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Advertisers continue to bet big on cricket, even though the gap between two mega tournaments — the ICC World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) — is just a little over a week.
Multi Screen Media, official broadcaster of the IPL, has already sold nearly 70 per cent of its ad inventory for the upcoming season, which kicks off on April 8. Besides, brands are also trying to cash in on team sponsorship slots.
This is despite the rates being higher, and the possibility of a further spike closer to the event.
Rohit Gupta, President, Multi Screen Media, which runs channels such as Sony Max and Sony Six, said the broadcaster has received a “good” response this season and may have 11-12 key brands as co-presenting and associate sponsors.
Media planners said co-presenting sponsors are expected to spend as much as ₹55-60 crore, while associate sponsors will spend about ₹38 crore.
Regional feeds The broadcaster is adding regional feeds such as Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali this season to reach out to a wider audience.
Gupta said the broadcaster has already finalised nine sponsors, including Amazon, Vodafone, Hero MotoCorp, Intex Mobiles, and Paytm. “We expect to close 2-3 additional sponsors soon. We have hiked rates by 15 per cent compared with last season, on the back of a nearly 7 per cent increase in our ratings last season,” he said.
Ruchira Jaitly, PepsiCo India’s Senior Director, Marketing-Social Beverages, said the company is spending more on the IPL compared to last season.
“We will be taking our brand engagement initiatives deeper and wider across the country, both via the Sony feed, with the regional feeds that they have added this year and the digital channel,” she said. Talking about team sponsorships, Indranil Das Blah, COO, CAA-Kwan, said teams that have been performing well and represent a certain region where particular brands are strong are expected to see a better response from advertisers, while others may face challenges due to the short gap between the two key events.
Jersey branding
Top performing teams are estimated to charge as much as ₹20 crore from brands for branding on the front part of jerseys, while others could settle for ₹10-12 crore.
Hemant Dua, CEO of Delhi Daredevils, said the team is in talks with sponsors and looking for meaningful brand associations.
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