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With 59 matches played between the players of teams like Shah Rukh Khan’s Knight Riders, Preity Zinta’s Kings X1, Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai Indians and Vijay Mallya’s Royal Challengers, over 44 days, cricket indeed seems all set to take over the primetime soaps. After all, don’t cricket and Bollywood make an irressistible combo for Indians who follow both devotedly?

Not everyone thinks so. Ajay Jadeja, former cricketer and an expert commentator on NDTV is sceptical about the interest these inter-city matches will evoke among the viewers. “Indians love to watch the Indian cricket team playing because there is a sense of national pride. Domestic cricket has never got the numbers. I wonder if any one would want to watch Sachin Tendulkar playing the best domestic bowling attack,” he quips. His other contention is, usually cricketers at exhibition matches despite getting huge monies are not interested in giving it their best shot. It is only when they are representing the country that they put their heart and soul into the game. “No doubt the IPL has packed in world-class players but unless there’s an emotional connect with the viewer, it will not work,” he reasons.

As for the Bollywood angle, he jokes that if SRK is part of the team as the 12th man who brings drinks for the players, it will elicit more viewership. “Sponsors can then get him to endorse them by wearing their logo on the jacket,” he quips.

Peter Hutton, CEO, Ten Sports, however, feels that IPL will attract a high sporting/cricketing viewership as “new money has come in and the matches will be broadcast on channels in countries that never telecast the game before.”

But for general entertainment channels like Zee and Star, which are ruling the roost, there may be a setback with cricket bowling them out of the charts for over a month. Sony Business Head, Albert Almeida, agrees that their viewership will be lured away by cricket, but believes that they can use the opportunity to run the promos of their forthcoming attractions. Kalyan Sundaram, Programming Head of Sahara One is of the view that the Bollywood involvement will evoke a high level of curiousity. “This will help them grab eyeballs but what is to be seen is how will they sustain it,” he states. Though to be on the safe side, the channel is not launching any new shows during that time.

Star’s senior creative director, Anupama Mandloi, on the other hand, is confident that the game will not have an serious impact on their viewership. “Cricket has now become most accessible and commonly available fare. IPL is a derivative and a new concept so I suspect it will garner eyeballs for the first few weeks. But after the initial pull, avid viewers of GECs will get back to their habitual viewing,” she reckons. No worries about Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Thi or Bidaai viewers switching loyalties there.

Ashish Kaul, Executive VP, Zee agrees with Mandloi. “The matches will not affect our soaps because firstly, Indians do not associate with domestic cricket. Secondly, IPL has become a big product only because Shah Rukh is endorsing it. Sans SRK, it is just a inter-corporate match between Anil Ambani, Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya’s teams. Thirdly even if there are cricket icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, how many of the 59 matches will they be actually playing? In a 20:20 format each player will be on field for about 10-15 minutes. Their fans will watch them play and come back to their favourite soaps,” is his firm belief. In fact, he contends that the impact of these matches on the soaps will be less than 1 per cent, “assuming there will be an impact”.

Sneha Rajani, head of Max, has the last word. “It is an assumption that all the viewers are tuned into primetime soaps. Actually, it is only a certain percentage. There is a large audience out there waiting for an option and we are giving them a property that is clutter-breaking and entertaining. Why wouldn’t it deliver ratings?”
Undoubtedly, it will revolutionise television viewing, provided it’s on a good pitch.