Star India Loses Rs 10 Crore Revenue Due To Shortened Champions Trophy Final

Star India which was the official broadcasting partner of Champions Trophy 2017 has posted a revenue loss of Rs 10 crore due to the final match between India and Pakistan finishing early than expected.

The match scheduled to be of 100 overs was cut short due to India being bowled out in 30.3 overs, in their target chase of 339 runs. Apparently, Harsha Joshi, executive VP - group trading, Dentsu Aegis Network has told Financial Express that Star India’s revenues fell short of the target of Rs 43.5 crore.

Advertising rates had shoot up to 10 times for the final and a 30 second ad slot during the final, to be broadcast by Rupert Murdoch's Star Sports, is expected to cost nearly Rs 1 crore.

Most of the television slots for the final were pre-booked by firms such as Emirates, Nissan Motor, Intel, MRF Tyres, Chinese mobile maker Oppo that bought the lead sponsorship for the tournament.

However, talking about the viewership reports league game between India and Pakistan on 4 June, 2017 attracted 201 million viewers; becoming one of the highest rated One Day International (ODI) match in Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) history. This is a big number considering 294 million viewers turned up for the first half of the tournament.

Top 5 most viewed cricket matches

1) 2011 World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka - 558 million unique viewers

2) 2011 World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan — 495 million unique viewers

3) 2017 Champions Trophy group game between India and Pakistan — 324 million unique viewers

4) 2015 World Cup group game between India and Pakistan — 313 million unique viewers

5) 2015 World Cup group game between India and South Africa — 300 million unique viewers