What Makes IPL the Most Sought-After Event for Advertisers?
Amid the fracas of 2019 General Elections, BCCI solemnly asseverated to host the Indian Premium League 2019 in the country acknowledging Indian cricket team’s remarkable performance with a first ever Test series victory in Australia. The pronouncement brought in a wave of elation among the broadcasters and digital platforms, who roped in sponsors for the tourney. BCCI has also announced the schedule for the upcoming 2019 season of Vivo IPL, which is set to commence from March 23. The sports event is unequivocally India’s blockbuster cricket league and probably the third most expensive sports property in the world. With Star India acquiring the IPL’s media rights in 2018 with a consolidated bid of Rs 16,347.5 Cr, the league has come at par with the cash-rich leagues of the world like the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the English Premium League (EPL). As reported by Star India, IPL 2018 reached out to 700 Mn+ viewers across screens and grew consumption by 25 percent. In IPL 2019, Star wants to leverage a human insight with universal appeal to set-up the tournament.
Although the upcoming General Elections and ICC World Cup will see investment spillovers, IPL 2019 claims to be the most extravagant and fruitful activity in its history. Even before the dates and schedule for IPL 2019 were announced, it bagged over 20 brands on-board in various sponsorship categories in addition to the IPL’s title sponsor Vivo. According to reports the IPL 2019, in addition to title holders Vivo, have also onboard Harrier, fashion brand FBB, and Hotstar Specials are official partners. Paytm and
Why IPL has Become Most Favored Sports Event by Advertisers?
Stars multi-language strategy in the year 2018 paid it off very well as the broadcasting network witnessed a boost of around 22 percent in the regional viewership, which is commendable. The two-language sports feed in India is seeing withering days as broadcasters are going full throttle to exploit the regional markets by telecasting multi-lingual broadcast of matches. IPL last year was broadcasted in 6 languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Bangla, across 10 network channels. The Grand Finale on May 27 was broadcast on 17 Channels with the live feed in eight different languages. Sai Narayan – Associate Director & Head of Marketing, Paisabazaar.com
The format of IPL is as such that no one can miss it completely which gives an opportunity for advertisers to harness it completely. It encapsulates viewers’ attention for nearly 60 days, which is a big window for any advertisers.
ROI for Advertisers and Marketers in IPL
There are of course three things that advertisers probably look for in a sponsorship – exclusive sponsorship position, national footprint, and exponential RoI. Last year Vivo Electronics Corp became the biggest spender, who agreed to pay Rs 2,199 Cr for five years to BCCI for the title sponsorship rights to IPL. Nipun Marya, Director Brand Strategy, Vivo India avers, “Indian smartphone market is highly competitive with many new players foraying into the market every month. Vivo has plans of becoming a long-term player in India and is investing heavily across platforms to build brand visibility and recall. With a vast fan following across the country, IPL stands at the intersection of cricket and entertainment and serves as the perfect proposition to build a brand. IPL has helped us connect with our target audience in a big way and also enabled enhanced brand recall across the country with every passing year of our association.”
Sai believes that IPL does not necessarily result in an immediate conversion for the brands. “Investments in IPL are high and work well when it comes to changing perceptions. IPL is important to give stature to the brand which it genuinely deserves. If brand love is created and the right connect happens, conversions and better ROI will automatically come with time,” he adds.
In the sporting nation, IPL is just not any series that ends in a few days, but a 60 days long annual festival. The way Super Bowl is for the western world, IPL is for Indians. A diaspora for all big and small advertisers. Vikrant Mudaliar, Chief Marketing Officer, Dream11 enunciates on IPL being extremely important for advertisers. “Today, sports fans are constantly seeking a greater level of engagement and thrive on being actively involved with real-time sporting action. As India’s biggest sports gaming platform, with over 5 crore users, Dream11 helps sports fans increase their engagement and connect deeper with the sport they love. Cricket is the most popular sport in India and IPL is the most watched T20 Cricket League in the world. Year on year, we have witnessed our highest growth during the IPL season – something which was evident even in the last IPL season. All of this makes IPL a great marketing platform for us.”
Fabindia’s Chief Brand & Marketing Officer Karan Kumar asserts, “IPL without doubt is a platform which provides massive reach. Brands must leverage this opportunity and ideally look at integrating their products with this platform and not look only at FCT advertising.”
IPL, the Only Sports Event Option for Advertisers in Terms of ROI?
If cricket is to be believed as a religion in India, Indian Premier League happens to be the most worshipped deity from a sponsor’s perspective. The latest ratings from POWA index, the data-driven real-time sports evaluation engine, have evaluated the IPL as the most powerful sports platform in India. But if not IPL then what options do a marketer have in the sports marketing genre that gets them the same kind of ROI?
DCMN India’s Swayta further speaks, “While cricket continues to rein the minds of the advertisers, there are other sports that have gained importance lately like kabbadi, tennis, marathons etc. The reach that IPL has accumulated over the years is impossible for any others sports to get but with the changing attitude and preference of consumers and liking for other sporting events like kabbadi, football, tennis, hockey has made advertisers to explore these options as well. The Pro Kabbadi league (once a dying sports) has suddenly attracted many advertisers with good viewership numbers. Athletic events like marathon has become big platforms for advertisers, the on–ground associations have leveraged the brand giving them continued exposure over the years.”
“In today’s time, a single platform cannot provide the desired visibility or ROI for a brand. Therefore, we see most brands investing across multiple platforms and properties. But before putting the money behind any event, the brand should evaluate whether the association resonates with their image and helps to strengthen brand connect or not,” adds Vivo India’s Nipun.
IPL Advertising: A Whole New Ballgame
These days, ads across the sporting world are often breaking barriers or trying out new strategies that are attaching the brands more to sports content, especially if it links them to the audience between 18-34-year-old men and women. The growing mass appeal with regional support has also helped a lot of small players to build brand saliency with sustained growth over the years. IPL is a platform of associations, where there is ample opportunity to be associated with the IPL teams, an advertiser can stay away from advertising on TV yet be present on IPL, by partnering with teams, can explore options like logo’s on team jersey, on ground associations & partnership, cheerleader sponsorships, specially created content for IPL. The national footprint, exclusive associations, outshouting competition with high growth makes IPL the most sought-after format for most of the Indian Brands.