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Third take (Mumbai)
(8 January 2003)

Inside Dope spoke to some advertisers and media planners in Mumbai. Here are some juicy titbits:

* A TV programming executive informed the indiantelevision.com team that Nimbus has bagged the mandate of pre-match programming for SET MAX. However, the MAX team will be involved in all aspects of Extraaa Innings.

* Although both DD-Nimbus and MAX appear confidence personfied, the stubborn attitude of unrelenting media planners, buyers and advertisers has made a dent in the initial enthusiasm of the two cricket air time marketers' teams.

* Senior media planners have put forth the view that DD-Nimbus might end up getting Rs 1.4 - 1.6 billion and SET MAX might end up bagging anything between Rs 1.8 - 2.0 billion.

* Several media planners and buyers were lamenting the fact that SET MAX was not throwing a major bash a la Nimbus. Many of them would also settle down for miniature bats carrying the autographs of all the cricket stars - mementoes that adorn the MAX corporate office in plenty.

* A certain media planning head however claims that the loss of viewership for mass entertainment channels will be marginal. This media head also believes that the advertisers who put huge amounts of money on cricket were letting their hearts rule over their heads. The upstart also adds that these advertisers were ruled by populist, not rationalist sentiments.

* Another statistics-savvy planner supports the theory by saying that non-live programming has managed to get as many viewers as the niche English entertainment channels or music channels get.

* Zee's cross-marketing strategy with Playwin Infravest to conjure up a major promotional burst involving Rs 1.21 billion is clearly seen its counter-attack against the World Cup cricket.

* A savvy media planner pointed out that two of Zee's contests are slated for Sunday coinciding with India/Big Gun matches which are also going to take place on the weekend. The slotting of the weekday show is also interestingly slotted at 9:00pm to 9:30pm - the time when the day cricket matches will end. The planner estimates that Zee is trying to get prime time viewers hooked on immediately after the match.

* However, a financial analyst tracking media was not too optimistic about Zee's ploy. He stated that several entertainment channels had already witnessed a decline in ad bookings in December. A TV executive however claims that all mass entertainment channels witness a general decline immediately after the festival boom time. The ploy announced in the first week of January was aimed at arresting the drought.

* Another media planner claimed that Zee's counter-attack was interesting as the greed factor pitted against cricket could have the makings of a great battle. Viewers would prefer to try to make some hard cash rather than vie for the prizes that MAX will offer.

* Unfazed by all other reactions, Star is merrily using the first quarter to introduce new programmes and conduct sampling tests. A financial analyst reasons that the strategy of commissioning mega-budget and small-budget programmes is an ideal one. He believes that there will be a shake-out post the World Cup and viewer preferences will change.

* Meanwhile, another media buyer reasons that patriotism could be used to battle the onslaught of cricket. After all, Zee's Gadar held its own against Sony's Lagaan. However all the other channels have pitted patriotism through the programming themes revolving around partition, Kargil war etc

* Meanwhile, other advertisers, who were creating major promotional contests around the World Cup theme have been been cautioned by an ICC notice. They have been treading cautiously and this is illustrated by a certain promo which has the prizes in the form of tickets to Egypt and not South Africa ...interestingly the ad creatives shows a cricket ball!!!

* A certain FMCG company started its contest long back and managed to get a good response before the ICC woke up and shot off the legal notices.

* The next quarter will also witness heavy action in terms of merchandising wares and the consumer markets might get flooded with World Cup cricket goods.

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