Since India won the World Cup in the summer of 2011, the team has basically collapsed, have enjoyed no further success, and it seems that nothing has gone right. After the World Cup the team lost their number one world ranking to England in a whitewash which saw the team defeated 4-0.
The team are also suffering in Australia and they have already been beaten in three test games out of four, but media planners in India remain confident that the sport is still well loved no matter how well the team do. If the team are less successful then it is less likely people will watch them play and this has given those advertisers interested in advertising during cricket games in India more bargaining power.
The director of corporate development at ESPN in India is Rathindra Basu who has commented that fan interest will return to the Indian team as soon as they have success again, something he is sure will happen. He said, “There is a lot of negativity about cricket, and particularly Indian cricket right now, but after one big win by the side all of the fans are going to be turned back on to the sport.”
Cricket is an enormous advertising industry in India and it is estimated that around 25 percent of all of the advertising revenue in the industry comes from adverts that are seen during cricket games. The President of Multi Screen Media is Rohit Gupta who stated, “Cricket is a sport that brings together the Indian people like no other. It is something that is enjoyed by all levels of society and all ages and genders.”
Many companies are interested in key cricketers becoming ambassadors for their brands, cricketers like Sachin and Dhoni are seen as icons in the country and even if they are not winning their brand value is still enormous.
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