Nimbus & Co to bid for BCCI ground rights

Nimbus Communications has formed a consortium of three to four advertisers to bid for BCCI’s ground sponsorship rights, the tenders for which close on Monday (August 27). Sources say Nimbus has matched BCCI’s asking rates of Rs 3 crore per sponsor, per match. The rights are for cricket to be played in India between September ‘07 and March 2010, comprising about 50 matches in all, inclusive of one day internationals, tests and Twenty20 matches.

Interestingly, Nimbus’ all-cricket channel, Neo Sports, already has confectionery player Perfetti Van Melle and two-wheeler major Hero Honda as anchor sponsors till 2010, both of which have committed advertising worth Rs 300 crore to the broadcaster.

If Nimbus wins the bid, it would help its advertisers leverage better value during match telecasts. Nimbus officials declined to comment on the move. “It is a confidential bid so we cannot comment,” a Nimbus official said.

The bids, which include sponsorship for ground rights and naming of the series, have been open since August 13 and the board is expected to announce its sponsors early next week. Unlike three months back when BCCI’s tender inviting sponsorship bids for the South Africa and Pakistan one-day series in Ireland and Scotland had no takers, this time the response from advertisers has been encouraging even though the board has hiked its sponsorship rates from Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore per match, say sources.

“Investing in cricket is back on the advertiser’s radar. Advertisers are willing to invest in the sport,” a media agency source said. The Future Group had bailed out BCCI for the Ireland and Scotland series by buying out exclusive in-stadia rights for $2.2 million, about 10% lower than BCCI’s then asking rate.

Nimbus has been following a strategy of signing bulk deals with advertisers to hedge risks against fickle advertiser sentiment. It offers anchor sponsors access to about 25% of the channel’s total inventory, besides access to properties such as man of the match, winning moments of the day, maximum boundaries, and so on. Earlier this year, Nimbus was keen on getting at least two more anchor sponsors on board and had been in talks with telecom and retail banking industry players, including Hutch and Barclays.

Related Post
RCom, others in race for BCCI sponsorship
Orkut fakes turn to Sachins and Souravs
Cricket can learn ‘packaging’ from Chak De!
Idea in race for ICC sponsorship