MUMBAI: As players continue to set their goals in South Africa, India is keeping its soccer interests alive. The championship has seen a surge in reach over the previous 2006 edition but the ratings have dipped..
The Fifa World Cup 2010 is 26-match old and has already reached out to 42.1 million viewers in the country, taking an absolute 50 per cent jump in the eyeballs it had snatched during its 2006 version.
The average TVR for the championship till now (11 June – 19 June), however, has been almost 30 per cent down over the previous season length, indicating an obvious dip in the interest levels as scorelines remained unflattering with most teams choosing the defensive strategy instead of the attacking one. The average TVR for the matches this year is 0.75 while that of the first 26 games of the 2006 tourney was 1.75 TVR.
It was the fight between Argentina and Nigeria that fetched the maximum average TVR with 1.64 ratings, but nevertheless failed to score higher than the 2006 Germany vs Costa Rica match that had averaged 2.29 TVR. (TAM C&S 4+, All India).
As reported earlier, the opening game between South Africa and Mexico got a cumulative reach of 10.8 million this time. In 2006, the inaugural match between Germany and Costa Rica had fetched a cumulative reach of 9 million.
Meanwhile, come what may, devotion for the game remains undeterred in the soccer-loving states of Assam, West Bengal and Kerala. While the average TVR for the game is the highest in Assam with 3.9 TVR, Bengal and Kerala have averaged 3.4 TVR and 3.3 TVR respectively.
The top advertising categories for the soccer cup championship this season are cellular phones, cellular phone service, two wheelers, DTH service providers, non aerated soft drinks, aerated soft drinks, automobiles, lubricants, spices and televisions.
Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel, Nokia Corporation, Hero Honda Motors, Samsung India Electronics, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Spice Mobiles, Micromax Informatics, Parle Agro and Coca-Cola are the top 10 advertisers.
The 10 brands advertising during the tourney are Vodafone Cellular Phone Service, Nokia E72, Hero Honda Karizma ZMR, Airtel Cellular Phone Service, Airtel Digital TV, Spice Video Phones, Coca Cola, Micromax Bling Q55, Samsung Corby Colours and Samsung Corby TV.
