to Rs 25 lakh for a 10-second slot. The total inventory for the match is about 5,500 seconds.
Other matches involving India had high viewership and have experienced good numbers but nothing can match the numbers of India-Pakistan clash as it is one of the biggest rivalries in the game of cricket and they are playing after a long time. Their last meeting occured around nine months back when they faced each other in Asia Cup.
India have been in good form in the tournament winning two back to back matches while Pakistan is not at all in a comfortable state winning only one out of their four fixtures. India will definitely have an upper hand over Pakistan but nothing can be predicted about a match like this.
Moreover, the upcoming match has already sparked controversies with companies from both countries rolling out promotional campaigns, taking a dig at each other. Star Sports has been running an advertisement where an Indian supporter describes himself as Pakistan's "abbu" (father), referring to India's domination over their arch-rivals in the World Cup. Responding to Star's ad, Pakistani channel Jazz TV's spot features a mockery of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.
Star has signed more than 40 top advertisers for the tournament, including big brands such as PhonePe, OnePlus, Havells, Amazon, Dream11, MRF Tyres, Coca-Cola, Uber and Mondelez.
