Give It All For Cricket

Give It All for Cricket

Palash Biswas

(Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata-700110, India. Phone: 91-33-25659551)

Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com

Come On India! No Agro Sector. No society. No cuture. No Politics. No Budget. No crime. No justice. No Movement. No resistance.

It is cricinfo, live telecast time.
It is Mandiar Bedi all over India.

Let us forget all our daily activities and day to day problems for a Draem yet to be recieved , to get The World Cup home.

We have to forget singur, Nandigram and Vidarbha.

Well! We forget the valleys of death , The Tea Industry. Forget friends, the lockouts, disinvestment, FDI, VRS and even the show business.
It is word cup all over.

Look on the Carribean soil, it is the real India for the time being.

Please forget the graveyard of industries in bengal.
Forget Inflation, Unemployment and Starvation.

Every problem has to be sidelined until the world cup show is over.

Nimbus Sport, which has got exclusive sponsorship rights for ICC matches worldwide till 2007, has hit a century, with its sponsorship revenue from the ‘yet-to-be-kicked-off World Cup’ touching a whopping $100 million. The Cricket World Cup, 2007 gets underway on March 13.
According to media industry sources, this is more than 100% jump since the last World Cup when sponsorship revenue stood at $40 million. While the 2003 Cup was also marketed by the Singapore-based company, rights were sold on a piecemeal basis until 1999, and the sponsorship revenues in the year were pegged at $5 million. Besides the rise in revenue, the number of sponsors have also gone up to 12, against eight and four in the 2003 and 1999 world cups, respectively. This is highest in the history of World Cup.

If India is out unexpectedly erlier than expactedwhat happens to the heavy stakes, it is to be seen. Bangladesh has already triggered th panic button defeating hot favourite Kiwies, the team which deafeated World Champion Australia in three matches in row. We know the potentials of Srilanka and no one may predict anything about the newcomer Barmuda.

Advertisers in cricket-crazy India are gearing up for the World Cup which starts in the West Indies on Tuesday, raising hopes a Sony Corp. unit with broadcast rights in India could get more than $100 million in revenue.The cricket World Cup is considered the mother of all tournaments in India, which has the world's third-largest cable and satellite subscriber base -- at 68 million homes, up from 42 million in 2003 when the previous tournament was held.
Cricket-themed ad campaigns and promotions of consumer goods, electronics, automobiles and even financial services firms are already on air, with several Bollywood movies also cashing in.

Why final?
First we have to enter into the super five!

The path is not so smooth as yet despite the moral boosting win over homeside WEest indies in the practice match and return of speedster Pathan in form.

THE Cricket World Cup starts on Tuesday, and although it will not grab the international imagination to the same extent as the soccer World Cup, it remains the case that, even to those only half interested, watching cricket is one of the best ways of avoiding working known to man.

The mania takes its toll.

The Indians defeated West Indies in the final practice match at the Trelawny Stadium on Friday. Dream to take the Worldcup backhome is hyped most and the DEEWANGEE started.

They won by nine wickets after hitting the 86-run target in 18.3 overs.D Karthik struck 38 and R Uthappa made 35 runs. Indians sent a strong warning to the competing world with a clinical decimation of West Indian batting. Indian medium-fast bowlers, led by Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan, shot out the hosts for 85 in a mere 25.5 overs.Pathan picked up three wickets but the sensational figures belonged to Patel who claimed four for 10 in his six overs.

Now, Saurav Ganguly on Indian saris in West Bengal. While former Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly's heroic return to Team India has cheered millions of cricket fans, the weavers in West Bengal are celebrating it by printing his image on Indian saris ahead of the ICC World Cup 2007.
The weavers in Aamdanga Village in West Bengal believe the Prince of Kolkata's immense popularity can boost their sales. And, the two-month sporting extravaganza is also anticipated to influence saris sales here.

A sari manufacturer here targeting Ganguly's appeal among the people in West Bengal and country has prepared the special sari carrying Ganguly's images.

