It's taking the battle for the advertising bucks around the World Cup in February 2003 to media planners and advertisers. State-owned pubcaster Doordarshan along with its air time sales and broadcast sponsorship partner Nimbus Communications, today announced, at a glitzy party where media planners, advertisers and journos were wined and dined, that it would be telecasting live 16 of the Big Gun matches on its network.

A press release issued by Nimbus reveals that DD will be telecasting live all the India matches and matches up to the Super Sixes (a maximum of nine altogether), four other big matches (the opener on 9 February South Africa vs the Windies, Pakistan vs England - 22 February- and two super sixes weekend matches) and the two semifinals and the final.

Says the dashing Nimbus promoter Harish Thawani: "Every match which matters from a ratings viewpoint and weekend big matches will air on DD National."

He hastens to add that DD will also be airing a one hour daily highlights package throughout the 43 day tournament, apart from the Opening Ceremony and the Concert of the Official Music Album of the Cricket World Cup 2003.

DD officials pointed out that the TRPs of the 16 Big Gun matches are likely to range between 11 and 15 with daily highlights attaining a 3-4 TRP.

"The total GRPs for the telecasts as a whole on DD would potentially be around 320 with a cumulative gross reach on DD exceeding 2.5 billion," says Nimbus senior vice-president television and sport Sunil Manocha.

He adds that for the first time ever the Cricket World Cup's broadcast on Doordarshan will be supported by a multimedia promotional campaign including Print, FM radio, outdoor, the Internet, mobile telephony, on-air promos, consumer contests etc.

DD officials are quick to point out that with a reach span of 80 million TV homes, Doordarshan came out a clear winner in the recently concluded ICC Championship Trophy 2002. In fact, DD director general S.Y. Quraishi, has repeatedly stated in the past that DD reaches larger audiences than private channels do.

And Thawani flashes data to support his statement:

* For the five matches simulcast on DD and the rival satellite channel. pubcaster delivered 31 per cent higher ratings than the satellite channel in TG All 4+.

* It broke the satellite channel 'SEC ABC MYTH' and matched the satellite channel's SEC ABC 4+ viewership.

*DD delivered a 165 per cent higher rating on the non India semi final., a 100 per cent higher rating amongst children (TG 4-14 years), 55% higher ratings amongst females.

* At 99 million, DD delivered a 52 per cent higher average per match gross reach and at 174 million ( extrapolated to IRS based ) unduplicated cumulative audience it outperformed the rival satellite channel by 74 per cent.

* Over 20 major advertisers including Hindustan Lever , Cadburys , LG , Colgate , Godrej soaps , Kodak , Samsung , P&G , Boost , Sansui , Nirma , Balsara , Marico , Pidilite etc advertised exclusively on Doordarshan during the ICC champions Trophy 2002.

The Nimbus press release states that only 10 broadcast sponsorship packages covering almost 70 per cent of the air time during the DD World Cup telecasts are on offer. However, there is a limit of 500 seconds per match for each advertiser, with the exception of sponsor partners.

Manocha adds that the company has introduced Flexi-buys, wherein advertisers are not locked into a package but can pick and choose matches, positions and volumes. "We expect to garner 60 per cent of the ad spend on air time during the World," says a jubilant Manocha.

The company adds that DD is taking precautions to ensure that the telecasts in the viewers homes will be of top class digital quality (DD National is also a must carry channel, hence cable operators will be forced to carry it).

Additionally, the commentary team which includes Ravi Shastri, Barry Richards, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ian Botham, Martin Crowe, Rameez Raja, Ian Healy, Michael Holding, David Gower, Ian Bishop and Bob Willis will ensure that viewers stay hooked.

"Doordarshan is all set to emerge the clear winner on ratings and revenues in this Cricket World Cup," says Manocha.

Are the professionals from Sony Entertainment's Max tuned in?