T20 World Cup: Can TV ad rates touch Rs 40 lakh if India plays the final?

New Delhi: The T20 World Cup 2024 has entered its latter stages with India qualifying for the semi-finals and set to take on England in the semi-finals. Despite the slow start to the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup, advertisers are joining the party late, costing them a premium. 

“The ad spots for semi-finals and finals were 80% full and within the last seven days, the rest of the 20% is close to being filled. The current package of semi-finals and finals is approximately Rs 25-30 lakh per 10 seconds. If India qualifies for the finals of the World Cup, the ad rates might go as high as Rs 40 lakh per 10 seconds,” an industry source stated.

According to industry sources, the CTV slots have been sold somewhere between Rs 12-18 lakh with cost per impression (CPM) costing advertisers as high as Rs 1000 per CPM, while bids for the India-Pakistan match reached Rs 60 lakh per 10-second ad on linear television.

Various sources told BestMediaInfo.com that there are 5-10 ad slots available per match on television which Disney Star is aiming to sell at a premium.

Additionally, sources stated that approximately 10-15% of ad inventory of mobile is left to be filled with rates being higher than Rs 200 per CPM.

However, there are contrasting views from the industry as experts believe that while the slots for connected TV (CTV) are full and ad inventory of linear television is still available, the broadcasters would not charge a premium for it. 

“While the CTV ad spots are completely sold out for the India-England match, ad inventory for linear TV is still available. However, I believe the rates are expected to be the same with no premium charged on the inventory,” Gaurav Soni, head- media, Perfetti Van Melle, said.

“India is in the semi-finals and ICC relies on India to bring in the big bucks. While I believe the advertising revenue is supposed to increase slightly but not more than 10-15%,” Indranil Blah, a sports consultant, highlighted. 

Another expert added that stating that CTV slots are filled can be a tactic used to get better pricing. He highlighted that India was not expected to do well in the World Cup. Despite all India matches being broadcasted at prime-time, the matches spilled over to late hours at night which had an impact on the viewership, decreasing by approximately 25% overall while 10-15% lower for India matches. 

“People were sceptical of India and with the time difference with half of the matches being broadcasted at early hours of the day, the feel of the World Cup was missing. Nobody was sure India would do well in the World Cup. However, with India progressing to the semi-finals, more advertisers are joining the bandwagon. There is a good chance of 30-40% premium being charged on India matches,” Mayank Shah, vice president, Parle Products, highlighted.

Experts further stated that the TVR for overall matches stood at approximately 0.77 while India matches had a TVR of 2.8.

On Hotstar, the India-Pak clash recorded a peak of 2.8 crore concurrent viewers while the peak concurrent during the India vs Australia match crossed the 3-crore mark.