IPL advertisement has emerged as one of the most anticipated sporting events for brands and advertising in India.
Some of the brands use it for branding purposes and some for increase in sales. But whatever the objective might be, IPL advertisement has consistently been on the top choice of the advertisers.
And why not? Cricket is not just a sport in India but actually a festival that results in uniting the country and also engenders excitement amongst all.
In a country like ours where cricket is no less than a religion, IPL advertisement has turned out to be a carnival for all the cricket lovers.
As per industry experts, IPL 2023 is going to be a bang and IPL advertisement is going to be even bigger.
With the e-auction being sold for crores, every big brand wishes to encash the opportunity by having a share of the sponsorship and advertising pie.
IPL Advertisement Rates
IPL 2023 is expected to be an even bigger event and fans are extremely excited; it is important to know what IPL advertisement rates in 2024 is.
Brands are keenly eyeing on this big game to drive sales and engagement. Even we are sure that brands and advertisers have already planned their ad budget and are expecting good returns.
IPL 2024 is being considered as a great platform for advertisers to speak to a diverse and large set of audiences.
The growing popularity of IPL also lies in the fact that it has always been pitched as a ‘tyohaar’ (festival) or a family entertainment property, hence IPL advertisement rate next year is definitely going to witness a spike.
So, we can say that Indian Premier League has been successfully connecting cricket with entertainment which has resulted in attracting a wide range of audience across the country.
On that note, one must also keep in mind the IPL advertisement rates for 2024 and start strategizing and planning as per their requirements.
IPL Media Rights Auction 2023-27
Keen on advertising online during live streaming of IPL 2023? Awesome! Read more to know about the major changes that took place after IPL 2022 and how it can impact your IPL advertising strategy 2023.
Completely new to IPL Ads 2023? We would suggest you first read TMA complete guide on IPL advertising 2022 to understand how IPL advertisement works and as a brand what benefits you can expect from IPL advertisement during live streaming on digital platforms.
The objective of this article is to apprise our readers with the highlights from the recently concluded IPL Media Rights Auction and its impact on digital advertising during IPL 2023.
Live sports streaming on OTT: A match made in the pandemic?
If there’s any good in the media and entertainment landscape that came out of the pandemic, that’s the digital adoption of news and entertainment. In 2021, video OTT subscriptions jumped to a figure of 80 million across 40 million households. (Source: EY-FICCI M&E Report 2022).
This progress can be attributed to consistency in churning out fresh content during the pandemic, youth-centric content, cheap smartphones, Internet subscription options, and bundled products.
In terms of digital ad revenues, news OTT and entertainment OTTs have collectively contributed around 10%, led by Disney+ Hotstar and Times Internet.
Disney+ Hotstar has been streaming IPL on their digital platform for the last 5 years and is the flagbearer of live sports streaming on OTT platforms.
Not only is OTT growing steadily along with TV penetration, but it’s also gradually replacing TV as the primary medium of entertainment too.
As per an article on Your Story, India had close to 69 million active DTH subscribers (Sep 2021) as compared to 103 million active DTH subscribers in Dec 2020. This makes live sports streaming on OTT platforms important.
According to the EY report, there was a growth of 105% in ad revenue on digital platforms during live sports streaming.
Much before the IPL 2022, media rights auction took place, there was an OTT war going on for gaining a monopoly over digital sports live streaming.
Amazon Prime had already acquired rights to live stream cricket matches in New Zealand. Viacom 18 had the rights for the FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar.
IPL Media Rights Auction 2022: The News Roundup
In the month of June 2022, news and social media platforms were abuzz with IPL media rights auctions.
For those who are unaware of the news, here’s why the IPL media rights auction took place and what happened during the IPL media rights auction.
- Why does IPL Media Rights Auction take place?
We all know that BCCI conducts IPL and only a minuscule number of fans get to watch IPL matches live in the stadium. Most people watch these matches on their television sets or smartphone apps. The job to bring IPL matches live on the TV or mobile screen lies with certain TV channels and online video streaming apps. To decide which TV channels/apps would broadcast the live matches, IPL Media Rights Auction takes place every 5 years.
- Why do TV channels and apps participate in IPL Media Rights Auction?
Cricket is a religion in India. Through cricket, any TV channel or app can be certain of attracting paid subscribers. Not only this, by selling ad spots during the live telecast of IPL matches, media houses can earn a hefty revenue. This is the main reason for any TV channel or video streaming app to bid for IPL Media Rights Auction.
- Is there a single TV channel/streaming app that wins the IPL Media Rights Auction?
It depends on how the IPL Media Rights have been bundled. The last IPL Media Right Auction took place in 2017 where Star India won both the TV and digital rights for IPL for the years 2018-2022 for a sum of INR 16347.5 Crore. This year, the entire IPL Media Rights were divided into 4 packages:
Package A: TV broadcasting rights for 410 IPL matches are only valid in the Indian subcontinent
Package B: Digital rights for 410 IPL matches are only valid in the Indian subcontinent
Package C: Non-exclusive digital rights- It means the winner of this package would be able to broadcast some matches on their digital platforms along with the winner of package B. If I am the winner of package B, I would want to win package C too to be the sole broadcaster of the IPL matches online to avoid competition in terms of ad spots and ad rates for the same matches.