"We all in India love Saurav Ganguly and as the team gears up for the World Cup, we decided to highlight the figure of Ganguly on our sarees. We hope this initiative will help the sales to pick up," Tuleswar Saran Dutta, manufacturer of the Ganguly featured sarees.

The idea to wear saris with Ganguly's images is captivating a lot of young girls here to keep up with spiralling cricket mania.

"I have come to know that weavers here are weaving sarees with an image of Saurav Ganguly on it. I have bought one and I will definitely wear it," said Jyotsna Dutta, a cricket fan.

Ganguly, India's most successful test captain has recently made a return to the Indian cricket team after nearly 10 months of exile due to a slump in his on field performance.

The 34-year-old, left-handed batsman refused to give up and ensured his return to the national cricket team by giving impressive performances in the first class cricket.

Ganguly is one of the six batsmen in the world to have scored 10,000 one-day runs with a record 16 opening century partnerships with arguably World's best batsman Sachin Tendulkar.

Since his recall for the South Africa test series in November after cricketers Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina flopped in a preceding one-day series, Ganguly has successfully displayed an unusual grit.

A few days ago, Ganguly earned the man-of-the-series award following a 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka last week.

Ganguly, who is dubbed "Prince of Kolkata", was first dumped after a one-day game on debut as a teenager in Australia in 1991-92 and criticised for his poor attitude. Recalled for the 1996 England tour, he silenced critics with hundreds in his first two tests.

His return to the international cricket for the second time and role as an opener could be crucial for the Team India in the World Cup 2007, which begins coming Wednesday (March 14).

Sachin as ESPN Brand ambassador
The channel has roped in Domino's Pizza, BPCL, Sify and FabMall.com to facilitate registration. It allows players to enjoy the game everyday right through to 22 March and win cash prizes daily. A total of Rs 7 million will be given away as cash prizes in this special edition of the game.

ESS roped in the master-blaster, Sachin Tendulkar, by paying him Rs 120 million for a three year deal as their brand ambassador. ESS believed that the master blaster will do a 'Big B' trick with his two shows ,India Vs and Sachin Speaks on World Cup.

TEN Sports

Ten Sports secured exclusive cable and satellite rights for Pakistan from SET Satellite (Singapore), the satellite, pay TV and DTH television rights holder of ICC-organised cricket not only for India, but for the neighbouring region too. In India, however, the channel telecast a programme called Legends which focused on great cricketing personalities.

The channel will concentrate on what it has like live horse racing, golf, wrestling and the like and it is not deviating from its present programming strategy.

Be steady

Trelawny (Jamaica), March 10 (IANS) The cricket World Cup opens here Sunday with a grand ceremony, with champions Australia and runners-up India determined to clinch the honours in a competition seen as the most open till date.The 25,000-capacity multi-purpose stadium, some 40 km from Montego Bay, will bring together 16 teams - the most that have contested a World Cup - accompanied by razzmatazz unleashed by about 1,500 performers at the opening. It is also the first time the game's prized tournament, comprising 51 matches and lasting 49 days, is being held in the Caribbean. And when the final is played at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, April 28, the world would probably have a new champion -- and the Caribbean would have carved a niche amongst its peer with its organising capabilities. The Ricky Ponting-led Australia, despite missing injured pace spearhead Brett Lee, again start as the favourites for the title, though Rahul Dravid's India is not far behind with the form the team has shown lately.

Australia are on the verge of making history, having won successive World Cup titles in 1999 and 2003, when Ponting's side defeated India in a one-sided final in Johannesburg.

If Australia win again, it will become the first team since the World Cup's inception in 1975 to win three successive titles. At the moment they are tied with West Indies (1975 and 1979) as both have won two World Cups successively.

If Kapil Dev's Indian team spoiled West Indies' hat-trick in 1983, this time there is more than one team that will challenge the might of Australia, who are looking a wee bit beatable.

