irrelevant fact: Lot of people get the same amount as their yearly salary 
Well I read this from a post from trak.in Indian biz blog. Sure the number of people watching the Ad is such a huge number and it is sometimes very ridiculous during cricket matches but it is important to see how many people really give a damn to these ads when they are just really interested to know the score.
The statement “it comes to roughly 2 rupees per 1,000 viewers” (see the original post) is not that attractive as it sounds bcos they are not TARGETED viewer count. any internet marketer can recognise this pitfall easily. if it doesnt make sense for me its just spam - ‘TV-Spam’ lol I made a new term here :D. Argument against this point may be you can unsubscribe from spam by switching off the TV 
A few days back there was an article in The Hindu “Word of mouth - most powerful ad tool”
I personally feel that the TV ads are most effective for FMCG goods and low cost items bcos if i want to purchase a bike, car or a computer, opinion and advice of friends, relatives weigh more than TV ads. Also there is a subconsious aversion in me for the TV ads if they are stupid and ridiculous. ( but this ’stupid and ridiculous’ work for kids )
The above argument is purely my view but the biz execs surely must be doing some market research and surveys to justify this kinda spending.
TV-Spam…thats a nice one. I agree to what you say, but even with lot of spam, it is attractive coz even 1% of all audience is targeted, it is enough for advertiser.
And rememeber, most of these advertisement are branding and not about the product. SO, lets day a Pepsi Ad…who does not know about pepsi…but everytime that ad comes however uninterested that person may be..Pepsi name gets registered in his mind..even if it is at subconcious level….the ad has achieved what it intended to do…Isn’t it?