Package D: Both TV and digital rights to broadcast the IPL matches outside the Indian subcontinent.
- Who won the four packages during IPL Media Rights Auction 2022?
Package A: Disney Star for INR 23,575 Crore
Package B: Viacom18 for INR 20,500 Crore
Package C: Viacom18 for INR 3,258 Crore
Package D: Viacom18 and Times Internet for INR 1324 Crore- Viacom18 won media rights for Australia, South Africa, and UK territories while Times Internet got media rights for the Middle East, North Africa, and the USA
Cricket is best enjoyed on television. Who watches IPL on a digital streaming platform anyway?
Think of Cricket and imagine any Bollywood movie. The only thing that would flash in front of your eyes is a single set of a TV playing a cricket match and being watched by 40-50 people.
While digital viewing is an individual experience. Until now digital viewing of live sports has always been seen as secondary to TV viewership.
In this scenario, it is quite difficult to understand the exorbitant price paid by Viacom18 to gain the digital rights however, it would be premature to assume that this price difference would be compensated by a steep rise in IPL ad rates 2023 on digital and it’s not worth it for SMEs and startups.
We would talk about this in detail in this article but let’s have a look at the effect of IPL 2022 on various apps across industries during IPL 2022 (26th March 2022-29th May 2022).
These apps were associated with IPL 2022 in some or the other way.
Do take note of the jump in the monthly downloads of some of the popular apps like Tata Neu and Cred. (Source: Similarweb)
Hotstar: The digital platform that streamed IPL 2022
Cred: Official Partner of IPL 2022
Upstox: Official Partner of IPL 2022
Tata Neu: Latest offering of Tata, the Title Sponsor of IPL 2022
Cricbuzz: Online sports news platform
IPL Advertisement Cost 2023: How is the latest Media Rights Auction going to affect it?
It is difficult to predict exactly how the IPL advertisement cost 2023 is going to be affected by the new bids, industry experts have made some smart guesses and we will summarize the same here to help you out in planning your advertising budget for the next year.
IPL Advertisement Cost 2023 on Television
In one of his blogs, Sandeep Goyal made a prediction about the IPL advertising rates 2023 on television. Disney Star has bought the IPL media rights for TV broadcasting for INR 23,575 Crore, almost double what they paid 5 years ago.
The IPL advertising rates 2022 are somewhere close to INR 50 Lakh for a 30-seconder, if one has to estimate the new IPL advertising rates 2023 for television based on the increase in the amount paid by Disney Star, it would be 100% jump i.e., a 30-sec ad on TV during IPL 2023 should cost about INR 1 Crore. It’s yet to be seen if this prediction becomes true.
IPL Advertisement Cost 2023 on Digital Streaming Platforms
This year, the digital streaming rights of IPL 2023-2027 have gone to Viacom18 which owns Voot.
It is obvious to consider Voot as the digital streaming platform for IPL 2023 matches.
According to an opinion article on The Hindu Business Line, Voot would need a higher number of subscribers on the platform to justify higher ad rates.
Following is a comparison between Hotstar and Voot for the past year (Source: Similarweb)
As per some calculations in the article, following are the estimates of ad pricing for the next 5 years, keeping IPL 2022 as the benchmark (assuming a 10% y-o-y growth):
Let’s do a small guestimate here:
What data do we have from the article?
- There are close to 330 ad spots of 10-sec per IPL match
- The total ad revenue from a spot is close to INR 15 Lakh (IPL 2022 figure)
The assumption we are making:
- CPM @INR 250 (IPL 2022 figure)
Using these data points, the number of viewers required per spot (concurrent viewers) to maintain this ad rate is ~ 6 million
Looking at the table above (Hotstar vs Voot), this number looks too big for Voot as currently, the daily active users for Voot is ~3.255 million.
Hence, to meet this ad rate while maintaining profitability, Voot would have to increase the number of subscriptions drastically else the digital IPL advertising 2023 rates could end up being much higher.
However, this is not the complete picture. Hotstar was at a similar stage when it won the digital rights to stream live IPL matches. In fact, now that IPL digital rights are no more with Hotstar, sources are expecting a significant share of users to unsubscribe from Disney+ Hotstar, some even predicting it to lose 50% paid subscribers.
Also, one fact that needs attention here is that Viacom18 is a joint venture between Paramount Global and Reliance Industries Ltd. As per the latest reports, Paramount+ is to be launched in 2023 and to be offered along with Viacom18 super services as a bundle.
IPL enthusiasts would remember that a few years ago, Jio connections gave free access to Hotstar and hence were a major contributor to increasing the viewer base.
Hence, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Reliance Jio uses the power of its 400 million user base to make IPL 2023 accessible digitally to all.
It’s quite likely that history will repeat itself and we would see a much better viewership than expected with similar or better IPL 2023 advertising costs.
