Indiantelevision.com Team

(16 May 2007 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: With many ads appearing on around 307 channels, it is important to find non standard ways of advertising. This is what cricket has done.

There are many platforms where one can advertise using the game apart from the traditional TVC.

Tam's S-Group did a benchmark study for last years Champions Trophy to find out which of the ways worked the best in terms of impact. This was done using both the diary and day after recall methods. Respondents were questioned only once to ensure that there was no bias.

They basically needed to watch cricket regularly. The result was that the top five brands got 72 per cent exposure. The top eight brands like LG, Pepsi, Hero Honda, Hutch got 82 per cent visibility.

However pop ups fared the worst when it came to proven recall.

Scrollers, sight screens and wearing kits are five times more effective as pop ups get lost easily. Ground painting and perimeter boards scored even higher. However the former came out on top. The best way to get ROI is to be the only brand involved with an innovation on-ground. For instance LG was involved with the Third Umpire decision.

It also helps to be involved with the game for a long amount of time. Reebok had the most amount of bat stickers for the event. However MRF and Brittania had a better recall as they have been associated with the game for a longer period of time. The on - ground platforms got 76 per cent of proven recall for the top eight brands followed by on-screen innovations and team specific company logos.

Tam also shared the findings of its Elite Panel which was constituted to find out the television viewing habits of the upper crust. So far it has been set up for Mumbai and Delhi. The Elite spend an hour and a half less time watching TV each week than the SEC A in the national panel. That is because there are other entertainment options available like DVDs.

Hindi GEC does not lose share. One reason is that there are a lot of dual TV homes among the Elite. Another reason is that reality shows on Hindi GEC channels are watched by the youth. Hindi movies and regional GEC though are not so lucky. Their share falls among the Elite.

English entertainment grows by 270 per cent while English news grows by 200 per cent in terms of viewership. In fact there are seven English channels in the top 39 channels which account for 80 per cent of the viewership among the Elite. In the national panel there are 32 channels that accouint for 80 per cent of the viewership out of which just two are English.

Cricket viewership for the World Cup came down among the Elite compared to the national panel SEC A. However cricket is still the number one sport among the Elite. However other sports benefit if their event profile is high. For instance the Australian Open Tennis final got a rating of 1 compared to 0.04 in the national panel. Schumacher's last F1 Race got a 3 rating in the Elite Panel compared to a rating of 1 for the national panel. The ratings for the English Premier League (EPL) also rise in the Elite Panel.