Set Max premium ad rates for IPL auction

Multi Screen Media, which will telecast live the upcoming players' auction for The Indian Premier League's fourth season on Set Max, is selling advertising slots for Rs 50,000 per ten seconds, a premium of about five times compared to a regular day.

The broadcaster has already started selling ad space for for the two-day event, in Bangalore on January 8-9.

"Since it will be a live event, not much ad-inventory is available. We have already started selling spots at a premium," Multi Screen Media (MSM) president (Network Sales) Rohit Gupta said.

He said the company is charging around Rs 50,000 per 10 seconds spot from advertisers during the two-day event.

According to media buyers, on a usual day, buying a ten second ad spot on Set Max channel, that primarily shows movies, costs around Rs 10,000.

"There is a lot of interest from advertisers and viewers for a cricket related event like IPL auctioning. So it will definitely have differentiated pricing than for films," Mindshare managing partner (entertainment sports partnerships) Hiren Pandit said.

Some 350 best cricketers of the world will go under the hammer on Jan 8-9 in Bangalore during the auction for the fourth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The timing of the event, which is being held over a weekend, has also made it a sought after property.

"The auction is happening on Saturday and Sunday, so the spots during the live telecast will sell like hot cakes," ZenithOptimedia Senior Vice-President Naveen Khemka said.

He said besides Set Max, even news channels are likely to enjoy good viewership as people will tune into news channels to get quick updates.

During the matches, however, Set Max is charging above Rs 500,000 for a ten second spot, according to industry estimates.

"The money MSM will make during the two-day auction event is like a drop in the ocean to the total revenues it is likely to generate from the entire IPL," Khemka added.

MSM hopes to earn around 20 per cent more revenues from season four of the league as compared to IPL3.

MSM is understood to have raked in around Rs 750 crore from last season's IPL.