It takes that one match to lift a cricket tournament and if that involves India and Pakistan, you can be assured of the eyeballs. The 2025 Champions Trophy, that is currently underway, has merely confirmed that. For those 25,000 seated in Dubai International cricket stadium, it was worth the money. There was the usual drama as India beat its arch rivals by six wickets, helped by Virat Kohli’s hundred.
The tournament is being played in Pakistan and Dubai. In all, there are eight teams with 15 games. India will play all its matches in Dubai and a place in the semi-final beckons. Already, the match against Pakistan has had the broadcaster chuffed – streaming platform, Jio Hotstar, in a statement, said it had 60.2 crore views, with the opening over bowled by Mohammed Shami registering 6.8 crore views.
Much as the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets impressive viewership numbers, an India-Pakistan clash is quite another story. Though, there are no official numbers, it is gathered that a 10-second spot went for as much as Rs 50 lakh. Sandeep Goyal, Chairman, Rediffusion, points out that the timing for the Champions Trophy is good as it coincides with the end of the financial year. “Hence, brands have budgets to expend before March 31 leading to a lot of advertiser interest,” he says. It also ties in well with brands that have campaigns planned with the onset of summer. “We saw a lot of Mountain Dew and Thums Up during the game plus Campa Cola is a sponsor.”
As is always the case in cricket, a lot depends on India performing well and according to Goyal, if that happens, “both viewer interest and advertisers will sustain.” For a broadcaster, it is always a tricky situation in terms of how much of inventory needs to be sold in advance. That is typically 85-90% as a part of a package deal before the tournament kicks off. “Clients would have already committed to inventory across matches or India-specific matches at different rates. Since India is doing well. The small amount of inventory (that is not sold yet) will automatically become scarce and expensive,” he says. What is left over is set up for spot buys. “If India reaches the finals, those few spots will fetch a good premium,” he adds.
The important thing is that the Champions Trophy is an advertiser-friendly format. “It is a short and crisp tournament unlike the IPL (runs for around two months). It is a good opportunity for brands that like cricket and spends here are planned well in advance,” says Manish Porwal, MD, Alchemist Marketing Solutions.
Cricket is known you to give captive viewership at scale, making it a very compelling proposition. “IPL is a long tournament and expensive. There will always be opportunistic buyers and that augurs well for the broadcaster,” he explains. The real challenge for the broadcaster is sustaining interest for non-India matches but if a big-ticket India match makes up for that, it may just be worth the effort.