ITV scores rugby ad boost

Mark Sweney
guardian.co.uk, Monday October 8 2007 15.06 BST

ITV is expected to more than double the ad revenue it will make from Saturday's Rugby World Cup semi-final following England's surprise win over Australia.

England's against-the-odds 12-10 quarter final victory over Australia at the weekend, followed by France's equally unexpected defeat of tournament favourites New Zealand, sets up a semi-final clash between the old rugby union adversaries in Paris on Saturday, which will be broadcast live on ITV1 from 8pm.

The semi-final appearance of England, who had been widely expected to exit the Rugby World Cup at the quarter final stage, is forecast to deliver an audience in excess of 10 million for ITV - with possibly 30% more viewers watching in pubs.

One media agency estimate puts ITV's potential ad revenues for the peak time match at around £2.5m, compared with perhaps only around £1m if the semi-final had featured the expected clash between New Zealand and Australia.

Gary Digby, the managing director of ITV's sales operation, will be entering last-minute negotiations with brands that have not so far invested in the Rugby World Cup, but will now be looking to capitalise on the England v France match.

"There will definitely be [advertising] inventory available on a short-term basis and we are expecting a bumper audience," Mr Digby said. "The audience would have been as much as 80% smaller if England wasn't in the semi-final."

Around each RWC match ITV offers a 60-second slot before the national anthems, two 170-second breaks at half time and a 210-second break at the final whistle.

Only advertisers that have pre-booked RWC packages have secure ad slots and around 50% of the commercial breaks are thought to be renegotiable up until the last minute.

"The opportunity is about the valuable audience as much as it is about price," said Azon Howie, the head of broadcast at media buyer Carat.

"These are very valuable spots for advertisers as an 'England expects' type of match delivers a really important, difficult to reach audience, male in particular, that doesn't watch that much TV," Mr Howie added.

While there are significant opportunities available, some media buyers argued that it may be difficult for some brands to free up the six-figure sums required to book space.

In addition, ITV cannot book clients from the same sector in the same ad break, meaning a number of advertising sectors are already covered.

Brands that have already supported the Rugby World Cup include Guinness - with its £6m "Seconds from greatness" campaign - Magners, Vauxhall and co-sponsor Peugeot.

Other brands that have launched campaigns include Silverjet - with its British Airways copycat ad - and Sony, with its "Play-Doh" bunnies ad.

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