It is common knowledge that Indians have only two passions—cricket and

WINNER TAKES IT ALL: The T20 version of cricket has the players, audiences and advertisers smiling

Bollywood. An estimated 92% of Indians have a cricket star as their favourite celebrity. Little wonder, therefore, that over Rs 550 crore stands currently invested in the game of cricket in India on television alone. Add to this the endorsements, team sponsorships and ground rights, and it makes up a multi-billion dollar industry.

However, cricket is also one of the most expensive marketing mediums. The stakes, no doubt, are high. Every year, the Indian cricket team plays the game for an average 120-140 days. Such a heavy schedule results in much speculation—is fatigue setting into the game of cricket; will rising interest in sports such as football and Formula One racing kill interest in cricket; and in today’s fast-paced life, can cricket (Test and One Day Internationals) keep diehard sports enthusiasts hooked on through the entire duration of the game?

Till September 2007, when the Twenty20 World Cup tournament kicked off for the first time, this version of the game had hardly made any telling impact in India, though its popularity in other countries had been on the rise. The response to the advent of the Twenty20 World Cup was mixed. While some felt it would fuel further interest in the game, purists felt it would dilute the game. However, as the Twenty20 series progressed, a rising number of advertisers jumped onto the bandwagon.

The study was conducted across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata with a sample size of 2,100 respondents. This universe was split into ‘active cricket followers’ and ‘other sports followers’ in order to capture the perceptions and preferences of the followers of cricket as well as of other sports. The target respondents were all individuals in the 15-44 years category who had viewed the Twenty20 World Cup. The study threw up some interesting insights.

India is definitely a cricket loving nation. But are other sports beginning to make inroads? The study finds that though every sports lover in India is still wedded to cricket, they have begun dating other sports too. Even among the ‘other sports followers,’ the highest following is for cricket. However, football has clearly gained critical mass. The following for hockey and tennis is also worth taking note of. But cricket gains most in the translation of interest to actual viewing of the game. In the case of other sports, there are a few who are following the game without watching the matches.

Cricket is also the most preferred sport, but there are some breakaways who are beginning to rank one of the other sports as their favourites.

So where does Twenty20 feature among cricket lovers? Twenty20 is the dream debutante. From the word go, it has dethroned earlier cricketing formats in the country. And it has managed to create the best makeover that the game could have wished for, pushing away the threat that games such as football had begun to pose. However, the fact that fatigue had started setting in the pre-Twenty20 times is quite evident from the study.

Twenty20 has scored a higher entertainment quotient over all other sports, even among casual cricket followers. Within cricket, the Twenty20 format scored over ODI and Test cricket formats across attributes. The respondents perceive Twenty20 to be more exciting, entertaining, fast paced and glamorous than other existing versions. They are inclined to watch the match from the beginning to the end. Even as the possibility of upsets interests respondents, they feel the Twenty20 version, with its unique set of rules, is the future of cricket. In fact, contrary to general perception, respondents feel Twenty20 to be a more serious form of cricket compared to its traditional counterparts.

There is high involvement with 88% people wanting to watch matches in stadiums

CHEER LEADER: The level of interest evoked in the game is a cause for cheer

and even non-India matches evincing interest among 90% of the respondents. There is a clear endorsement of the need for more Twenty20 matches featuring India, both at the international and domestic levels.

Naturally, the big shots from batsmen, the shorter duration of the matches, the fast-paced nature of the game and the nail-biting finishes add up to making the version of the game a success. The game emerges a winner purely on the basis of its inherent format, and not just for the curiosity of seeing a new version of cricket. In fact, the winning factors are in line with virtues normally associated with a sport such as football.

However, the format is perceived to be difficult to follow compared to Test cricket and ODI cricket—around 40% of the respondents are not aware of all the rules. This is expected, since India had hardly played any Twenty20 games before the World Cup. In due course, of course, the format will be more easily understood by audiences as it becomes a more regular feature in the cricket calendar.

For advertisers, though, lower receptiveness to advertising, even though the propensity to watch the ads is the highest, is hardly comforting.

Nokia, Reliance and Pepsi are the biggest gainers from the Twenty20 World Cup, garnering high recall across all aspects of the game. Hero Honda and Havells are the other noteworthy gainers. Nokia Sixers followed by Reliance Fantastic Fours are the most effective sponsorships of the special segments. This is another indicator of the attraction of the big players, which has been the key attraction of the Twenty20 World Cup. Pepsi My Style has better top of mind (TOM) recall than Reliance Fantastic Fours. Sponsorship of other special segments, however, faltered on the salience front.

The study also indicated that 51% of sports followers claim to have noticed the brands advertised on apparel and equipment. There is significant recall of on-ground presence, too.

Finally, within all sports, advertising—across product categories—is most watched in the Twenty20 version of the game. Respondents feel that while the Twenty20 version is considered apt for advertising of beverage brands, the ODI cricket format is the best fit for mobile-phone makers and mobile-service providers, and Test cricket is most popular among financial services and mobile-phone companies. They also perceive football to be better suited for sports brands and financial services.

Clearly, Twenty20 cricket has arrived in India with a big bang. And the fact that India won a World Cup after 24 years has definitely worked in favour of popularising the shortest version of the game. But the game has also stood its ground on the inherent merit of its format. The winning combination of features from ODI and football has made it a potent formula that has, once again, widened the existing gap between cricket and other sports.

Interestingly, a huge 50% of the respondents claim to be aware of the forthcoming Twenty20 cricket leagues —the Indian Cricket League (ICL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL). Of these, 56% indicated eagerness to watch the ICL and IPL matches on television in the future.

Clearly, there’s a lot of action in the offing that marketers need to lookout for in the game of cricket.