IPL is back with a bang! and with a new innovation(read : irritation) may I add.
Indian cricket fans are quite used to watching cricket on television knowing who the bowler is only in the second ball of the over, as the ads in between overs run till the first ball is released by the bowler. And then the commercials will be back on before the batsman completes the run in the last ball of the over.
With IPL3, Sony Set Max which telecasts the DLF IPL T20 matches, have gone a step further They’ve started to show advertisements every now and then in the middle of the over as well. Ad tickers or even the L shaped display ads covering more than half the TV screen are OK, but giving a break in between and stopping the commentary just to show Akshay Kumar going amok on the screen resembling Rahul Mahajan is a bit too much to bear.
While this may not be pleasing to the eyes of the viewers, the Indian cricket board is clearly loving it. According to media planners, the third umpire screen is valued at Rs 6-7 lakh per 10 second slots, which is 50% higher than the television ad slots. The blimp is also big money. In fact, costing anywhere between Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 crore, it is estimated to be one of the most expensive on ground ad spaces. MRF, the tyre maker, has its blimps on display during matches in all the six IPL venues.
In the middle of an absorbing over, fans won’t mind watching captains changing field positions more than once yet, after almost every ball is bowled, the camera diligently pans to a giant screen on the ground that plays advertisements.
The strategic time-out is another case in question.It had come in for a lot of criticism in the second edition of the tournament, when fans across the world thought that its only objective was to earn money out of it and nothing else. There were many players who had then questioned the utility of the break including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, as many thought that it had affected their momentum.
Sony Max should look to utilize the ad slots in between overs and during the strategic time outs in IPL T20 more effectively than trying to push in ads in between balls. Give us 6 balls without a break, please.