IPL Ads
Since its inception, IPL ads have only gained traction and increased its audience base.
IPL ads have now turned out to be a crucial event for not just viewers but even advertisers, which is why IPL ads see a massive advertising spend every year.
IPL ads have been providing brands with a lucrative opportunity to reach out to an engaged and massive set of audiences, which is a gold mine for brands looking to target a national audience.
IPL ads keep the audiences glued to the TV sets throughout the tournament, and the live online streaming, now on Voot, will widen the audience reach even more.
Brands and marketers are aggressively investing in the series due to the growing viewership. Star India, the official broadcaster, was able to earn close to Rs 2,600 Cr in ad income because of IPL 2022.
Despite the epidemic, the broadcaster was able to surpass the Rs 2000 Cr. 2019 goal. Star India earned Rs 2,950 in advertising revenue in 2021.
IPL Creative Ads
IPL creative ads were mostly a struggle for the major companies when it first began in 2008. Advertising in the series meant that the commercial would be aired across the country, necessitating a large budget from brands.
Additionally, there is considerably more variety in brand categories advertised in IPL creative ads today than there was in IPL’s early years.
The categories and types of advertisements that are used in the IPL creative ads today compared to then are plainly seen.
Then, many cellular providers and car brands were included in the IPL’s advertising budget.
Brands like Vodafone, Nokia, and Volkswagen were the biggest participants in the IPL creative ads back in 2008, and they were at the top of the market for a considerable amount of time.
IPL 2021 Stats
IPL 2021 on TV (Source: BARC India)
- The 458 million TV viewers that watched the IPL in 2021 outnumbered those who watched Big Boss, Indian Idol, the Kapil Sharma Show, the KBC, and Super Dancer combined by a margin of 51%.
- The highest-rated group stage match in IPL history, IPL 2021 had a 9.6 TVR.
- Males are the majority of IPL TV viewers, according to NCCS A+B
- 200 million female viewers watched the IPL 2021, which was 27% higher than the combined audience of 5 GEC channels.
- The vast majority of spectators prefer to watch cricket matches in their native tongues.
IPL Advertising Strategy
The IPL advertising strategy in particular has seen live sports streaming on OTT platforms bring about a revolution in advertising.
IPL advertising strategy, which are renowned for their broad appeal, have emerged as a lucrative market for advertisers.
Hotstar has 260 million viewers during IPL 2020, and 300 million during IPL 2021.
IPL on Hotstar has provided sponsors the chance to connect with younger, more affluent customers. Hence an advertiser needs to make sure their IPL advertising strategy 2023 is top notch.
One can advertise on highlights too because 90 percent of those audiences see highlights within a day of the match ending, IPL advertising strategy during the highlights is also an excellent opportunity for brands.
IPL advertising strategy has worked tremendously well for various start-ups, which has busted the common assumption that IPL ads are only limited to big brands.
Here are some stats regarding start-ups that have prospered during IPL 2022
How much does an IPL TV ad cost?
INR 5 Lakhs and More: Hotstar Video Advertising
Video advertising can be a suitable option if your spending cap is INR 5 Lakh or above. An advertising budget of INR 5 lakh can buy you enough impressions to cover a single high-impact match, starting at INR 210 per CPM.
Television video advertising costs INR 1 crore and above.
The best advertising choice, when last-mile reach and cost per reach are taken into account is television advertising.
Even if the per-spot advertising rates for the IPL seem to be quite high, television advertising during the IPL in 2022 will have a variety of effects.
The least amount needed to promote during a single match would be roughly INR 1 Crore, with a 10-sec spot starting at 16 lakhs.
Rs. 25 crore and more: TV commercials for video games and Hotstar
Advertisers would be in a comfortable position to enhance their reach by focusing on both the Hotstar app audience and a TV audience with a budget of more than 25 crores.
FAQs about IPL Advertisement
Why advertise in the IPL?
India holds cricket close to its heart. IPL is the biggest celebration of cricket in the country. Advertising in IPL would mean capturing the attention of a highly engaged male-dominated Indian audience across the country, especially urban areas.
Where should you advertise during IPL 2023?
IPL advertisement on Star Sports, and in between online streaming on Voot can be a great option for brands and advertisers looking to advertise their products to a large audience.
Who can I reach out to by advertising in IPL 2023?
If your audience targeting strategy for IPL 2023 is:
Pan-India with mass reach
TV advertising is the best option for pan-India mass targeting because it not only guarantees the lowest cost per reach but also multiplies brand awareness when compared to digital advertising.
For national brands with mass targeting, such as FMCG brands, this choice would be best.
Regional/Gender/Age-Based Targeting
If your target audience is limited to an area/region, gender, or age group, advertising on Hotstar would be better.
Reference:
Popularity of OTT Platforms Rising
The Math Behind The Big Ticket Auction of IPL Media Rights
OTT Changing Indian Entertainment
Bulk SMS marketing is cost-effective when compared to traditional advertising methods, such as print media or television commercials.