NEW DELHI, June 9: Television companies and advertisers were expecting to cash in on a growing football craze in otherwise cricket-loving India as the countdown to the World Cup started on Friday.

ESPN Star Sports, which has exclusive rights to telecast the 2006 sporting spectacle in India, said all advertising spots for the event had been sold in bulk deals to global giants such as Coca-Cola, Adidas and Samsung.

“This time we are looking at a viewership of 100 million. It may even go up to 200 million also,” said Sanjay Kailash, director of advertising sales at ESPN Software India Private Limited.

The 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea reached just 30.3 million Indian television viewers -- a paltry number in a country of 1.1 billion people where key one-day cricket matches often bring traffic and work to a complete standstill.

The FIFA World Cup generates considerable buzz in the country's media but until this year business revenue had not recorded the big numbers.

Now advertisers and broadcasters are hopeful the global soccer onslaught has permeated another frontier.

“Football interest is finally increasing in India. Youngsters in the country are far better clued in to the football scene,” said Kailash, adding that the World Cup was expected to draw in as many numbers as a cricket Test series this time.

In a first for World Cup telecasts, Singapore-based ESPN has introduced commentary in Hindi to take the viewership beyond the big cities, where football enjoys most support.—AFP