Sports
JioStar secures 27 sponsors for IPL 2026, defying global headwinds
From AI tools to electric vehicles, India’s biggest cricket broadcaster has assembled a full house of brand partners across 27 categories
MUMBAI: JioStar has stitched together a 27-brand sponsor roster for the 2026 Tata IPL season, a lineup that stretches from artificial intelligence and consumer electronics to electric vehicles and fast-moving consumer goods, and has done so against a global macroeconomic backdrop that has rattled advertising budgets far beyond India’s borders.
At the top of the billing, Google Search AI Mode has signed on as a co-presenting sponsor, a first for artificial intelligence as a category in Indian cricket advertising and a sign of how fast the technology is muscling into mass-market culture. Alongside it are Campa Energy and Havells and Lloyd as co-presenting sponsors, with Birla Opus, Hero MotoCorp and Amazon.in holding the co-powered tier.
The associate sponsor band is even more eclectic. AMFI, Asian Paints, Vimal Elaichi, SuperMoney, MRF, Flipkart Minutes, Gillette, Vida, RuPay, Mondelez, Mother Dairy, Groww, Rapido, Muthoot Finance, Sunfeast YiPPee!, Google Pay, TVS EV, Angel One and Campa Sure have all signed up. Amul will present the Cricket Live show, while Google Search AI Mode takes the Match Centre Live show, a neat double for the search giant.
The mix is telling: legacy Indian conglomerates sit alongside new-age fintech platforms; a dairy cooperative shares screen space with an AI-powered search engine. Few properties in Indian media can claim that kind of categorical range.
Anup Govindan, head of sales, sports at JioStar, did not shy away from the macro context. “The strength and diversity of this year’s sponsor line-up reflects the continued confidence advertisers place in JioStar. Following India’s historic ICC T20 World Cup triumph and the emergence of a new galaxy of stars, fans will now see these heroes back in action across franchises, making the Tata IPL an incredibly compelling proposition, one that brands have been quick to recognise.”
He added: “What’s particularly encouraging is that this confidence has held firm even against a challenging global macroeconomic backdrop. The commitment our partners have shown is a powerful testament to the unmatched value the Tata IPL on the JioStar network delivers.”
JioStar’s pitch to advertisers rests on scale that is difficult to argue with. Its television network and streaming service together reach more than 750 million viewers each week, a combined audience that makes it one of the largest unified sports platforms on earth. The broadcaster is betting that its cross-screen ecosystem, spanning immersive formats on connected televisions to personalised mobile experiences, will make the 2026 edition the most-watched IPL yet.
For brands, the arithmetic is straightforward. In a fragmented media landscape where audiences scatter across dozens of platforms, a property that can still command a unified mass audience and do it live, in sport, with the emotional heat of the IPL, is an increasingly rare thing. Twenty-seven of them, from Groww to Gillette, have decided it is worth paying for.
Sports
JioStar terminates Bangladesh IPL and WPL broadcast rights deals
Payment defaults lead to licence cancellations and potential legal action.
MUMBAI: When the money stops flowing in cricket’s biggest cash cow, even the sub-licence holders can find themselves suddenly bowled out. JioStar India Private Limited has terminated its Bangladesh sub-licence agreements for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Women’s Premier League (WPL) after the counterparty, Excel Lead IT Solutions FZ-LLC (holding company of broadcaster T-Sports), failed to clear outstanding dues.
The agreements, originally signed with Viacom18 (now part of JioStar) and later novated to Excel Lead, covered digital media rights for the IPL and WPL in Bangladesh for the 2023–27 seasons. In early January 2026, JioStar issued a demand notice for unpaid amounts related to the IPL 2025 and WPL 2025 seasons. Despite providing full access to matches and allowing complete commercial exploitation, the dues remained unpaid even after the cure period expired.
As a result, all licensed rights have automatically reverted to JioStar. The company has demanded immediate payment of all outstanding dues along with overdue interest and costs, and has instructed Excel Lead (T-Sports) to immediately cease any broadcast, streaming, promotion or exploitation of the rights in Bangladesh. Any continued use would constitute unauthorised exploitation.
JioStar is also considering legal proceedings, including interim and injunctive relief, to protect the commercial value of these high-profile cricket properties.
In a separate development, JioStar has invoked arbitration against Green Bean Sports Marketing (an affiliate of Gazi TV Bangladesh) over a sublicensing agreement for IPL television media rights in Bangladesh for the 2023–27 seasons. The agreement was terminated in January 2025 due to contractual breaches and payment issues.
Industry sources say JioStar remains confident in the judicial process and is determined to recover all outstanding amounts, including interest and litigation costs, in full.
The developments highlight a growing zero-tolerance approach by rights holders towards payment defaults and unauthorised exploitation in South Asia’s lucrative sports media market, where marquee cricket properties continue to command premium valuations.
In the high-stakes game of cricket broadcasting, it seems JioStar has decided that when payments don’t come, the game stops and the rights go back to the rightful owner.
