NEW DELHI: The broadcaster of the Indian Premier League, Multi Screen Media, today said it has taken an insurance cover against the possibility of bad weather disrupting matches during the fourth season of the T20 cricket league .
The total cover value is to the tune of the total revenues that Multi Screen Media (MSM) expects to make from this year's event, which is estimated at around Rs 900 crore.
"MSM has already taken insurance cover for weather for the IPL. The total cover value is to the tune of the total revenues that we are likely to make this year from the event," MSM CEO Manjit Singh said.
Asked how much revenue the firm is eying from this year's IPL, which will be played between April 8 and May 28, he said it will be about 20 per cent more than last year.
The firm's channel Set Max has been telecasting the IPL matches since inception and it reportedly garnered ad revenues of Rs 750 crore last year from the T20 league.
Based on this figure, the weather insurance cover that MSM has taken for this year's IPL is worth about Rs 900 crore. The cover is meant to recover losses if matches are washed out due to rain or not played due to other unfavourable weather conditions.
Singh, however, added that MSM has not claimed any weather insurance in the past.
Explaining the rationale for MSM's increased advertising revenue expectations this year, he said: "The number of total matches have gone up and even the ad rates per a second slot has also gone up."
While he did not elaborate on the ad rates, as per industry estimates, MSM is asking for about Rs 5 lakh per ten second spot for the IPL matches.
Singh said MSM will launch a mega-marketing campaign by the end of this month to promote IPL 4 and keep viewer interest alive in cricket after the ICC World Cup.
The IPL 4 will begin six days after the World Cup final on April 2.
"It will be marketed heavily on MSM properties and other media as well," he said.
