Ad spend may go through the roof this World Cup

NEW DELHI: India Inc. is expected to double its spending on advertising and promotions during the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup to Rs 1,000-1,200 crore this year, top media buyers said.The 10-nation cricket tourney being played in England and Wales began on May 31 and ends on July 14.“We have seen fabulous response from advertisers on TV and digital platforms,” said Vinit Karnik, business head at ESP Properties, a GroupM company.Star India has sold a significant amount of inventory, media buyers said. Star India, the media rights holder for the World Cup, is known to have signed over 35 advertisers for the series already.In terms of on-ground sponsors, the International Cricket Council has added quite a few to its roster. Overall, it’s been an incredible World Cup for advertisers, Karnik said.The largest spenders during the tournament will be mobile handset companies, gaming firms, dotcom companies and the automobile industry, according to Navin Khemka, CEO of Mediacom, South Asia.“The World Cup has bigger spikes (in terms of viewership) during India matches and some big, non-India matches, as opposed to the Indian Premier League, which has consistent viewership across the tournament,” said Khemka.The ICC has changed the format of the World Cup this time and now all teams will play at least one match with each other, which means India will have at least nine games, which is 50% higher than previously.Star India did not comment on its revenue expectations from the tournament. India played its first match on Wednesday.The interest levels in a tournament like this tends to go up if India performs better, said Ashish Bhasin, chief executive, Greater South, Dentsu Aegis Network. This could mean higher rates for leftover inventory with Star.69669547 Earlier this year, GroupM, the media investment group of WPP, said it expects the Indian advertising spending to grow 14% to Rs 80,678 crore in 2019, the fastest pace in four years, on the back of the cricket World Cup and the national elections.Those associated with the tournament this year across television and digital platforms include PhonePe and Havells, Byju’s, MRF, Amazon, Royal Stag, Dream11, Uber, policybazaar.com, paisabazaar.com, Pernod Ricard, Mondelez, Acko General Insurance and Ceat Tyres.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2ZfouZj