Will fatigue factor, T20 World Cup take a toll on Asia Cup?

The 2022 Asia Cup is scheduled to be the 15th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, with the matches being played as Twenty20 Internationals during August and September 2022 in the United Arab Emirates. The tournament, which was to be held in Australia about 2 years back, got shifted to the UAE due to the Covid pandemic. The ICC has revised the format for this year and the tournament will be played in a 20-over format unlike the one-day international format.

As usual, the talking point of this tournament is the clash of the traditional rivals India and Pakistan, where they will clash three times – twice in the group stages and in the finals if both the teams make it to the finals. Cricket in the desert always drew in the crowds and with the fear of Covid gone, one can expect large crowds in the stadiums.

This will also give brands to look at some OOH presence inside the stadium. It will be interesting to observe how brands plan to leverage the tournament, which comes just as the festive season in India kicks off. Since the timing of the tournament is in the evening, the interest levels to watch the matches should be high. As most cricket lovers will be back home from office and be glued to their gadgets and TV sets to enjoy the game. The tournament commences on August 27 and will be exclusively aired on the Star Sports Network. It could be good bet for brands to be present here as the viewership is likely to peak well.

The ICC men’s T 20 world cup which was last held in UAE delivered a record viewership globally, garnering a television reach of 167 million according to the governing body. Increased viewership and consumption were witnessed in India, Pakistan, UK, Australia and the strategic market of USA. Although the teams are from the Asian continent but there are 4 good teams who will be vying for the final spot. Also, there are no immediate cricketing events before the T 20 world cup happening so that could be an opportunity for brands to engage with their audience. With Cricket and Bollywood looked upon as a religion the craze for cricket and following should happen.

According to Rachna Monterio, Senior Vice President, Starcom, “We should first touch on the viewership. On TV, overall, there has been a sharp decrease, led by both:

Reach: 2-3% households switching off channels or set top boxes due to the inflationary costs of running expenses (AMJ has been at a 7% + retail inflation)

Time Spent: As fatigue sets in, there’s been 4%-5% drop in people spending time on TV, from 2019 to 2022,

The cumulative effect is drop of overall viewership by 10%

On video, there’s been a dramatic increase in reach and time spent leading to an overall increase of 50% viewership, however, when it comes to cricket the scenario has been different.

Indians have been subjected to increasing number of cricket days. In 2019, along with IPL it was 140 days, 2020 due to COVID the number of days dropped to 80, 2021 was high as 200+ days and in 2022 we have already witnessed 115 days of cricket even before Asia Cup, which included a very long IPL.

The fatigue on cricket is already showing on TV viewership. The alarming drop on IPL viewership, the tepid ratings of international cricket all speak of a very different picture.

Even on OTT, IPL viewership this year has been driven by the audience spending more time. However, the reach has remained flat vis-à-vis last year.

Given this entire background, from a viewership standpoint, while we all know India – Pakistan will touch a 10+ rating, the series may not have the same lustre and excitement.

Coming to falling in festive season: due to the slowdown on consumer spending, auto manufacturers are facing chips supply issues and the general inflationary trend, the festive season is expected to only kick in mid-September. Currently, advertisers are holding back and saving up for the World Cup, where ratings has never faltered. However, the rates on Asia Cup are still commanding a premium. Hence, overall, the response to Asia Cup is muted and it’s not considered to be a super buy to kickstart festive season.

Suddarshan R, Business Consultant and Value Investor, is of the view that Asia Cup should deliver good numbers. T20 of IPL delivered good numbers in 2020. Maybe not to that extent also depends on the competitive intensity. India Pakistan matches deliver good numbers and hence will spike the overall average. This will help in garnering pre festive season campaigns and advertisers have multiple options in both linear and digital formats. Feature, Impact moments, Special moments are always created for partners for the entire series. Multiple packages of FCT available in the range of Rs 2- 5 crs can be explored.

Co-presenting, presenting and associate sponsorship will also garner support Range from Rs 10-20 Cr.

Possible suitors:Male brand - Auto, Batteries, Insurance, MFs, Banks, technology, tyres, computers, networking, mobile phones, new launches, tiles, 2-wheeler brands, etc.