The fourth season of Indian Super League, a league-based football tourney, seems to be inching the cricket way both in terms of viewership and sponsorships.

Besides this, an enhanced season from 12 week to 17 weeks also signify the viewer interest in the global sport with a total of 95 matches slated for prime time on television and frequent update on the digital platform. The total number of matches in the last season was 65.

ISL is owned by IMG, Reliance Industries Ltd and Star India.

For starters, the inaugural match between ATK and Kerala Blasters FC got 25 million total TV impressions and registered a 59 per cent growth over last season’s opening game.

The fourth season has also seen addition of two new teams Bengaluru FC and Jamshedpur FC taking the total number of teams to 10.

Digital streaming platform Hotstar said it has recorded a 5X increase in total time spent (minutes watched) and 3X more viewers compared to the opening match of Season 3.

“We are thrilled with the response that the Hero ISL is getting from football fans across India. The growth demonstrated is across urban, rural and digital audiences which indeed proves that Future Hai Football,” says Sanjay Gupta, MD, Star India. Several media planners BusinessLine spoke to said the inventory for the matches too, have been seeing favourable response. “A 10-second slot is selling anywhere between ₹1.25 lakh and ₹2 lakh,” sources indicate.

Several sponsors have also continued their association with the sporting extravaganza.

As per available data, the first season of ISL had seen sponsors pump in ₹55 crore, the second season saw close to ₹100 crore through sponsorship, while the third season was estimated to have seen sponsorship at ₹150-175 crore.

DHL sponsorship

DHL, which has been sponsor for the last three seasons, has renewed partnership with ISL4 as an Associate sponsor.

DHL said it will unveil a 360-degree interactive brand campaign specifically created for this season which has the potential to be seen by 215 million television viewers and 1.5 million in-stadia spectators. R S Subramanian, Country Manager, DHL Express India, said: "ISL has grown to be an integral part of the country's sporting calendar. The increase in the number of games this season gives us greater opportunity to engage with our audiences on and off-ground for a longer time period”.

Globally, DHL supports some of the world’s biggest football clubs and tournaments such as Manchester United, FC Bayern Munich and Copa Libertadores.

An ISL spokesperson said, “Having strengthened club participation from eight to 10 in this season, its soaring viewership and the league’s commitment to grass-roots football, India is undergoing a football renaissance. It is going to be an exciting new journey with the longer season set to kick-off shortly. We are extremely happy that we are seeing greater interest from corporates”.

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