Team India’s invincibility at home is hitting the broadcaster and other stake holders, the sports Cricket included, hard. One-sided matches finishing within in three days are no less damaging to the sports’ commercial health than the humiliation inflicted on the weak visitors.

India’s two-Test series against West Indies has seen the emergence of a young Prithvi Shaw as the player of the series on debut, Umesh Yadav’s new found status as a lethal baller with the cherry, Rishabh Pant’s claim to be MS Dhoni’s successor and re-emergence Sir Ravindra Jadeja. But at what cost? The broadcaster is left struggling to recover the committed media rights fee for the match, fans who made cricket a religion in India failing to find interest in the proceedings and the sponsors finding no value worth the price tag a cricket match would command.

Result. Empty stands. Poor television ratings. Drinks breaks without commercials and channel promos during the commercial inventory, which at the peak marketing season should have attracted a premium.

“It is a part and parcel of the game. These are the dynamics of the game that play out particularity in the home series. Team India is always on the top. The absolute dominance leads to the games finishing early,” says Alliance Advertising and Marketing director and co-founder Arshad Nizam Shawl, among the leading media buyer in cricket.

“The India-West Indies Test series is a case in point with the matches finishing within three days. It is an opportunity lost to advertisers and the broadcaster. More so for the broadcasters, who are left to manage their revenue targets from the subsequent series,” adds Arshad.

Star Sports as part of the ₹ 6,138.1 crore consolidated deal for the BCCI media rights over the next five year has committed ₹ 48 crores per match for the first year (2018-19). The first three Tests in the new media rights cycle – against Afghanistan in June and the two games again the West Indies this month – have each lasted for less than full three days, nine sessions. This amounts to a straight 40% opportunity loss to the broadcaster and the advertisers. Considering that there were slots available, even if some of the inventory is adjusted with more insertions during the action period, the opportunity deficit remains at 25-30%.

Poor cricket invokes poor interest – from spectators and sponsors alike. For a top sports (in fact cricket) show on the Broadcast Audience Research Council Ratings chart 23,45,000 impressions (first Test Hindi broadcast on Star Sports 1 Hindi) are disappointing even if the Test remained the most watched sport on Indian television as there was no other significant content.

The second Test ratings are far below the kabaddi league, which has topped the charts for the week with an absolute sweep on the top 5 most watched sports shows for Week 41 BARC Ratings (October 6-12) chart.

“What purpose will this cricket serve. The loss of those two days action is not the sole damage to the stake holders. Imagine a cricket match in India just before Diwali has no commercials during drinks break. Empty stadiums are dissuading advertisers. The poor Test series has also impacted the two upcoming limited overs series with the West Indies. As a media buyer I did not think that it could go that bad during the peak season for marketing initiatives,” said another media buyer, who did not want to be quoted. “How do I ask my brands to put money in cricket if I make these statements on record. But, yes the situation is alarming not just for cricket, but sports in general.

“You can’t just put all the blame on the lack of competition. The market is not finding value in the big price tags.”

Commercials apart, the sports fraternity is critically analysing this West Indies tour as an absolute improper utilisation of the timing right before the challenging tour of Australia. Cricket for holding on to its commercial status and glory certainly demands competitiveness – from Team India on away tours and at home from the visitors.

Insidesport.co had written to the Star Sports PR team for their reaction. There is no response.

Also Read: BARC Ratings: Kabaddi leaves India-West Indies series behind with a yawning gap

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