South Africa, one of the strong contenders along with India, England, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, have snatched Australia's No. 1 rank recently, and have also defeated them in high scoring matches.

Even England have beaten Australia, the most notable being in the Commonwealth Bank (C Triangular Series in Australia late last year. Australia then also lost all three away matches to New Zealand.

In fact, Australia have lost their last five One-Day Internationals - two to England in the CB Series and three in New Zealand - before they open their World Cup with a Group A game against qualifiers Scotland at Warner Park, Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis, Wednesday.

India are also high on confidence, having won two successive one-day series at home, against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, and also the two warm-up matches here with huge margins.

Almost all the Indian players are in form and look set to top Group B, which also has 1996 winners Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, which stunned New Zealand Tuesday, and first timers Bermuda.

The top two teams from each of the four pools will progress to the Super Eights, or quarter-finals, where they will play against each other. The top four sides then advance to the semi-finals and eventually the final.

Besides throwing a few new talents on the global firmament, the World Cup is expected to open new avenues for the Caribbean to do business with the rest of the world. After all, CARICOM, or the Caribbean Community, has backed the tournament 100 percent, right from its bidding in 1998 till today.

The political leaders of the various Caribbean islands have thrown their weight behind the cricket organisers despite many impediments.

"We have overcome the early challenges and Jamaica is ready for the world," said Jamaica Prime Minister Simpson Miller recently.

"I am very pleased to see the enthusiasm being displayed by so many persons - ranging from young children to corporate citizens. Our CARICOM brothers and sisters have been a tower of strength (and) our global neighbours have given us their support."

The relentlessly hard working organising committee, headed by CEO Chris Dehring, have absorbed many setbacks on the way, like the damage caused by Hurricane Ivan in Grenada and other islands, and overcome a shortage of cement in the construction of some stadiums.

The organisers also had to deal with cynics who had "predicted" that the infrastructure would not be ready in time and that the tournament would be a "disaster".

They may be waiting to eat their words soon. We shall know the true picture as the tournament concludes April 28.

ALL TEAMS:

AUSTRALIA: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist (vice-captain/wicket-keeper), Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait and Shane Watson

INDIA: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthick, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel

SOUTH AFRICA: Graeme Smith (captain), Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher (wicket-keeper), A.B. de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince and Roger Telemachus

SRI LANKA: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara (wicket-keeper), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Marvan Atapattu, Russel Arnold, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Malinga Bandara, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Nuwan Kulasekera

WEST INDIES: Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wicket-keeper), Ian Bradshaw, Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell

PAKISTAN: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper), Azhar Mahmood, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Rana Naved, Rao Iftikhar, Danish Kaneria, Yasir Arafat and Mohammed Sami

ENGLAND: Michael Vaughan (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood, Jamie Dalrymple, Andrew Flintoff, Ed Joyce, Jon Lewis, Sajid Mahmood, Paul Nixon (wicket-keeper), Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett and Andrew Strauss

NEW ZEALAND: Stephen Fleming (captain), Lou Vincent, Peter Fulton, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum (wicket-keeper), Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Jeetan Patel, Shane Bond, Mark Gillespie, Michael Mason and Daryl Tuffey

KENYA: Steve Tikolo (captain), Thomas Odoyo (vice-captain), Rajesh Bhudia, Jimmy Kamande, Tanmay Mishra, Collins Obuya, David Obuya, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Peter Ongondo, Lameck Onyango, Maurice Ouma (wicket-keeper), Malhar Patel, Ravi Shah, Tony Suji and Hiren Varaiya

BANGLADESH: Habibul Bashar (captain), Shahriar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Sakib-al-Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafee-bin-Murtaza, Tapash Baishya, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Russel, Rajin Saleh and Javed Omar

