India-Pakistan clash at Asia Cup draws huge interest from advertisers

From Dream11, Big Basket, Samsung, LIC, Mondelez and Thumps Up, a cross-spectrum of advertisers have signed up for the big match and tournament

After close to a year, South Asian cricket rivals India and Pakistan will face off in the second match of the Asia Cup on Sunday. Their last outing was in September 2021, during the T20 World Cup that year. But the Asia Cup itself is coming back after a gap of four years, following two consecutive cancellations in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Advertiser interest is predictably high, given the traditional rivalry between the two sides. Conversations with multiple media planners and buyers reveal that Disney-Star, which will broadcast the Asia Cup on Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar, has locked 11 on-air sponsors including names such as Dream11, Mondelez, Big Basket, Samsung, LIC, Thumps Up and Axis Bank for the big match as well as the tournament.

"Sponsors have come on board in part because there will be more than one occasion when India and Pakistan will clash at the Asia Cup. The first one will happen on Sunday for sure. The second one will depend on how the two teams perform in their respective sides. But given that viewer interest remains high around India-Pakistan matches, advertiser interest will also be high," says Sajal Gupta, chief executive officer at Gurugram-based Kiaos Marketing, who advises clients on advertising, media and brand-building initiatives.

Ad rates have been pegged at Rs 14-15 lakh per ten seconds for the clash on Sunday, media buyers said. This is in line with the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament ad rates in April-May. Like the IPL, the Asia Cup is a T20 tournament. The other matches at the Asia Cup have been pegged at Rs 6-7 lakh per ten seconds, depending on who is playing and viewer interest thereof, media buyers said.

On digital, media buyers said Disney-Star has pegged ad rates at a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) of about Rs 270-280 for the India-Pakistan match, which again is in line with the rate charged during IPL matches in April-May. For the other matches, the ad rate has been pegged at Rs 150-180 CPM.

"The India-Pakistan match without doubt will be the big highlight of the Asia Cup. And advertiser interest will be high because viewers will be glued to their TVs and smartphones to catch up with every bit of action," Anita Nayyar, chief operating officer, media, branding and communication, Patanjali Ayurved, said.

Apart from India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong are participating in the Asia Cup. Hong Kong, for the uninitiated, won the qualifier round, defeating UAE in the finals and earning the spot of the sixth team in the tournament.

Media planners expect advertising momentum for the Asia Cup in general to remain high, since it falls in the festive period of September. October will see action around the T20 World Cup which is slated for the period. So, advertiser activity will remain high owing to the higher propensity to spend during the festive period and the need to induce brand recall during the period, experts said.

This is also the first festive period when there will be no Covid-19 restrictions. At the same time, traditional advertising categories such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), auto, retail, durables and electronics are expected to mark their presence aggressively this year to capitalise on the festive fervour, experts said.

The Asia Cup, for instance, has more traditional categories advertising during the tournament, media planners. Apart from Dream11 and Big Basket, categories such as edtech and fintech, which were big spenders over the last few years on cricket, have opted to scale down their advertising activities for now.

Media agencies such as GroupM, Zenith and Dentsu in their mid-year forecasts have said that advertising growth in 2022 would be in the region of 16-22 per cent, led by the festive season in the second half of the calendar year.