ICC World Cup 2019 | Star Sports set to lose 10-15 crore in advertising revenue due to India's World Cup exit

Along with a billion who mourned India’s exit from the World Cup against New Zealand on Tuesday, it seems the broadcasters are set to miss out on some extra cash during the business end of the biggest tournament in the world of cricket. The advertising spots currently being sold at 15-17 lakhs for 10 seconds, would’ve fetched upwards of 25 lakhs. However, Star may not feel the loss as heavily since they’ve been signing plenty of ad deals recently. 

“The opportunity of selling a few last-minute spots has been lost because of India’s exit,” Joshi was quoted saying by Live Mint. She added that even if the broadcaster had sold the inventory at Rs 30 lakh per 10 second, it would have made an additional Rs 8-10 crore. 

Joshi says that brands are entirely willing to splash the extra cash as an investment for long term profit. 

“Brands do pay the huge premium, often launching new products/services, during a World Cup final match as it offers tremendous reach,” she said.

Other media consultants look at it as a win-win situation for Star, as they had the broadcasting rights to the IPL, which ended weeks before the World Cup started. The World Cup revenues add to the blockbuster Indian Premier League season, which generated advertising revenues worth Rs 2,500 crore.

“Although India’s exit is disappointing, but still this has been a bonanza time for brands with more than 100 days of non-stop cricket action divided between the Indian Premier League (IPL) and ICC World Cup,” said Sandeep Goyal, chairman, Mogae Media, a Mumbai-based marketing and communication agency.

Mint had reported earlier that the broadcaster is expected to make Rs 1,800 crore in ad revenues from the World Cup alone, which culminates on July 14th. This revenue, which is double that of the 2015 edition, is split between split between TV ads and online streaming platform, Hotstar. Leveraging the popularity of the ICC Cricket World Cup, Star has signed over 40 top advertisers.