BERMUDA: Irving Romaine (captain), Dean Minors (vice-captain/wicket-keeper), Delyone Borden, Lionel Cann, David Hemp, Kevin Hurdle, Malachi Jones, Stefan Kelly, Dwayne Leverock, Saleem Mukuddem, Stephen Outerbridge, Oliver Pitcher, Clay Smith, Janeiro Tucker and Kwame Tucker

CANADA: John Davison (captain), Ashish Bagai, Ian Billcliff, Geoff Barnett, Kevin Sandher, Umar Bhatti, Desmond Chumney, George Codrington, Austin Codrington, Andy Cummins, Sunil Dhaniram, Asif Mulla (wicket-keeper), Henry Osinde, Abdool Samad and Qaiser Ali

IRELAND: Trent Johnston (captain), Kyle McCallan, Andre Botha, Jeremy Bray, Kenny Carroll, Peter Gillespie, Dave Langford-Smith, John Mooney, Paul Mooney, Eoin Morgan, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien (wicket-keeper), William Porterfield, Boyd Rankin and Andrew White

NETHERLANDS: Luuk van Troost (captain), Bas Zuiderent, Adeel Raja, Peter Borren, Tim de Leede, Mark Jonkman, Alexei Kervezee, Mohammad Kashif, Darron Reekers, Edgar Schiferli, Jeroen Smits (wicket-keeper), Billy Stelling, Eric Szwarczynski, Ryan ten Doeschate and Daan van Bunge

SCOTLAND: Craig Wright (captain), John Blain, Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Paul Hoffmann, Douglas Lockhart, Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Dewald Nel, Navdeep Poonia, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith (wicket-keeper), Ryan Watson and Fraser Watts

ZIMBABWE: Prosper Utseya (captain), Gary Brent, Chamu Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Terry Duffin, Anthony Ireland, Friday Kasteni, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Edward Rainsford, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Brendan Taylor (wicket-keeper) and Sean Williams

The cricket World Cup, due to start next week and last almost two months, could hit Britain`s economic productivity by 270 million pounds (397 million euros, USD 521 mn) according to an independent study published on Saturday. "Although it will not grab the international imagination to the same extent as the soccer World Cup it remains the case that, even to those only half interested, watching cricket is one of the best ways of avoiding working known to man," said the study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). "Two of England`s matches, against New Zealand on March 16 and against Pakistan on March 30, are on Friday afternoons and will be very tempting to those who feel inclined to stay on in the pub after lunch," said CEBR chief executive Douglas McWilliams, the report`s author.

McWilliams said his independent consultancy estimates a loss of about 5.0 percent of a day`s gross domestic product for each day of the World Cup. "This would cost the economy about 270 million pounds gross, just enough to be noticed in some of the monthly economic figures.

"England will also play Kenya on Saturday March 24 and the West Indies on Saturday April 21, which could affect shopping," McWilliams said. He added that most of the lost productivity would however, likely be made up before the end of 2007.

Meanwhile, people watching on big screens in clubs and pubs could spend an additional 20 million pounds for each match and there would be some additional spending on advertising and promotions associated with the competition, the CEBR said.

WI collapse

Successful as Patel and Pathan were, the eye-catching players for the Indians still were opening bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar who applied early pressure with wickets of the home openers.

West Indian innings was notable for its collapse with six wickets crashing for nine runs in 69 balls.

The conditions were not suited to batting as dampness on the surface afforded swing to bowlers but home captain Brian Lara still went ahead and elected to bat, probably sensing that the pitch would only get slower as the day progressed.

But he probably had not bargained for the spineless home batting with he contributing the most with 22 runs. (With PTI inputs)

Vineet Sharma puts it very well:

Great warriors from different lands converge on a choicest venue once in every four years to battle for the supreme prize. Legend has it that only the toughest and the best one survives. But in a game of chances even the under dog is given due respect. Reputations are at stake. Heroes are born, while some are consigned to the history books. Welcome to the congregation of cricketing super powers. Welcome to the Cricket World Cup 2007.

