Ahead of the Indian Premier League, Disney Star, the official TV broadcaster, is dialling up focus on return on investments (ROI) in terms of ad spends for brands. In line with this strategy, the broadcaster is offering them tailor-made ad packages to widen the advertiser base for the upcoming season of the T20 league.

Ajit Varghese, Head – Network Advertising Sales, Disney Star told businessline, “Cricket has delivered across all formats and brands seek to advertise on events such as IPL or the World Cup that can serve as a large consumer aggregators. As a strategy, we are really dialling up focus on return on advertising spends for brands and helping them maximise the impact of their spends.”

In 2023, IPL’s reach on TV was estimated to be at 505 million, up 36 per cent, while TVR was at 5.3, nearly 30 per cent higher than the 2022 edition. “Brands continue to witness multi-fold ROI on cricket on TV. IPL on TV serves as the biggest platform for brands across sectors, including consumer product companies, handset makers and automobile companies. Major product launches and significant increases in brand awareness across markets have been witnessed, with brands experiencing a healthy double-digit increase in brand recall or consideration scores, through their IPL association,” Varghese pointed out.

2x increase

The broadcaster said that whether its consumer engagement or market share growth, brands have been gaining on various parameters, from their association with IPL on TV. “Brands have observed a more than 2x increase in search interest when their campaigns start on IPL on TV as per some estimates. Similarly digital-first brands have reported witnessing a surge in downloads and app usage due to their IPL TV association.,” he explained.

Responding to a query on macroeconomic environment in terms of ad spends, Varghese said, “The macroeconomic environment is well poised with moderation in inflation and increase in investments. There is positivity with a more stabilised environment now.”

The broadcaster is witnessing strong interest from large players across categories such as FMCG, e-commerce and real estate among others for the upcoming IPL season. Varghese added that even start-ups , that had been cautious last year, are returning to the fold across categories such as fintech and mobility as they seek to look at brand-building and consumer engagement activities.

As part of its “Start-up Power Play” initiative, the broadcaster will also enable start-ups and emerging brands to telecast their 60-second commercial during each IPL match. “ Whether it’s the big players or the medium and small players or start-ups and emerging brands , we are making sure they have a lot of flexibility and we are offering them customised solutions,” Varghese added.

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