Sourav Ganguly exults. Shah Rukh Khan as Kaun Banega Crorepati host (Below)

Among all the cities in India, Calcutta loves its cricketing heroes the most. Even when the competition is no less than King Khan. This is what a nationwide survey has revealed.

The countdown has started to the war for the eyeballs this high-decibel summer of 2007. The battlelines are drawn between the ICC World Cup in the West Indies and Kaun Banega Crorepati at home. Both Sourav Ganguly and Shah Rukh Khan may be taking up their positions on the crease and on the hot seat next Monday, but it is in March and April when they get pitted against each other.

Time differences being what they are with the West Indies, it is in March and April that the two are going to clash head-on for the 9 to 10 pm slot on television. And this is one big-budget investment decision that advertisers are racking their brains over.

“Both are such big shows that advertisers would have to take a call. Few can afford to invest in both,” explains Kajal Malik, regional director of Optimum Media Solutions (OMS).

To facilitate these decisions, an estimation of audience response study was conducted by OMS, the media planning and buying wing of the Mudra group. Among the various criteria under the scanner, one of the most vital was the KBC-versus-cricket question, with the third option being preference for other shows. The survey covered three metros in the Hindi viewership belt — Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta — in the age bracket of 25 to 44 years.

The national average of those opting for cricket over KBC is 30 per cent, falling to 28 and 22 per cent, respectively, in Tendulkar’s Mumbai and Sehwag’s Delhi. It is Sourav’s Calcutta where the interest in on-field action soars to 41 per cent. And it holds for not just the men. If 55 per cent of the men interviewed in the city voted for Dada, so did 27 per cent women, bettering the national gender averages of 47 and 14 per cent, respectively.

This is the first time that cricket is clashing with KBC, two entities which have redefined advertising rates in the market. According to industry sources, when KBC was launched with Amitabh Bachchan in the hot seat, rates floated between Rs 8,000-10,000 for prime time 10-second slots. That was hiked manifold straight away. The same redefining took place for cricket in recent times when Ten Sports bagged the India-Pakistan series in early 2006. If cricket was selling at Rs 70,000-Rs 1 lakh, the channel jacked up the asking rate steeply for the 10-second slots.

When it comes to the clash, much is going to depend on King Khan’s performance. The survey suggests that initial interest is high, with as many as 71 per cent wanting to try the first few episodes and just 21 per cent promising to stay loyal all through. Who wins next is the question to answer this summer.