What shall conspire this time? Only fate knows the last result. But before the last and the final result is out, before the victors of the cup are revealed to the cricketing fraternity at large, each team will give itself a fair chance to lift the cup in Barbados. No sporting coup or conquest can be made without hope. Before the vision, before the final blue print, hope must sprout first from the hearts of the players.

And it`s not only about hope. It`s also about nerve, strength and some fair sprinkling of luck. Ask the South Africans about luck, about Duckworth Lewis. Even some handy knowledge about mathematics helps too. Once again ask the South Africans about calculation mistakes and so on. Sure they won`t like to be called chokers again! Can the South Africans give the final punch this time?

South Africa got plain unlucky at most times during the World Cup, but it`s the England team, which has been the chief under achiever in the recent editions. After the highs of 1987 and 1992, the World Cup barometer for the England team was always low on pressure. No real intensity was shown to wrest the coveted title until this time. A soul heartening victory in the CB series leaves the Englishman as the dark horses for the tournament. Will they go the distance this time?

None predicted that the mighty would fall so hard. The Kangaroos are still smarting from their series loss in New Zealand. Lots of questions need to be answered. Brett Lee`s not playing. Andrew Symonds is injured. Can the Aussies come up with the required answers? Will the hunter be hunted this time? Will they get back their mojo?

The Kiwis are supposed to only flutter their wings. They can`t fly. Well the statement needs a fair amount of correction now. The England team was the one to knife the Aussies first but it`s the Kiwis who have done some serious damage to their ego. Chasing two back-to-back 300 plus scores and winning the game calls for something more than cricketing prowess. You need guts and loads of self-belief to hammer the Australians, even without their best team on song. The question now is whether the Kiwis can fly high enough?

The Asian folks have problems of their own. For Bangladesh it will again be one more learning lesson. The Sri Lankans look to have a settled side, but like in the previous two WC tournaments they have merely flattered to deceive. Pakistan has come to the Caribbean with a disappointing series loss to Proteas and a host of other problems. Can the cup come back to the sub-continent?

Nimbus’ World Cup revenue

While LG has already announced an investment of Rs 50 crore in marketing initiatives, other sponsors include Pepsi, Hutch, Hero Honda, Indian Oil, Visa, Cable and Wireless, Scotiabank, BMW and Diageo among others.

Media experts attribute the rise in the number of sponsors to the “many benefits” an advertiser gets by associating with cricket. These benefits may include official status, brand sector exclusivity, ground and other signage, tickets and hospitality, branding opportunities at presentation ceremonies and press conferences.

“Sponsorship has provided companies with a unique opportunity to deliver brand communication in an uncluttered environment where brand meets consumers, who are sporting fans in the highly receptive environment of a shared passion for cricket,” Yannick Colaco, senior vice president, sports marketing, Nimbus Sport, said.

According to Probal Gaanguly, who managed the last World Cup for Sony, sponsorships are always preferred over spot buys due to the sheer all-round mileage that a brand gets. And for cricket, brands simply ride on the same as its the biggest crowd puller in India and ensures mass following cutting across sectors, geography and languages, he said.
World Cup Betting
The Cricket World Cup is the most important event in World cricket. Held every four years and staged in a different country each time, matches are played in the One-day format with a maximum of 50 overs per side. Australia have won the last two World Cups, in England in 1999 and then again in South Africa in 2003. In England they beat Pakistan in convincing fashion in the Final with leg-spinner Shane Warne picking up 5 wickets and in South Africa they relied on centuries from Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn to defeat India in the final.

The Cricket World Cup offers great opportunities for cricket betting . The reasons why betting on World Cup Cricket is so popular are related to its high-profile status. All matches in the last World Cup were broadcast live on Sky Sports through its interactive service and plenty of information was available regarding the players, their form and the state of the wickets where the matches were being played.

