For Indian cricket fans, the 2021 T20 World Cup had an uncanny similarity to the way the 2007 50-Overs World Cup had panned out. Just like it had happened a decade and a half ago, where a definitive upset by Bangladesh derailed India’s campaign to an extent that the side failed to qualify for the Super-8 stage of the competition, this time India lost to Pakistan and New Zealand in the first two group games, only to rely on the other results, which eventually didn’t go their way. 

Needless to say, India's exit in 2007 was one of the seminal moments in cricket history that changed the dynamics of how World Cups were used to play. However, the impact of India’s early exit in the 2021 T20 World Cup will not have any drastic change in structure thanks to the financial module, in line with input cost inflation and rising consumer demand, which has ensured the advertisement inventories were sold ahead of time.

Star India Pvt. Ltd, ICC’s host broadcaster, had sold over 90% of its inventories months before the first ball in the tournament was bowled. Sure enough, the advertisers hadn’t thought of India’s pre-mature exit, with many non-released campaigns even celebrating India’s expected championship run, but will now have to pay the price for the booked slots. However, advertisers acknowledge that the format allows them the luxury because India played five games and bowed out of the tournament virtually on the last day of the Super-12 stage, unlike the 2007 tournament where there were more than 30 games to be played.

“A 10-second slot for the first two games cost in excess of 25 Lakhs, including taxes, which is a 190% jump from other game inventory cost. Broadcasters had already cashed in on that but the mood after those two games affected the situation in an adverse way. With little interest in the remaining games, advertisers got scarce benefits from matches involving smaller countries. Yet things are balanced,” an official of GroupM ESP, one of the world’s leading media investment agencies, told Cricket.com. 

To put things in context, it is imperative to go back to the 2019 World Cup where every team played nine games each in the Group stage, putting the luck factor out of the equation. Thus it is not a surprise that the 2019 World Cup had generated a cumulative audience of 1.6 billion and 706 million unique viewers. Among those 706 million people, 509 million were in India. Thus there is a sustainable market figure that demands a clearer understanding.

According to Star India official press note, the ongoing T20 World Cup has already delivered exceptional viewership, registering a cumulative reach of 238 million till last week (qualifiers + first 12 games of Super 12 stage), with the overall consumption reaching an astounding 47 billion minutes. It is some solid numbers already.

Thus one thing can be said with certainity that cricket continues to be the marquee leader when it comes to attracting brands for sponsorships. The rise of Equity broking business following the March 2020 Stock Market crash and the growth of Cryptocurrency Exchanges have also helped massively up the ante and taken the advertisement cost to a whole new level. While the advertisers are happy to pay the huge amount, it has some downsides, as seen in India crashing out. But over a long period of time, things look rather bountiful for all parties concerned.