'World Cup will take the prime time by storm'
SET India CEO, Kunal Dasgupta, talks about the impact of the World Cup on primetime shows.
It's for the first time that the entire World Cup will be telecast in prime time. What kind of new records in viewership will it set this time?
It's going to take the prime time by storm. Satellite television's reach has gone up from 32 million homes in 2003 to 65 million today. In 2003 the black and white and colour TV ratio was 50:50. Today 85 per cent of TV sets are colour. Also five per cent of homes have two TV sets. The viewership during prime time is three times the viewerhsip during the day. What it all means is that the World Cup will have a huge impact and set new records in viewership. The action will kickstart from March 23 with the India-Sri Lanka match.
I don't expect it to dip post-midnight because the last two hours of a match are always very interesting and produce a result. I expect viewers to stay awake and most offices will have latecomers. Are you going to share the feed with DD? Will it be live or deferred feed?
We will share 19 matches in all with DD which include all India matches besides the semi-finals and final. DD will get live feed. The 2003 World Cup was telecast on MAX as well as your main channel Sony. But this time instead of Sony why have you decided to telecast the matches on SAB?
We don't want to disturb Sony's prime time content. The World Cup is an event which comes and goes. Sony has suffered in the last one year and has slipped from the no. 2 to the no. 3 slot. It makes sense to leave Sony's prime time untouched when we have an ancillary channel in our bouquet to telecast the matches with Hindi commentary. SAB will get a huge boost in terms of distribution and viewership. Post-World Cup we are planning to re-launch SAB with new programming. How is your new Extraaa Innings studio going to look like?
West Indies is a fun place and our studio will match the ambience of the Caribbean island's fun atmosphere. Extraaa Innings is going to be an exciting affair. New terminology will emerge this time.
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To the purists it is bit long but not for the lay viewers. There are lots of contests and the show gives a whole lot of information, cricket trivia and interesting statistics on the game. The last half hour is the most interesting part of the show. What's the response from advertisers? Have you sold your inventory?
The response is very good. Advertisers are quite bullish on the World Cup. We have already sold our entire inventory and have nothing more to offer. You acquired the ICC properties (two World Cups and three Champions Trophies) at about $ 200 million in 2002. How good have been the returns?
We are quite satisfied with what we have got. Cricket doesn't contribute much to your top or bottom line growth because it is very expensive. Nobody makes good money from cricket. And everybody thought cricket is the biggest revenue earner. If it is not then why are sports channels paying astronomical sums for acquiring cricket properties?
No, cricket is not a money-spinner and nobody will admit that it is. It is suicidal to pay the kind of money people are paying for cricket. But then the game has to go on because of the competition. Cricket is a lost leader in your portfolio. But you have to have it in your portfolio because cricket is a good entry point to drive your other businesses.
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