Sure, the Olympics 2008 is celebrating a surge in social media. As many as twelve global sponsors have spent close to Rs.25, 380 crores for advertising targeted at the Chinese market alone.
True, we are the I.T kings; our economic growth has brief injections of inflation combined with many a billionaire borne; it thrills and excites us and foreshadows good times to come, but pray tell us where do we stand in international sports?
The fact of the matter is that India’s performance in the Olympics this year, “…has been dismal. But I think with three medals this year, maybe advertiser interest will begin to emerge. It’s very simple. India gets involved in any game in which it can win; I think because we have a certain amount of presence like cricket for example”, says Sam Bulsara, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison Communications.
On a different note, Chandradeep Mitra, President, Mudra Max says, “…it’s a flash in the pan; the newspapers and channels are screening that Bindra won gold but it’s only a short term thing right now; we need a long term trend! Boxing in Cuba for instance has been much supported; they’ve invested in boxing and they look forward to it; we have one-off scenes and that’s not advertising friendly!”
And India’s annual budget for sports is not in any way comparable to China’s $2 billion for this year’s Games. This cannot be attributed solely to China being the host. We’re not seeing any TV coverage that conforms to the viewership necessary for advertising to step in. As Chandradeep Mitra, Mudra Max says, “Whatever data I have access to shows its all marginal; also, when you talk about medals, its nice to know when somebody’s won but it’s nicer to know that there’s an engaging competitive sport that our audience is watching which we can’t say about the Olympics; as opposed to cricket. So if live television, viewership, and excitement go up and it’s a game which has a one hour plus format that’s exciting to watch, then we can see some advertiser interest.”
Viewership is everything; one has to enjoy watching the Olympics; but as Mitra says, this year’s Olympics cannot be considered…” a high viewership deal; Doordarshan shows it and that’s about it. Live television viewership of the Olympics is poor. One person winning doesn’t mean India is faring well! The television viewership is erratic. Overall; television coverage is very poor and that’s the major problem.”
Despite India’s gargantuan population we have only won a total of 18 Olympic medals; field hockey has been our forte. A severe lack of government subsidies has created havoc for the infrastructure and the athletes. However, where advertising fails, congratulatory social networking has stepped in to fill the vacuous gap. Lenovo Group for instance has created blogs for 100 Olympics athletes. Lenovo does not host these blogs but only showcases them. Plus their laptops and video cameras are in use at the Games; Lenovo has been able to capture the audience’s attention but in terms of advertising, Mitra is quick to point that, “…nothing very major I know about is happening; there’s a lot of congratulatory stuff being put up; how it’s being leveraged is something I’m not sure anyone has cracked yet.”
But are things going to get any better? Will we have to wait for 15 years to see India’s best athletes winning medals and subsequently, increased advertising? As Mitra says, “…we need better prospects; the Olympics as a viewing medium has to be more friendly. Plus, we don’t have an athletic culture in our country. If we knew we had a world champion in the making; let’s say in time we had 10, then we can expect the viewership to go up. Even with interest in sports, sportsmen and medals, it has to be interesting to be watched!”