On the note of India-Australia series being broadcasted on Star Cricket, he further added that the Star Cricket was to sell ad spots for the February ODI series. He said, “We have managed to sell 60-70 percent of the inventory. The ODIs should be a different ballgame.”

“Cricket as media window is increasingly going to be under critical scrutiny and advertisers demand more return on investment,” said Ajit Varghese, MD, Maxus and Motivator, the Media Agencies.

It is likely to be said that the cricketers are offending their sponsors as they are making the rating points suffer. The Companies are now turning to non-cricketer celebrities for their brand promotion and also are pulling off cricketer ads off-air. They are also about to reduce the ad rate. As quouted by ET, a mobile handset brand, which remained anonymous alleged said, “We were planning to rope in one of the top Indian cricketers for our forthcoming campaign, but have now decided against having cricketers. Going by the present performance, it’s not worth a gamble now.”

In this context experts have predicted that the ad rates in 2012 will fall at least 20 percent after this disappointment from the ‘men in blue’. But Punita Arumugam, media group CEO of Madison said, “There’s absolutely no doubt that advertising rates will fall in the forthcoming series… (Though) Several advertisers are in talks to reduce inventory or pull out from cricket.”

Anirban Das, MD of Kwan, a management agency said, “The time has come for people to realize that the business attached to cricket has been inflated manifold without providing the returns. Cricket is too volatile, in terms of brand ambassadors, sponsorships and broadcasting rights and they need to be questioned… the price points at which the sports is being sold.”