Team India bowed out of ICC T20 World Cup 2021 to the much disappointment of the fans and cricket enthusiasts. The Indian team led by Virat Kohli had a poor start in the tournament with defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand. The thumping 8 wicket victory against Afghanistan and Scotland kept the Semifinal berth dreams alive for India which was crushed by New Zealand after they beat Afghanistan by eight wickets in the Super 12 match.
Soon after India’s defeat against New Zealand in their second game, the fans started blaming IPL for the team’s performance and they took to social media to express their disappointment with #BanIPL trending on the social media platforms. Many of them alleged that the IPL and the commercialization by BCCI has been one of the major reasons that led to the burnout of the Indian Team.
Are the commercialization and burnout accusations tenable?
Yes, says Abhishek Karnani, Director, The Free Press Journal.
“The BCCI cancelled a Test match to accommodate the IPL, and also changed dates and venues (not COVID related reasons behind swapping with Australia) for IPL. It’s clear it is the end all be all for the BCCI. The players are not machines, you can’t expect players to be on the road for 6 months and then come out and beat teams that are performing at full tilt. It has already been commercialized. With two new teams, there are going to be more demands of players. You could be as fit as biblical Samson but even he took a nap sometimes,” Karnani added.
“Commercialization of any sporting event or league is a necessary aspect for its continuity. Cricket burnout is a definite reality among audiences”, observes N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research.
“Only if a sporting event gets advertising and sponsorship support can it sustain itself. We have seen the phoenix-like rise of the Kabaddi league, which was a long-forgotten sport, rejuvenated after the formation of the league. However, cricket burnout is a definite reality among audiences, with this one sport dominating the screens with 90+% of audience viewing,” he added.
Ramesh Narayan, Mancom Member India Chapter International Advertising Association (IAA) believes that IPL is doing a wonderful job identifying cricketers from all over the country and giving them a credible platform to display their talent.
At the same time, he believes that the BCCI should take a call on scheduling games and coordinating tournaments in a way that player burn-out does not happen.
“Commercializing cricket has so far proven good for everyone. The players, team owners, stadium owners and the media,” he added.
When it comes to the viewership of The ICC T20 World Cup, the official broadcaster of the event registered a cumulative reach of 238 million till last week (qualifiers + first 12 games of Super 12 stage). The overall consumption reached an outstanding 47 million billion minutes (qualifiers + first 12 games of Super 12 stage). The India-Pakistan match on October 24 created history by clocking a record reach of 167 million viewers, making it the most viewed T20 match to date.
As per media reports, Ad deals worth Rs 900 crore were signed for Star Sports and Rs 250-270 crore for Disney+Hotstar by Star. They have roped in around 16 sponsors for Star Sports and 10 for Disney+Hotstar. According to reports, Ten-second slots for the India-Pakistan game were sold for Rs 25 lakhs.
Now with India knocked out of the T20 World Cup, Will the early exit of India impact the AdEx and viewership in India?
Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group India believes that the love for the game should keep the viewership ticking.
“India is a cricket-loving nation with a huge fan following for the sport and the legends of the cricketing world. While there are sentiments with team India involved and the loss is a huge disappointment, there are bigger sentiments associated with the game, and as a nation, we’ve always appreciated good cricket & good talent. As we move towards the semis and the finals, we expect to see great cricket, therefore I don’t see the interest levels going down and the love for the game should keep the viewership ticking,” Joshi said.
Narayan is also of a similar opinion. He further added, “We live in an age of short attention spans, the next series and IPL is around the corner so it won’t hurt for now but maybe in the future. All things have a start and an end. We are mid-innings in a growth trajectory, as other sports take a foothold the viewership will dip. It’s a generational thing too, cricket hasn’t grown much outside India, however, a time will come when even in India cricketers are facing competition from other sports.”
According to Karnani, “India’s early exit will lead to a drastic fall in viewership.The Indian viewership of cricket is the highest among the world and if a home team is out, then viewership drastically falls. However, most of the adex for the games have already been tied up, so the impact will be minimal,” he observes.
Vipul Mathur, Founder Director- BrandAid Events Pvt Ltd and FanTam Brands Pvt Ltd also believes that “The ad revenues will not suffer due to the early exit of India for multiple reasons. “Firstly, there is not much available to advertisers, hence cricket will always be a choice of preference. It’s momentary, the dip in revenue if at all, will be due to recent lockdowns. Viewership and hype of any programming are bound to drop unless there are innovations and surprises built-in. India is still a way behind when it comes to die-hard fanaticism for a sport,” he added.
Going by the past records, the drop in viewership after the exit of Team India is a reality, barring hardcore cricket enthusiasts. The common man who watches cricket for the sake of Team India tends to shy away from other entertainment options available before him/her. In terms of advertising, we can expect the majority of the deals to survive as they would have been scheduled throughout the tournament. However, advertisers will tend to bargain a better deal in the future citing the setback in viewership due to the early exit of Team India.
