Even as India celebrates the Champions Trophy win over England, advertisers "are not lining up to pay a premium for the next cricketing outing for the Indian team," according to Urvi Malvania of the Indian BUSINESS STANDARD. The upcoming India-Sri Lanka-West Indies tri-series "seems to have bleak prospects as far as ad revenues go." The seven-match series that kicks off on June 28 "will be held in the Caribbean." In India, the series "will be telecast on Ten Sports" at 8pm. The channel "has got Micromax as the co-presenter, Xolo smartphones as an associate sponsor and Kent RO as the title sponsor for the studio show." Ten Sports is charging Rs 2.5-2.6 lakh ($419-$435) for a 10-second slot, which "may be raised in case India makes it to the finals." Media planners, however, "feel this may be pushing one's luck too far." Vivaki Exchange CEO Mona Jain explained, "This is not a very active time for the advertisers who usually invest in cricket." Zee Entertainment Enterprises Chief Sales Officer Ashish Sehgal said, "We have sold almost 50 percent of our inventory and should be closing a few more deals over the next couple of days" (BUSINESS STANDARD, 6/25).
