Indian brands queue up for ad spots on royal wedding telecast

New Delhi: The much-awaited royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29, has become an attractive media property for broadcaster TLC, which has roped in a host of big names as sponsors and advertisers in India.

The Discovery Network`s travel and lifestyle channel TLC has already signed up with Tanishq, Volkswagen, Nestle, Ponds, Make My Trip, Pepsi, Yardley as sponsors for the high profile event to air ads starting April 24, which marks the beginning of the `Royal Wedding Week`. In addition, Lotus Herbal, Platinum Guild of India, Elite Matrimony and Raymonds have bought ad spots during live telecast of the royal wedding on TLC from 2.30 pm to 6.30 pm on April 29, followed by a repeat till 10.30 pm. "We expect this event to be the biggest in terms of viewership in the life of TLC. The wedding of Prince Charles and Diana was the most watched event in the television history. So if you go by the past record, the upcoming wedding will be big," Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific Senior Vice President and General Manager Rahul Johri told reporters. Although, reports said TLC has charged around Rs 25 lakh for the entire show from sponsors and about Rs 15,000 per 10 seconds from advertisers --about 10 times more than the usual rates, he declined to comment on the rates. He, however, said, the company has already sold out ad spots and sponsorships for the event. "There is not much air time available. We will have eight minutes of advertising time for every one hour," Johri said, adding there would also be special shows in the run-up to the event beginning April 24. For sponsors like Make My Trip, an association with an event of this scale makes viable business sense. "We expect the event to be widely covered and generate a lot of interest from viewers who are also our target consumers," MakeMyTrip Chief Marketing Officer Mohit Gupta said. PTI