Chennai, June 26: Cricket in India remains recession proof. Barring the early exit from the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies pushing the advertising and broadcasting revenue to an all time low, cricket has always enjoyed more than a fair share of its pie.

Two years on, another dismal show by India threatened the market but a mature and more practical approach has helped them take the bump in their stride. The Indian Premier League also had a part to play in ensuring advertisers have a bigger brand to fall back on.

A recent survey by a London based sports management firm shows how cricket is slowly developing as a global brand. The IPL is currently the fifth biggest sporting property in the world and placed ahead of the Fifa World Cup and the summer Olympics.

"There is no better platform than cricket for a product to leverage. Media planning is done much in advance and if the series to follow is held in India, both the buyers and sellers should have no problem," said V.R. Padhmanaban, head of client relations, Mediaedge, one of the biggest media buying houses in India.

ESPNStar, the official broadcasters of the ICC in the subcontinent till 2015, have denied reports that advertisers were offered huge discounts after India failed to make the semifinal.

"Our ad sales deals are based on broad outlays covering a vast chunk of sporting content across a substantial time span. The performance of the national team, therefore, has little impact on the deal itself — if India win, we do not charge a premium and if they lose we do not give discounts," said R.C. Venkateish, MD of ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd.

According to Padhmanaban, the club culture is slowly picking up in India and if the IPL is spaced out further it can grow to have a bigger brand equity. "The good thing is even smaller brands came in during the IPL. The tournament has built a module where every corporate can position their brand."

Agents of top Indian players are also not concerned. "Our clients are signed for a particular period and one bad event is not going to pull them down," said an agent.