TEN eyes Rs 80 crore revenue from India-Sri Lanka series

According to industry sources, TEN, the sports network from the Zee stable, is eyeing Rs 80-90 crore revenue from the India-Sri Lanka series. This will include the ad sales revenues generated from television (almost 70 per cent) as well as on-ground.

The channel has already roped in handset manufacturer Micromax as the on-ground title sponsor for the event and therefore, the tourney will now be called the Micromax Cup series. Ten Sports is looking at getting eight on-air sponsors on board, which will include two main sponsors and six associate sponsors.

While the channel remained tight-lipped on the financial details of the sponsorship deals, media experts state that Micromax has come on board for an approximate Rs 10 crore; meanwhile the channel is asking an estimated Rs 9 crore for main on-air sponsorship and for associate on-air sponsorship, the amount stands at about Rs 5 crore.

While Sehgal denied confirming the above numbers, he stated that since the tourney is completely a primetime property wherein three matches will be held on weekends, the cup is witnessing a lot of pull from the advertisers. "Since this is the first match after the IPL, the series is expected to grab a lot of viewership," he says. For the record, the series will kick off on July 22 and will comprise six matches. This will include five one day internationals and one T20 international.

Experts state that while a 10-second spot during the ODIs is priced at around Rs 3.5 lakh, for the T20 game, the 10 second spot rate stands at around Rs 5 lakh.

The event will be telecast on Ten Cricket and Ten HD. Also, TEN is looking at increasing distribution revenue on the back of this series in digital as well as analog. "While the series will help give the requisite distribution push to increase subscription too, we are also looking at crafting some unique but limited advertising for Ten HD as well," Sehgal says.