As Indian cricket fans recover from the disheartening defeat against New Zealand in the semifinals, official broadcasting partner of the Cricket World Cup is also bracing for a sharp dip in the revenues. According to media reports if India had fared to the Finals, Star could have earned approximately 25-30 lakh per second for advertisements however after India’s departure from the tournament, in the final match between England and New Zealand Star is expected to only charge around 15-17 lakh per second for advertisements. Along with the broadcasters several restaurants and multiplexes which have planned screenings of the Cricket tournament are also poised to take a hit in the earnings. Total expected decline in revenue is pitched at anywhere between 50-100 crores.
According to a report in Mint, Star was expected to earn around 1800 crore this world cup, however after India’s departure from the tournament that number is expected to fall, however the exact figures can only be estimated after the final match between England and New Zealand. In the 2015 world cup where Star had earned around Rs 700 crores in the 2019 Cricket World Cup it had expected to earn around 1200-1500 crore through advertisements and an additional Rs 300 crores from Hotstar.
India which presents the largest viewership base among all the cricketing nations in the world has been a top point of attraction for broadcasting and advertising agencies to earn optimum returns on their investments. The viewership base has also been on a consistent growth path in India, a total of 166 million viewers (urban and rural, television and out of home) watched the India-Australia one day international (ODI) held on 9 June, while India’s opening game against South Africa clocked a total of 180 million of viewers, said the tournament’s official broadcast partner Star India citing BARC data. Accordingly the ICC Cricket World Cup match between India and Pakistan clocked a whooping 229 million viewers.
As of today BCCI stands as the richest sporting body and the richest cricket board in the world, with contracts for sponsorship and telecast rights running into hundreds of millions of Dollars. The current official kit sponsorship rights for 5 years from 2016 to 2020 inclusive has been awarded to Nike for 370 crore (US $54 million). The official Indian cricket team sponsorship was given to OPPO for a period of five years at a cost of 1,079 crore (US $160 million). With such high value transactions involved, Team India failing to reach the Cricket World Cup 2019 finals will surely have an overarching impact on business revenues.