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
IPL 2026 shows widening gap between CTV and TV advertising trends
Ecom leads CTV with 39 per cent, 30 plus shared categories, distinct advertiser mix.
MUMBAI: If cricket is the same on every screen, advertising clearly isn’t. A new analysis by TAM Sports reveals a widening gap between Connected TV (CTV) and linear television advertising during IPL 2026, with brands and categories playing very different innings across platforms. On CTV, digital-first categories dominated. E-commerce media, entertainment and social media led with a commanding 39 per cent share, followed by e-commerce services at 11 per cent. Smartphones and cars each accounted for 6 per cent, while air conditioners contributed 4 per cent highlighting a strong tilt towards tech-led and high-consideration categories.
Linear TV, in contrast, leaned heavily into mass-market staples. Mouth fresheners topped the chart with 14 per cent, closely followed by e-commerce services at 13 per cent. Financial institutions held a 6 per cent share, while paints and e-commerce wallets each stood at 5 per cent, reflecting a more traditional advertising mix.
The divergence extends to advertisers as well. On CTV, Star India (JioHotstar) led with a dominant 39 per cent share, followed by Google at 17 per cent. Havells India, Renault India and Reliance Consumer Products rounded out the top five with smaller shares. Linear TV saw Google in the lead at 12 per cent, with Reliance Consumer Products at 10 per cent, followed by Vishnu Packaging and Havells India at 6 per cent each, and K P Pan Foods at 5 per cent.
Despite these differences, there is some overlap. The study identified 30 plus common categories and 25 plus common advertisers across both platforms, based on 22 matches analysed. Shared categories included e-commerce media, e-commerce services, mouth fresheners, paints and cars, while common advertisers featured Star India (JioHotstar), Google and Reliance Consumer Products.
Yet, exclusivity tells the sharper story. CTV saw over 20 exclusive categories and 30 plus unique advertisers, including smartphones, credit cards, fast food outlets and hotels, with brands such as Renault India, Tata Motors and Voltas featuring prominently. Linear TV, meanwhile, had 15 plus exclusive categories and 20 plus advertisers, including chocolates, jewellery, perfumes and mortgage loans, with names like Cadbury India, Skoda Auto and Amul in the mix.
The findings point to a structural shift in how advertisers are approaching big-ticket sporting events. While linear TV continues to deliver scale and familiarity, CTV is emerging as a playground for digital-native categories and more targeted brand storytelling.
In the IPL’s advertising game, it seems the format may be the same but the strategy is anything but uniform.
