NEO Cricket ups ad revenue target by Rs 25 crore for October-December

To cash in on the festival season and the eyeballs drawn by the India-Australia cricket matches, Neo Cricket has raised its revenue collection bar as well as ad rates

Looking at the festival season, Neo Cricket has revised its ad revenue target for the three months – October to December – from Rs 285 crore to Rs 310 crore. The move comes after the channel received good response from advertisers for the upcoming India-Australia and India-England cricket series to be played at home.

Neo Cricket will telecast the four India-Australia Test matches to be held between October 9 and November 10. It will also telecast seven One Day International (ODI) matches (November 14-December 2) and two Test matches (December 11-December 23) to be played between India and England.

Speaking to afaqs!, Sunil Manocha, executive vice-president, advertising revenue, Neo Sports Broadcast, says, “The matches collide with the festival season when advertising is high. After the India-Pakistan matches, the biggest crowd pullers are India-Australia matches and advertisers surely have taken note of that. Looking at the response we've got from the advertisers, we've raised our target by Rs 25 crore.”

NEO Cricket ups ad revenue target by Rs 25 crore for October-December

Sunil Manocha

Airtel, which is the presenting sponsor for the India-Australia Test series, will advertise for its telecom services as well as its DTH service, which is being launched on October 9. Hero Honda, Toyota, Coca-Cola, Nivea, Pidilite, Royal Bank of Scotland and HDFC Standard Life are the associate sponsors for the series. Depending on the size of the package, each sponsor is expected to spend Rs 6-9 crore during the India-Australia series and Rs 10-15 crore during the India-England series.

The channel aims to break all previous viewership records for the India-Australia Test matches played in India. “We at Neo Cricket expect to achieve a record TVR average of 4.0 and a peak of 11+, as compared to a peak of 9.71 in the famous 2004 series,” says Sanjay Bhoer, vice-president, marketing and sales strategy, Neo Sports Broadcast.

The channel claims that the 2004 series recorded an average TVR of 3.7 as revealed by the TAM figures (C&S, Male, 15+ SEC: ABC, All India).

It expects 90 per cent of the upped target to come from international matches while the remaining is expected to come from domestic matches.

Neo Cricket has also raised its 10 second rates to more than Rs 1 lakh for the Tests against Australia and England, and more than Rs 4 lakh for the ODIs.

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