Numerous World Cup cricket betting markets were available on Betfair at the last World Cup. The outright winner’s market unsurprisingly saw a lot of trade though Australia were clear favorites from the start and at no stage did their price drift from the pre-tournament price. Other tournament cricket bets included top runscorer for the tournament, of which Indian supremo Sachin Tendulkar was the winner and top wicket-taker, who ended up being Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka.

There were numerous cricket World Cup betting markets available on Betfair on individual matches at the Group stages, Super Six Stage, Semi-final and Final. These included in-play match odds and innings runs, as well as the usual selection of top runscorer, top wicket-taker, best opening partnership and various head-to-heads. Other betting markets included the winner of each of the groups.

England started the tournament at odds of around 12, behind Australia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand and failed to make the Super Six stage as a result of not contesting their Group Stage match against Zimbabwe due to security concerns and losing against Australia from a very strong position. This match saw a lot of cricket betting activity on Betfair as it went to the wire with Australia eventually winning thanks to a superb knock by all-rounder Andy Bichel, who surprisingly came in at number 10.

The next Cricket World Cup will be staged in the West Indies in 2007 and should create record amounts of betting interest, with Australia guaranteed to start as favourites once again. This time however, odds on England should be a lot shorter in light of the progress Michael Vaughan’s One-Day team has made in recent times.

Here are the Cricket World Cup Winners throughout history:

1975 - West Indies (held in England)
1979 - West Indies (held in England)
1983 - India (held in England)
1987 - Australia (held in India)
1992 - Pakistan (held in Australia)
1996 - Sri Lanka (held in Pakistan)
1999 - Australia (held in England)
2003 - Australia (held in South Africa)

On ad pitch, cricket is a clear front-runner

THE ECONOMIC TIMES
Samidha Sharma & Amanpreet Singh
NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI

When it comes to advertising, despite the clutter, cricket is still king. Not only is it tailor-made for advertising with routine breaks in between overs, the viewer is also exposed to ever more advertisements at the slightest opportunity, like a batsman tying his shoe laces.And notwithstanding such irritating intrusions, high stickiness prevails due to the high viewer involvement in the sport. That's not all, even brand noticeablility is much higher with only one brand occupying the slot between overs during a cricket match.

So, while the 2003 World Cup saw the launch of Reliance Infocomm, according to sources, this year will see the launch of ITC's potato wafers. According to Group M's Mindshare Insights survey, made available exclusively to ET, a cricket viewer on TV encounters 1.7 times more advertising spots than while watching a general entertainment channel during those seven and a half hours of viewing.

The survey, also puts cricket in the reckoning as a global sporting event in terms of viewership with both ICC events-World Cup and Champions Trophy-having a cumulative global audience reach of two billion and ranked fifth behind only Fifa Football World Cup, F1, Olympics and NBA.

While the football world cup is the most-watched global sporting event with an audience of 37 billion, cricket is notably ahead of other big league tournaments such as Grand Slam Tennis, PGA Golf and Uefa Champions League.

“Cricket is also the only sport which cuts across gender, age and socio-economic class (SEC),” says Mindshare Insight national director Sancheeyta Bhattacharya. According to TAM Peoplemeter, cricket has a TRP of 6.5 amongst women and 8.5 amongst men, similarly it has a TRP of 7 for ages between 15 and 24 years and 8.5 for ages between 35 and 44. It also has TRP's between 6.5 and 8.5 across all SEC's.

SET Max has already sold 95% of its airtime at an average of Rs 1.5 lakh for a 10-second spot across 51 matches with the India matches going at Rs 4 lakh for the same 10 seconder. “While we had 45 clients for the 2003 WC, we have 70 clients this time around.

Some brands may be cost per rating point (CPRP) conscious but pan India brands realise that this is the only country where eyeballs are not divided among various sports,” says SET Max EVP, ad sales Rohit Gupta.

To avoid the clutter, Sony is restricting its ad spots between 4,800 and 5,300 seconds versus 6,500 which is the norm. Simultaneously, it is also broadcasting matches in Hindi and English in both its channels to eat into DD's share of eyeballs and hence, advertising revenues.

