Cricket on TV has been a premier vehicle for brands across the spectrum to drive awareness among millions of passionate viewers. With positive sentiments now returning in the Indian market, the cricket calendar during the fast-approaching festive season is a goldmine for TV advertisers with the Men in Blue playing big-ticket series and tournaments. As for fans, the passion is unparalleled every time the Men in Blue are in action and with the upcoming calendar, all eyes will be on the TV screens this festive season.
The season starts with the greatest clash in cricket between India and Pakistan with them potentially facing each other thrice in the Asia Cup 2022, starting on 27th August. Soon to follow is the T20 bilateral series between World No.1 – India and T20 World Champions Australia from 20th September onwards. Post this, India will play South Africa in three ODIs and three T20s starting 28th September for the much-awaited T20 World Cup which begins on 16th October. The series against South Africa will likely see India’s T20 World Cup squad together in a final preparation before the mega event.
Broadcaster Star Sports has already announced brands like Dream11, Samsung, Kamla Pasand, LIC, Thums Up, Orient Electric and Axis Bank as sponsors for Asia Cup 2022 with several more expected to be announced in the coming week, as per reports.
Going by the wide reach brands have leveraged successfully in the previous editions of the upcoming series and tournaments, this cricketing season presents an incredible opportunity for advertisers to drive high impact around a period of accelerated buying. As per BARC, the 2021 edition of the ICC T20 World Cup was watched by nearly 400 million viewers across India, showcasing how television could be a gamechanger for brands this festive season. Cricket on TV also commands significantly higher ad attention than all other content genres on the medium. Tvision’s study of ad attention on live broadcast of the T20 World Cup in India indicates that the medium generates nearly 55% higher ad attention than all other content genres on television, showcasing the unparalleled passion for the sport.
Another study by YouGov in 2022 comparing TV vs Digital showed that there is a 4x higher preference among viewers for watching live cricket on TV than on OTT.
