The recent Cricket final at Lord was indeed historic, not just for a few young turks who powered the Indian win, but also for the broadcaster ESPN-SS and its advertisers. The average 8-hour TVRs for the Final, amongst male watcher, delivered a whopping 13.0%. This is significantly higher than the benchmarks of average 6-7% TVRs for ODI, involving the Indian team. Several advertisers like TVS Victor (the highest- 400 seconds in final), Pepsi and Maruti (it had higher exposure on final than other tournament matches) have gained.

But cricket, even big time India cricket, continues to be a male sports with women watching about half as much as males. To widen the popularity of Cricket, perhaps broadcasters need to pay much attention. Also, the ratings for an important southern market like Chennai are abysmally low.

Find out all the trends for a comprehensive analysis of NatWest series.

FULL ANALYSIS
Lets start by looking the broad picture.

Chart 1 below presents center-wise TVRs amongst males for all matches. Predictably, the matches featuring the home side drew maximum audience interest. The average 9 center ratings were in the range of 6-8%. However, center-wise trends are telling. While the Calcuttans went crazy about the performance of Indian team, the final registered a whopping 21% average TVRs, folks in Chennai found their dose of regional programming more interesting. The final registered only 4% TVRs.

The viewership in other centers was however much better. Banglore and Hyderabad had 14% and 11% TVRs.
Chart 1: TVRs Overview

TG: Male 15- 44 Yrs., SEC- ABC, C&S
Source: TAM

Low women viewership
However, the viewership recorded amongst women TG is much lower, often bordering at 55-60% of male viewership. In primetime, perhaps due to the compulsion of a single TV ownership, the women viewership shores up a little. Broadcasters will have to address this skew and attract more female viewership.

Chart 2: Women audiences have less affinity to cricket

TG:M/F 15- 44 Yrs. , SEC- ABC, C&S
Market:- 9 Cities
Source: TAM

Big Gainers
While TVS Victor, Aristocrat and Pepsi were consistently advertising on the tournament, few brands like Whytehall 5 and Maruti managed to sneak in higher exposures in final, compared with other matches. Interestingly, during the finals the largest 'advertiser' was ESPN-SS itself! The programme promos consumed a high 630 seconds during the finals.

Chart 3: Top Brands on NatWest Final

Brand	Dur (sec)
TVS VICTOR	400
ARISTOCRAT BLACK APPLE J	320
PEPSI	275
LG TV	240
SAHARA INDIA	210
WHYTEHALL 5	210
MARUTI SUZUKI	200
COCA COLA	180
CASTROL	145
ABN AMRO FREEDOM CREDIT	140

So with Young Turks blazing all guns and rekindling hopes for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy and later the World Cup, media analysts are busy changing the probability factor and calculating the new CPRP benchmarks!