Curiously, according to the Indian Readership Survey, the number of homes with access to cable and satellite television has surged 36 per cent from 38 million households in 2003 to 52 million this year.
According to media services agency Carat India, even if the viewership in the India-Pakistan "friendship series" series in 2004 is taken as an aberration, viewer interest still fell 28 per cent.
India has played cricket against several top ranking nations such as Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand and others in the same period. The viewership impact has been measured by multiplying average TVRs with minutes of cricket programming from January 2004-November 2006.
"We use cricket tactically as an advertising vehicle only for brand launches and new campaigns. It's not a cost efficient medium," said Pradeep Iyengar, executive vice president (W&S), Carat.
According to the analysis, that is based on viewership data sourced from TAM Media Research and Cricket's bible Wisden there are several factors at play, which explain the downfall.
The first factor is that India has played on seven series away from home, while only five series were played in the country. "Our key learning was that Indian viewers don't like to watch matches out of India, especially when the team is losing," adds Sudarshan Rajan, associate media director, Carat. However, when matches are played in India, viewers watch cricket despite the results.
The other reason that explains the southward trend is the impact of Hindi simulcasts (simultaneous telecast) from the same group. For instance, if a match is shown with English commentary in SET Max, the Hindi simulcast takes place in the group's channel SAB TV. Media planners say that this drives down viewership, compared to having a Hindi simulcast on DD. That's because DD which still has an enormous reach, particularly in the interiors adds significantly to viewership, irrespective of the satellite broadcaster. Finally as Iyengar puts it, there is a higher risk in cricket over prime time advertising.
If advertisers still want the best out of cricket, the best formula is, play in India; win against a good country; and get a simulcast on Doordarshan. That could be too much to ask for.
