Feature | IPL 2012: Where's is the money...

Team India might be on a losing spree (after suffering humiliation series defeats in England and Australia), investors, sponsors, and the franchisees are looking to different ways to woo the audience.

It's a known fact that off late there has been an overdose of cricket. But in India, there never be an overdose of cricket. One may think that the interest level of people may wane off in a long-drawn out tournament such as this, but perhaps it's the only format where victory or defeat has little bearing from the investment perspective.

The fact is India is and will always remain a highly entertainment-starved nation ' the more masala you have ' the more money you reap.

But as we see a gradual decline the viewership in the four previous seasons, the real question here is it really doing the kind of business it was expected to?

Well that's where smart marketing comes into play. Come this edition, the Franchisees are trying to exploit the Social and Digital platform and other fan following gimmicks to woo the fans. Ask them and they would tell you that national team's performance has little bearing on the IPL's following.

"The recent string of poor performances by the Indian team or other factors will not impact crowd enthusiasm during the upcoming IPL. All teams have a good mix of good players from India and abroad. Moreover, each franchise has loyal followers who come out to support their favorite team regardless of how the Indian team is playing," says Raghu Iyer, CEO, Rajasthan Royals.

Col. Arvinder Singh, COO, Kings XI Punjab, feels that just one good performance from Indian team and things will turn around. "IPL is one of the most popular and successful cricket leagues in T 20 format and we believe that IPL 2012 will be bigger and larger in every aspect," insists Singh.

A study by the MEC IPL TV Rating Estimation Study, says that despite the speculations about viewership for fifth season, IPL has not lost its charm. The viewership is expected to stabilize at lower levels than the peaks of early seasons.

After the 29% drop in ratings in IPL4, the average league rating for IPL5 is estimated to be at 3.8%, a small 2.5% increase from the last season.

Only 16% of the viewers are weary due to declining interest over the seasons and only 12% said that they will spend lesser time watching IPL this season. On an average, 15% have watched any IPL match at the stadium, the study adds.

The campaign thought 'Players become Friends', has been designed to increase the interactivity quotient between the players and the fans in the digital space - thus breaking the invisible wall between the two.

Kings XI Punjab feels digital platform is not a strategy but a platform to reach out to the audience. "Digital is a core in our KXIP-2012 strategy. Our thrust this year is to ensure that our fans enjoy both, on and off the field, and that's exactly what we plan to do," says Singh.

"We have rejigged the digital platforms with a new war cry: "Aay hoi na gal!' The idea is not to engage in chest thumping but to create a positive environment and mood where-in fans would enjoy their engagement time with Brand KXIP," he adds.

Consumers of new Nokia smartphones will have to download the 'Fun2Shoot' application create "Channel Me", their own personalised channel. Those with the most viewed and liked content stand a chance to host a Nokia-KKR Chill party, with all perks of hosting a successful after-match party such as deciding their guest list, and inviting KKR players for it.

According the MEC report, IPL franchisees are building their fan bases on social networking sites. MI, CSK and RCB, lead the race having the maximum number of fans/followers on social networking sites.