Today two major cricket events have gathered fame. The first is the Cricket world cup and the second being the Indian Premier League. Much fight has been going on off-late concerning the sponsors for 2011 Cricket World Cup and the IPL that is scheduled to start soon.
There is a tough fight that both the sports events are facing along with the governing body. The broadcasters are also in stiff competition of drawing the advertisers to their channel so they can earn revenue.
Whereas on the other hand, IPL has been able to rope in Set Max as its official broadcaster. The success of IPL has resulted in Set Max already acquiring ten sponsors for the event.
ESPN has already bagged the title of “the official broadcaster” for the entire series. ESPN until now has been able to grab six sponsorship deals. The channel also declared of signing the deal with approximately 10 sponsors. Half of their advertising space is already sold to the companies.
The sponsors themselves are caught in dilemma, as well knowing that the ICC World Cup happens once in four years and therefore, matter of prestige in its own right while the IPL has shown itself to be a rather viable and lucrative market.
Also IPL delivers consistent ratings on daily basis and is a great sports property for any brand to associate itself with.
It is expected that Set Max will be generating massive profits from IPL IV; infact they are looking for around 850 crores which is 20 percent more than what they earned from IPL3. Set Max has signed with Vodafone, Videocon, Samsung, Godrej, LG, Hyundai, Pepsi, Tata Photon, Havells and Cadbury.
Meanwhile, from the world cup 2011, ESPN is looking forward to generate about Rs. 700 – 750 crore from World Cup which started on Indian soil in February. ESPN has signed deals with Nokia, Sony, Pepsi, Maruti, Suzuki and Philips for World Cup.
Also the charges for a 10 seconds commercial is Rs.% lakhs in Set Max, whereas it is Rs.3-5 lakhs in ESPN.
It’s very clear that the world cup has to go up a very long way to catch up with the IPL, in terms of giving the sponsors a big return on their investments.
