T20 WC: With India in semis, Disney Star seeks higher ad rates for remaining inventory

Encouraged by the strong performance put up by the Indian cricket team, broadcaster Disney Star India has hiked the spot buy rates for the knockout stage of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup even as advertising demand remains weak due to macroeconomic challenges, e4m has learnt from multiple media buyers.

Sources in media buying agencies also stated that the broadcaster has some bit of inventory left even as it had sold a large chunk of the free commercial time (FCT) before the tournament kicked off.

While India will take on England in the second semi-final, Pakistan will lock horns with New Zealand in the first semi-final game. The possibility of an India vs Pakistan final has also raised the hopes of the broadcaster to monetise the leftover inventory at a premium.

According to a top official with a leading media agency, the broadcaster is seeking a premium of 30-35% over the base ad rate of Rs 7-8 lakh for a 10-second spot. "Disney Star India has some ad inventory left. They are selling the ad spots at a 30-35% premium," the official said.

Another media buyer stated that the advertising demand remains tepid due to macroeconomic challenges. "Disney Star is seeking ad rates in the range of Rs 21 lakh per 10-second spot. If India and Pakistan play in the final, then the inventory will sell because the rating will be high. Ad inventory is available since the Disney Star ad sales team is actively following up with clients in the market," the media buyer added.

Elaborating further on the reasons for the weak demand in the market, a senior media planner with a leading agency said there are very limited advertisers in the market post the Diwali festive period. He further stated that a lot of advertisers retain some part of their annual ad budget for Q4. "The broadcaster is quoting a price of Rs 15-16 lakh per 10-second spot which is a premium of almost 100% on the base rate," the media planner noted.

Disney Star had roped in Dream11, Pernod Ricard, Polycab, Coca-Cola, and Emirates (HD feed only) as broadcast sponsors among others. On the digital side, Disney+ Hotstar had signed up Dream11 as a co-presenting streaming sponsor with Booking.com, AMFI, Louis Philippe, and Van Heusen as associate streaming sponsors.

As reported earlier, the broadcaster was seeking Rs 55-60 crore from advertisers for co-presenting sponsorship and Rs 23-24 crore for associate sponsorship. The spot buy rate was Rs 10-12 lakh per 10-second spot.

On digital, Disney+ Hotstar was asking for Rs 30-35 crore from co-presenting sponsors and Rs 18-20 crore from associate sponsors. For features like Super 4s, Super 6s, Fall of Wickets, and Milestones, the platform was seeking outlays of Rs 5 to Rs 8 crore.

A source close to the development said Disney Star had set an internal ad revenue target of Rs 1000-1200 crore from both TV and digital. "If all goes well, Disney Star will end up with ad revenue of Rs 1000 crore from the tournament," the source added. 

The media planner quoted above said that the ad revenue split for Disney Star will be in the 65:35 range with broadcasting bringing in the largest chunk of the revenue. "OTT's contribution to the overall ad revenue is growing since digital advertising is sold on the basis of impressions which depends on the number of concurrent users on the platform. Whereas, the ad inventory on TV is static at 2700 to 3000 seconds," he noted.