Advertisers are betting too much on India’s performance in the world cup
Every advertiser who's been betting on cricket recently would have researched the 2007 cricket world cup in the West Indies with a lot of details. The last world cup was a nightmare for Indian advertisers. The Indian cricket team crashed out of the 2007 cricket world cup after just 3 matches. India in fact lost to the tournament underdogs, Bangladesh as well. After India's early exit, the TRP's dropped like a pack of cards and advertisers who had bought ad space in advance through well structured pre bought “smart” deals, lost out big time.
Keeping this disturbing trend in mind, ICC has managed to overhaul the format of the world cup significantly. The new structure ensures that the knockout stages of the tournament don't start until 3/4th of the tournament is over. This way, the advertisers are better hedged and their risk is significantly leveraged. Hence, India's performance in the world cup doesn't have more than a 25% effect on the TRP's. This has definitely been a big selling points and has attracted a slew of sponsors. No wonder, 100+ advertisers have officially tied up with the 2011 edition of the cricket world cup.
In the interest of the Indian advertising industry and as a patriot, lets just hope that India lift the cup this time!