ICC Cricket World Cup, being played on the Indian subcontinent, recorded a viewership of 127 million, which is about 64 per cent of all cable and satellite households. A further 6.9 million logged online for the live streaming of matches. The viewership for the India- England match garnered a rating of 6.44, breaking the record of IPL 3's viewership by a considerable margin.
High on these numbers, broadcaster ESPN has been quick to capitalize on the cricket frenzy and has decided to hike the spot rates by 100 per cent.
"The response has been terrific. And we have saved about 5 per cent of our inventory for the tournament. We will be looking at almost a 100 per cent rate hike," said Aloke Malik, MD, ESPN.
ESPN is looking at increasing the ad spot to Rs. 24 lakh per 10 seconds should India make it to the knock out stages. This has put advertisers on a slippery wicket. Moreover, with ESPN keeping the high definition feeds of the matches commercial free, the advertisers are doubly disappointed.
"Yes, the rate hike is a bit too much. Also, maybe the high-definition audience is only a 1,00,000 but that may be the most important for the advertisers," said Ajay Chandwani, director, Percept.
With the World Cup becoming the perfect pitch for advertisers, it may just be too good an opportunity to miss. So pay up if you want to use the World Cup power seems to be the message now.
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