With a strong sports calendar, advertiser interest in SPSN to surge in July-September

Sony Pictures Sports Network, the official broadcaster  for India Tour of Sri Lanka, has roped in 15 sponsors – Byju’s, Pan Bahar, Amazon Prime, 99 acres.com, Cars24, Oppo, Tata Motors, Raj Niwas, Vimal, Kent, Unacademy, Housing.com, Policy Bazaar, Paisa Bazaar and Dafa News – and is closing more brands before the start of the first ODI on July 13, 2021.

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“With the advent of T20 and IPL becoming the most popular cricketing league in the world, there is a burst of Indian talent onto the cricketing scene that would have otherwise not had the opportunity to showcase their skills. India will be playing only ODIs and T20s with Sri Lanka and we will be the first nation to have two specialist teams at the same time. Entire India will watch this team’s performance without Virat, Rohit, Bumrah, and this team would consist of specialists, namely Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik and Krunal Pandya, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Chahar, amongst others, making the series very competitive and entertaining. Also, historically, shorter format of the game has always drawn more eyeballs than tests. All these reasons make India’s tour of Sri Lanka a lucrative proposition for the advertisers to reach their target audience,” observed R Venkatasubramanian, President & National Head Investments, Havas Media.

The ad rates for the T20 matches are being negotiated at Rs 7.5 lakh per 10 seconds and seem high, according to Rajiv Gopinath, Chief Client Officer, Starcom. “But that’s just 3 days, so will not add much value to a media plan” he added.

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According to reports, SPSN is charging Rs 6-8 crore for associate sponsorship, co-powered by sponsorship for Rs 8-10 crore and presenting sponsorship for Rs 10-12 crore. The broadcaster is leveraging the momentum of a strong sports calendar with back to back marquee events airing in the July-September period. The UEFA Euro 2020 concludes on July 11. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to be held between July 23 and August 8. Another T20 series, India Tour of England, is scheduled between August 4 and September 10.

Venkatasubramanian remarked, “Sony Sports has definitely been able to make the most of this and these sporting events have proven to be a shot in the arm for them. Events like Euro and Olympics happen once every four years, thereby peaking viewers’ interest in these events. In India, there are only a handful of sports that are followed by masses regularly, like Cricket, Football, Badminton, and Tennis. With an event like Olympics, the entire country’s interest level rises for every other sporting event possible and it instantly becomes a talking point among people.”

Gopinath added here, “India-England tests can be good investment if a good rate per 10 seconds is cracked for a brand. It’s on primetime India, starting at 3 pm IST, and has 25 days of cricket, hence it can give a plan good impact, especially for male targeted brands. Brands who do not have monies to create impact on IPL could look at the India-England tests. August-September is good timing, given that India is also opening-up after the lockdowns.”

SPSN has been able to attract a mix of premium and mass premium brands across its sports properties. According to Gopinath, CRED and Apple have been the most visible advertisers during UEFA Euro 2020 and dominated FCT spends. The broadcaster has attracted a strong mix of sponsors across multiple sectors for India Tour of Sri Lanka.

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