MAM
JioStar unveils ‘The Winning Edge’ playbook for live cricket advertisers
Data-led guide shows multi-screen, sponsorship strategies drive higher impact
MUMBAI: JioStar has launched ‘The Winning Edge’, a data-backed advertising playbook aimed at helping brands maximise impact on live cricket, positioning the sport as one of the most powerful marketing platforms in India.
Built using billions of impression-level data points across marquee cricket properties and validated through studies by Kantar, the playbook offers practical insights into how brands can drive measurable outcomes such as awareness, recall and purchase intent.
The findings make a strong case for live cricket as a growth engine for both new and established brands. According to the report, new advertisers on live cricket campaigns saw up to 6.9 times higher brand awareness and up to 10.8 times higher purchase intent compared to industry benchmarks. Established brands also recorded gains, with up to four times higher awareness and nearly five times higher purchase intent.
Speaking about the initiative, JioStar head of sales sports Anup Govindan said, “The Winning Edge, developed in partnership with Kantar, is built on rigorous, data-backed analysis of how real brands have performed on our platform across categories, objectives, budgets, formats and tournament phases. The study reaffirms that when it comes to driving real outcomes such as awareness, consideration and purchase intent, nothing matches the intensity, scale and impact of live cricket. The depth of attention and emotional engagement during live moments creates a multiplier effect that non-live environments simply cannot replicate.”
One of the standout insights is the advantage of multi-screen strategies. Campaigns that ran simultaneously across linear TV, connected TV and mobile delivered up to seven times higher purchase intent than single-platform campaigns, with minimal audience overlap ensuring incremental reach.
The playbook also highlights the impact of combining formats. Brands using both video and display formats saw up to 7.4 times higher brand awareness compared to those relying on video alone.
Sponsorships emerged as another key lever. Brands with formal sponsorship deals recorded up to nine times higher purchase intent and up to eight times higher ad awareness than those opting only for standard inventory buys. Adding pre and post live studio programming further boosted aided awareness by up to 2.1 times.
Crucially, the report identifies high-impact in-match moments such as Super 4s, Super 6s, DRS and fall of wickets as prime opportunities for brands. Campaigns aligned with these moments delivered uplifts of up to 10 times in awareness and up to seven times in recall, reinforcing the value of contextual advertising.
Echoing these findings, Kantar managing director and chief client & solutions officer Soumya Mohanty said, “Numerous Kantar Brand Lift Studies have demonstrated the incremental impact of live cricket advertising, with results consistently ranking at the top end of Kantar’s Brand Lift database. This playbook distils those insights into actionable media planning and creative recommendations to help advertisers drive stronger outcomes in live cricket environments.”
With live cricket continuing to draw massive, highly engaged audiences, JioStar is positioning ‘The Winning Edge’ as a blueprint for brands looking to move beyond visibility and towards measurable impact.
As the competition for consumer attention intensifies, the message is clear. In the world of sports marketing, playing smart may matter just as much as showing up.
Brands
Kotak Mahindra Prime names Suraj Rajappan as managing director and chief executive
The car-finance arm of Kotak Mahindra Bank lines up a new chief and raises its borrowing limit
MUMBAI: Suraj Rajappan is getting the keys. Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited (KMPL), India’s veteran car-finance outfit, has named him managing director and chief executive, effective June 1st, 2026—the same day his predecessor drives off into retirement.
The board approved the appointment at its meeting on March 18th. Rajappan, currently a whole-time director at the company, has spent his entire 24-year career at KMPL, working across functions before rising to the top job. The three-year term remains subject to shareholder approval, and the company confirmed he faces no bar from SEBI or any other authority from holding the post.
He takes over from Shahrukh Todiwala, who superannuates on May 31st after more than three decades with the Kotak Group. Ashok Vaswani, managing director and chief executive of parent Kotak Mahindra Bank, was generous in his send-off. Todiwala, he said, “leaves behind a legacy marked by prudent growth, strong risk discipline, and a focus on customer-centricity.” Of his successor, Vaswani was equally bullish: Rajappan’s “deep industry experience and execution capabilities position KMPL well for its next phase of growth.”
The board also loosened the purse strings, raising the company’s overall outstanding debt limit from Rs 43,000 crore to Rs 48,000 crore. The expanded ceiling covers bank loans, debentures, commercial paper, treasury operations, credit facilities and external commercial borrowings.
KMPL has operated as a car-finance company since 1996, branching into two-wheeler loans in 2018 and loans against property in 2021. With fresh leadership, a bigger borrowing arsenal and an ambitious lender for a parent, Rajappan’s first task is clear: step on the accelerator.
