He was surprizingly good , I mean everyone expected some sort of a disaster before the opening program, but it wasn't He has very beautiful deep voice (IMO) and pretty good diction, so he sounded pretty neat. But that's not enough to be an outstanding host. You also need to know how to improvise, to add some humor. He was good, but I wouldn't pay him 700.000$ for that,
He does have a very pleasant deep voice - and welcome to GS!
And you're right that the ability to improvise - especially in the event of a technical difficulty - is a great asset in television.
Plushenko said during our interview (this part got cut out of the final version) that he does not read a teleprompter when on camera, but rather has an earpiece in which the producers are feeding him information and what to say. If anyone has ever seen the fabulous movie "Broadcast News" then you know that relying on an earpiece can go horribly wrong, LOL, with hysterical consequences.
Now that the offer to Plushenko was made public, one can be sure that Auverbukh's phone has been ringing off the hook from other show cast members, not happy with the news, and now interested in equaling - or at least nearing - his financial offer. Generally these negotiations, just like earnings on a tour, are kept somewhat secret - just for this reason.