“Most brands use cricket for their new campaigns to create awareness by riding on a high impact programme like the world cup,” says Madison media group CEO Punitha Arumugam. So while Reliance Entertainment might have pulled out as a sponsor for the world cup, according to Gupta of SET Max, Pepsi has increased their number of ad spots.

Take LG as case in point. The consumer durable major has had a seven year association with cricket as one of the global sponsors with ICC and considers the sport to have contributed hugely in building the brand.

“As a brand our requirements were very different then but now we have managed to get it close to our consumers and therefore, it doesn't make sense for us to get into another long term association,” says LG India VP, sales and marketing Girish Rao.

Mobile handset maker, Nokia, too sees value from the game. It has recently started using cricket as a property. “Cricket fits in very well with our brand considering the reach and impact it has on our target group which is youth centric. It holds great value and our association will not be one-off,” says Nokia India director, marketing Devender Kishore.

But unlike Nokia, some FMCG players such as Hindustan Unilever feel that cricket is too expensive. “Cricket is expensive, particularly around big events. While some brands can justify it, others can't,” says HUL GM, media services Rahul Welde.

The estimated advertising spend on TV in 2006 was Rs 5,750 crore with cricket snagging Rs 650 crore. Experts reckon the 2007 world cup will attract TV ads worth Rs 800 crore with ICC's 20-20 World Cup slated for September this year attracting an additional Rs 150 crore. Maximum sponsorships for cricket flow in from India, a case in point is that out of the entire ICC sponsorship amount of $550 million, $300 million came in from India.

Cricket World Cup will knock the economy for six
BUSINESS GAZETTEER

So much so that Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of leading financial analyst firm CEBR, reckons that the event could hit UK productivity by more than £200 million.

He explains that England are set to play at least nine games, assuming they beat Canada and Kenya, and could play a couple more if they reach the finals. Four of the nine games are midweek, typically starting at about 2:30pm UK time and should finish at about 10pm. Two of England's matches, against New Zealand on 16 March and against Pakistan on 30 March, are on Friday afternoons, and all this will be too tempting to those who feel inclined to stay on in the pub after lunch.

"We estimate a loss of about 5 per cent of a day's GDP for each day, and this would cost the economy about £270m gross."

FACT OF THE DAY: 90%
WEST Coast Capital, the investment vehicle of Sir Tom Hunter, said its offer for garden centre chain Blooms of Bressingham had received acceptances from more than 90 per cent of shareholders. Hunter announced an agreed £30 million takeover deal for the ten-strong Blooms on Valentine's Day, adding it to his ownership of market leader Wyevale and a minority holding in Midlothian-based rival Dobbies.

GOOD DAY
Offshore Hydrocarbon
THE Aberdeen-based oil exploration contractor saw its shares rise by almost 50 per cent after Norwegian-based EMGS dropped its litigation over alleged patent infringements of seabed logging, and agreed to pay £50,000 in legal costs.

BAD DAY
T Clarke
THE electrical engineering and contracting firm saw full-year pre-tax profit crash 23 per cent, although it still raised the final dividend by 5 per cent to 11p. Profit fell to £6.57m from £8.55m in 2005 on revenue down 4 per cent to £186m.

KILLER QUOTE
We can say to the rest of the world, Europe is taking the lead. You should join us fighting climate change."

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, as EU leaders resolved to slash greenhouse gas emissions and switch to renewable fuels.

This article: http://business.scotsman.com/media.cfm?id=381552007

Indian advertisers to bat for cricket World Cup

March 9, 2007

By Rina Chandran

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Advertisers in cricket-crazy India are gearing up for the World Cup which starts in the West Indies on Tuesday, raising hopes a Sony Corp. unit with broadcast rights in India could get more than $100 million in revenue.The cricket World Cup is considered the mother of all tournaments in India, which has