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Indian sports industry’s spending had crossed the ₹9,500-crore mark in 2021, signalling a strong comeback for the sector post pandemic, according to the latest report released by GroupM ESP. The report takes into account the sponsorship spends, player endorsements and media spending on sports properties.
Sports sponsorships clocked a 62 per cent growth in 2021 over 2020, returning to a billion-dollar scale. “India’s performance at the Tokyo Olympics has been a morale booster for budding sports talent in the country and 2022 will bring new opportunities in multi-sport events,” the report said.
Sports-related ad expenditure was pegged at ₹6,018 crore in 2021 with nearly 94 per cent being contributed by cricket. “The media spends on cricket in 2021 was higher (₹5,657 crore ) than the overall media spends of 2019 (₹5,232 crore ),” the report noted.
Celebrity endorsements rise
Meanwhile, spending on sports celebrity endorsement grew by 11 per cent year-on-year in 2021. Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Neeraj Chopra, and PV Sindhu are the top athletes in the sports celebrity brand endorsement space, the report said.
A total of 444 brand endorsement deals were inked in 2021, with cricketers accounting for 318 endorsement deals and 87 per cent of the total brand endorsement value. Tokyo Olympics helped increase emerging sports athletes’ endorsements by 79 per cent, accounting for 13 per cent of the overall brand endorsement value.
Prasanth Kumar, CEO, GroupM South Asia, said, “2021 was a year of a major comeback for the sports industry. Not only in sports but we saw growth in sponsorships, endorsements, and media expenses in 2021. This year will also be a good restart point for brands to invest in sports properties since sports will see a rise.”
He added that even a non-cricket sporting leagues and e-sports are gaining significant traction. “As for cricket, we are seeing a growing interest by foreign private equity giants. It proves that cricket will continue to see a huge surge in India. With 2021 bringing cricket back on track, we are seeing 2022 racing ahead, pushing the sports industry spending to cross the ₹10,000-crore mark,” he added.
Competitive OTT space
The report added that the OTT space is expected to become more competitive in the years to come due to the strong adoption of OTT for live streaming sporting action.
Vinit Karnik, Head-Sports, Entertainment and Esports, GroupM South Asia, said, the cricket had contributed 88 per cent of the sports spending with IPL and T20 WC boosting the sports’ ad expenditure growth.
“We also saw emerging sports contributing 12 per cent on the overall sports spends. The media spends in 2021 were the biggest contributors, who accounted for almost two-thirds of all sports industry spending. While sports celebrity endorsement was on the rise last year, 2022 will be an exciting with the Asian Games, FIFA World Cup, Premier Badminton League, and many more events coming up, and the fans are in for a treat,” he added.
TV continued to be the largest medium since 2021 which saw an overall ad spends of ₹5,051 crore, a growth of 59 per cent over 2020, and digital spendingtouching ₹965 crore, Karnik said.
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