Too much of a good thing!!

To say that India is a cricket crazy country is clichéd. That statement has been around ever since I was born (or even earlier) and people have always agreed with that. And the coverage cricket gets each time India plays – whether in Test matches, One Day Internationals, T20s or even the IPL, is unimaginable. All this coverage is sponsored by ads and there are several hundred advertisers in each series. Now, if you are an Indian, none of this would be news for you.

However, one thing I realized while watching today’s match – In fact, I’m writing this article from in front of the TV – is that we have too much of this good thing – of ads. Normally, we have ads coming in between overs and during drink breaks and ball changes. However, in the recent months, each time the ball goes over the boundary, there are ads, and even if there are little gaps like the bowler speaking to his captain before he bowls, there are ads!! In today’s match especially, I’ve hardly seen a replay! There is hardly any commentary of value that I’ve heard – all of that has gone prey to commercial breaks. The ball crosses the boundary and we see the same ads coming up again and again.

Now, there is another side to this – especially for the advertisers. In almost every break, there are ads that are left incomplete. The people manning the consoles have either gone crazy or their bosses have suddenly become greedier! But for advertisers, what fun is it to have their commercial begin and then stop midway because the bowler is on his run up?? It not only spoils the fun of the match, but it also effectively gives a negative perception of the company in the mind of the viewer, as it is eating into cricket time.

And I found one more thing – during the last test match – the one in which we were all praying that Hashim Amla gets out before the last 4 overs are up – we were watching cricket on the internet at the office, and the webcast was of Neo Cricket from the UAE. What was so strange is that there was hardly one or two ads during the over breaks and nothing in between. Of course, there were banners coming up asking new advertisers to contact a particular number to advertise, but as a viewer and a cricket fan, it was so refreshing to watch cricket instead of all these repetitive ads!!

Ok, since this is the first ODI, companies probably are advertising more aggressively today – there one more between the over break has just begun!! But if this also continues in the next One Days, I guess I’ll watch cricket on the internet – of UAE or some other country where there are not as many commercials – instead of on regular Indian TV!

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