‘The scale of reach & time spent on TV during WC is something digital cannot deliver’

The upcoming Men’s Cricket World Cup is building up as one of the biggest megaevents of the decade for fans and advertisers. With cricket viewership on TV at an all-time high, the World Cup is expected to deliver a scale never seen before on television, making the event an unmissable opportunity for advertisers.

In a panel discussion at the Pitch CMO Summit Bangalore featuring Krishnarao Buddha - Senior Category Head - Marketing, Parle; Poulomi Roy - Chief Marketing Officer, RSH Global; Pawandip Singh - Vice President - Marketing, Rapido ; MK Machaiah - Chief Client Officer & Office Head – South India, Wavemaker chime in with their views on why is the ‘Festive World Cup on Television’ an unmissable opportunity for advertisers. The panel was chaired by Aditi Mishra – CEO, Lodestar UM.

Krishnarao Buddha started the discussion as he spoke about the benefits of associating with the World Cup on TV stating, “The World Cup happening during the festive season is a bonanza and we are extremely keen on leveraging the TV association. “Associating with the World Cup will help a lot of brands achieve a huge delta not just in terms of top funnel metrics like image and equity but even sales. We at Parle are extremely keen on association with this sporting event. The World Cup coinciding with the festive season is going to help a lot of brands achieve a huge delta, not just in terms of sales but also across other brand parameters like image and equity,” he added.

Pawandip Singh mentioned that World Cup itself is like a festival in India. “I think one festival coinciding with another festival is a big plus point. The market that we at Rapido cater to is strongly affined to cricket. Every parameter whether it be awareness, consideration or search goes up after advertising on TV by almost 2X, which is phenomenal. When we leveraged cricket on TV, we witnessed a massive increase in our app downloads to the tune of 35-50% during that period. The best part is that the people that latch on to your brand during an event like a World Cup will be with you for a lifetime. Our lifetime consumer track studies show us that people that have joined us during World Cup and IPL have stayed with us. It is the absolutely best time to be on TV.

Mishra further pointed out that cricket is more than just a sport, it is a celebration. “When you watch cricket on television, it is not just about a fan. It is a collective celebration,” she said.

Machaiah mentioned that the World Cup is a unique event for India. “The World Cup brings in a jingoism that an IPL does not. Let’s look at some hard facts on the scale TV can give us. At 2+ it can give you a reach of around 830 million, at 14+ around 650 million. This World Cup I believe at least 80-90% of these viewers will be reached. With this kind of scale, which is double of what digital can give you, the opportunity to reach a maximum number of audiences is very high. Another thing that TV commands is time spent by viewers. The maximum time spent by cricket viewers is on TV. The mobile screen cannot give you time spent like the large screen. There are many digital first brands that have leveraged these associations to grow their business at an early stage. Even for FMCG, which spends almost 35% of its annual budget during the festive period, World Cup on TV will be a massive opportunity. Auto, e-commerce and gaming will be other categories that will be present on TV as well.”

Roy highlighted the role that emotions play in this case. “From a brand perspective, for us awareness plays a key role even today. We do want to reach out to more people about the fact that we are a homegrown Indian skincare brand. In that scenario, imagine associating with a property like the World Cup on TV, the awareness quotient grows significantly within even a couple of days, reason being it is agnostic to the core TG we are talking to. TV will give brands a massive reach this time and will aid brands in meeting various brand and business objectives,” she mentioned.