Among other things, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has brought in some interesting innovations. If the introduction of strategy breaks were one of the key initiatives in Season 2, Season 3 has online live streaming on YouTube, and mobile rights for SMS, MMS, 3G, besides IVR-related services to vRock Mobile for a period of five years.

Another innovation is that of the 5-10 second ad breaks that appear on screen during IPL matches. Blackberry and Karbonn Mobiles are just a few of the audio-visual ads played during the matches. This apart, the onground/ in stadia screens too run 5-10 second ads, for instance, the Micromax Mobile ad. Moreover, for every catch or every wicket taken, there is an onscreen banner displayed.

However, the concern here is whether these ads have high recall value or are they just adding to the clutter onscreen. The 10-second commercials are estimated to cost between Rs 4.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh per 10 seconds.

exchange4media finds out from industry experts on whether these ad breaks are serving any purpose and whether they have high recall value.

According to Shailesh Kapoor, Director, Ormax Media, “What tends to work better on screen is the audio-video. Those brands that have no audio and only visuals tend to get low recall, but audio-video gets high recall, since most people get busy watching cricket. I find the 5-second ad break interesting, its single ad placement tends to get registered much more, but I think these 5-10 second ads act only as a support medium, as the main message of the brands can only be delivered during the 30-second commercials.”

“The real difference in IPL commercials this year, as compared to the previous years, could be that increasingly commentators are mentioning brand names. This may affect the brand negatively, if it happens too much,” he noted.

Kunal Jamuar, GM, Madison Media, observed, “Most of the onscreen commercials are more over spreading awareness about the brand, and most of them are emerging brands. I would guess that such commercials will have only marginal recall among viewers. However, onscreen elements may ad negative impact on brands if there is too much of integration, which I think has increased this year.”

Narendra Kumar Alambara, General Manager and Office Head, Starcom Worldwide, Chennai, remarked, “The duration of the communication has nothing to do with recall value, but it is innovation of the communication which will help in recall value. I believe 5-10 second ads, if produced effectively, can have high recall with consumers. These commercials aired during the play will work well if used effectively on a very high frequency by brands.”

What matters is the innovation or the effectiveness of these ads, but what could be a concern is the possible of negative impact of these onscreen commercials if there happens to be too much of integration.