Buoyed by festive season, how brands can make the most of the T20 WC opportunity

Rohit Sharma-led Team India departed for Australia for the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup in the early hours of October 5, 2022. The 2007 champions will look to win the crown this year after failing to make the semi-finals last year. The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will see the world's best cricketers from 16 international teams clash in 45 matches across seven host cities, bringing people of all ages and backgrounds together for a celebration of cricket and culture – from October 16 to November 13, 2022.

In the run-up to the World Cup, Team India managed to gain some momentum after defeating Australia and South Africa in the respective bilateral series and one now hopes that India is able to go all the way in the tournament. With players like Bumrah and Jadeja ruled out of the team due to injury, the Indian bowling looks weak, especially during the death overs, which is crucial in the T20 tournament.

The ICC men’s T20 World Cup last year delivered a record viewership globally, garnering a television reach of 167 million. 10,000 hours of live coverage was offered across TV digital platforms in 200 countries. Increased viewership and consumption were witnessed in India, Pakistan, UK, Australia and the strategic markets of the US. The overall TV consumption for the full tournament in India was recorded at 112 billion minutes, this despite India’s early exit from the tournament. This T20 World Cup will also clock a good viewership or perhaps more as the covid restrictions have been completely relaxed.

Since the game will be played without any bio-bubble and other Covid restrictions, the stadium is likely be fully packed for most of the India matches. This will also permit brands to go the full hog on in-stadia publicity and there will be lot of fun and excitement unlike last year’s T20 World Cup at every venue. Since the tournament is being held during the festive season, we can expect many brands to be present during the tournament. Also, this is the first time after two years of lull activity that the festive season is being celebrated with the usual zeal and fun. Last year, brands like OPPO, MRF Tyres, Booking.com, Byjus, Emirates had come aboard the tournament as Global sponsors.

The ICC T20 World 2021 had only 48 categories of ad volumes, which was comparatively less than 2016, which had 52 categories. When it came to categories as compared to 2016, the year 2021 saw only 26 new categories. Adding to it, there were only 84 brands this time, which is a huge dip compared to 2016 when there were 100 brands. Since we are almost at the end of the festive season with only Diwali and Christmas to go, will brands earmark a substantial budget to be present in the World Cup to be visible as there is another big-ticket event – the FIFA World Cup – happening immediately in Qatar?

Sharing her perspective, Niti Kumar, COO, Starcom India, noted that there is a lot of excitement amidst brands and advertisers on the sporting calendar for the last quarter this year. Cricket has always had a huge reach base in the country and so many iconic brands have been launched on the back of ICC tournaments. “This year, we have seen many traditional and new age brands express interest and tie up with the World Cup,” she said.

With hardly a few weeks to go for the tournament to commence, there is no communication from Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the tournament, on the inventory and what’s going to be their pricing strategy for the entire World Cup matches per spot. Last year, for the T20 World Cup held in the UAE, according to industry sources, a 10-second spot was priced at around Rs 15 lakh.

Adding further, Niti Kumar said. “We expect the ratings and digital viewership to be good, the only call out being the number of non-India matches in a tournament like this, which typically do not deliver very well. Ultimately the performance will also be driven by how the team performs across various stages of the game. Cricket has always been an expensive buy from an entry cost POV. With lots of dollars riding on the tournament, there will be a lot of brands who expect big return on value."

Jolene Fernandes, COO, Madison Media Ultra, pointed out that cricket, especially the World Cup, has always been most advertisers’ delight, with a perfect opportunity to launch new brands or new communication. According to her, ICC T20 World Cup happening during the festive season is a larger opportunity for advertisers, where festive is very critical to drive higher sales/ revenues and hence, allocate higher budgets during this time.

She further pointed out that the World Cup is a platform where one can see a vast and diverse audience base across NCCS and gender.  Last year, Star Sports (excluding regional channels) garnered around 170 million viewers at 15+ age group, males being 75 million and women 65 million and around 240 million on Hotstar across NCCS and gender. For brands, where festive is the crucial time to get the best, World Cup will help build instant reach, visibility and also consideration for the brand across any target audience. “Historically, we have seen categories like E-commerce, D2C brands, Durables, Automobile and Gaming apps always been present. Festive is the key season for these categories and are likely to dominate this year’s edition of T20 WC,” Fernandes added.

With the T20 World Cup tournament happening during the festive season, brands will have great opportunity to create good traction and make most of the festive season. Speaking to Adgully, Mayank Shah, Senior Category Head, Parle Products, remarked, “We normally see good buying and a demand surge in the festive season. Advertising on T20 around that time will provide an ideal platform to brands for communicating with consumers. It would be ideal media opportunity for new launches by companies given the pan India reach provided by tournament. We expect that a significant number of brands would be interested in advertising including start-ups, FMCG brands and multiple sectors that would try to make the most of this ideal opportunity.” 

When asked about the expected viewership and the possible rate for the ad spots, Fernandes was of the view that given that, “the matches are during day time – 9 AM and 1 PM, we can easily expect the ratings to be between 1.8 - 2 TVR. India matches should be in the range of 3.5 - 4 TVR, especially during the India - Pak match and non-India matches could see anything between 1.2 and 1.5 TVR.” On the rates, she pointed out that there are multiple packages available both online and on TV. Brands should try to leverage both to reach out to a larger audience base.

On the viewership and the spot buy costs, Mayank Shah pointed out that the World Cup draws good viewership when it comes to cricket. However, it largely depends on the performance of the Indian team – if India performs well, it will lead of good viewership and vice versa – unlike IPL, which draws consistent engagement because the audience is fragmented on a wide basis. The interest observed in IPL is different from that of a T20 World Cup. “With IPL, the ratings are assured because the audience will watch IPL till the end, unlike T20 where if India is out in the middle of the tournament, the ratings go down undoubtedly,” he added. 

Talking about the ad rates, Shah conjectured that it would be about 50-60% of IPL, that is, about Rs 8-10 lakh per 10 seconds advertisements. Unlike high TRP programs in the market that address a particular segment, cricket being a pan-India sport has a potential for immense reach to have a great viewership, he added.

There are some brands and sets of advertisers who are very keen on being present on cricket, be it IPL or the T20 World Cup, as cricket delivers a decent number and will not disappoint the brands from a viewership point. If India shines and does well, then it will be a jackpot for the brands. While India are favourites on paper for this World Cup, it is completely a different kettle of fish when you play in Australia, where the pitch and ground conditions are not like the sub-continent nations. Also, India is without two of their star players due to injury. Every brand must be hoping India to do well as it will be the best time for brands to leverage, especially when the main Diwali festival is coinciding with the World Cup matches.