Did Star Deliver On Expectations?

While numbers from the IPL finals are still awaited, of all the markets the IPL was broadcast in, the South India story is perhaps the most powerful one.

Ad rates for a 10 second spot in IPL 11 reportedly ranged from Rs 8-9 lakh in the league stage to Rs 15 lakh for play-offs to around Rs 20-25 lakh for the finals. And within that spectrum, there were many packages based on the advertisers’ choice of market and time of booking. Senior media planners we spoke to had diverse viewpoints on the ROI brands derived from the money they invested in IPL 11.

The market’s sluggishness did not in any way impact the IPL this year, says CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM S Asia & Country Manager, WPP India. “Star put a lot of effort into packaging IPL across TV and Digital media. The engagement levels remained high on TV, while the digital numbers skyrocketed. There were several innovations unleashed especially on Digital. Despite the sluggishness in the market, IPL has proved its worth yet again by attracting a variety of advertisers,” Srinivas states.

Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands India, says, “What worked very well for us is the multiple markets covered by IPL. Not only have the overall ratings gone up, but you could also customize to each market. Then, Hotstar has done really well, so the numbers on Digital are very high. Since the broadcaster was the same for TV and Digital, there was greater flexibility to do various things in various ways. Some interesting innovations, such as the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign on TV, also did really well on Hotstar. Though reach has suffered slightly, I expect the final ratings to be good because they used mass channels like Star Plus towards the finals.”

SOUTH REIGNS SUPREME