Increase in the number of league matches and total matches

The inclusion of two new teams has taken the total number of teams to 14 from 12.

It is obvious that several matches will not evoke much interest. Having so many teams and more matches is of no real benefit to advertiser vis-à-vis viewership ratings.

To ascertain the level of interest in non-India league matches, the matches can be classified into three clusters

C1 - Test playing nations versus Test playing nations (Australia versus India) C2 - Test playing nation versus non-test playing nation (Australia versus Kenya) C3 - Non-test playing nations versus non-test playing nations (Holland versus Namibia)

All the matches beyond the league stage will be C1 and the classification is relevant only for the league matches.

The day-night matches in 2003 WCC will have higher viewership potential compared to the day matches as the viewership will peak from 6:30 pm onwards. Only one India match will benefit.

Weekend viewing: The weekend viewing will generate more viewership especially as a significant portion of the match will be played during the day. But, there is almost no change vis-à-vis 1999, hence not higher viewership.

Channel penetration: Though the availability and viewership is not directly co-related (if availability is by default then viewership is by choice), still it is safe to assume that MAX will reach almost close to Star Sports proportion (to all C&S homes) as in 1999. This will mean a substantial jump in homes available to MAX. But again, DD is free and the superior quality promised by the DD-Nimbus combine may actually affect either the number of homes which will be able to receive the signals or the people who will actually be watching MAX.

Channel promotion: MAX has ventured into the tried and tested additional four hours of 'cricktainment' in addition to the live matches. The readings of the ICC Champions Trophy can be truly representative of the 2003 WCC due to the similarity of timings. Clearly, MAX's promotion of cricktainment worked marginally. The question is "Will the MAX team be able to create and sustain a hype in its forthcoming promotional blitzkrieg?"

What do you feel about advertisers putting money on cricket?
In India, viewership of cricket has nothing to do with the finer aspects of the game. Fickle-minded audiences love to watch cricket stars; not necessarily the game. The audiences are influenced by populist sentiments. If the audiences loved the game, then Ranji trophy would have been a big draw; the fact is that these Ranji matches are not popular!

Advertisers are putting huge sums of money on cricket despite the fact that India (and some select non-India) matches that can probably get huge viewership are few and far between. The popular hypothesis, supported by research is that decision makers like/enjoy cricket and hence they believe that everyone loves cricket too. The advertisers must remember that every match is not a India-Pakistan match.

Decision makers survey

What is your opinion about the claims that female viewership for cricket is increasing?
Research on male-female viewership proves that females have always been passive watchers of cricket; always moving around as compared to the males who retire into their comfortable sofas during cricket matches. Female viewers are not as intense as males because they are forced to watch cricket. A majority of women don't fall into "love to watch" but into the "forced to watch" category.

Given a choice, the females would still prefer the soaps in the afternoons and even during the live matches. After the matches, the females will definitely watch the primetime serials. There might be a fatigue factor if one or two matches are engrossing ones and there is a high sense of involvement. Mass entertainment channels such as Star have already accepted the challenge and are trying out new things. The onus is on the sales teams/producers (of the mass entertainment channels) to push/force the audience to sample the different fare that they can dish out during the post match telecasts. The 2003 WCC coverage won't eat into the prime time and will make a mere marginal impact on certain days.

Again, I must say that the 'star-struck' females fans who 'love' watching certain cricketers will exhibit a different behaviour than the above mentioned one.