Mumbai: The Disney Star India (read: Star Sports sales) team seems to have done it again: breasted the broadcast sponsorship tape for the IPL 2020 in good time, even as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has yet to close many of its deals.
The roster of sponsors, which was revealed in the first IPL promo look pretty healthy, clearly showing the confidence that brands have in the success of the tournament which is slated to flag off on 19 September in the Dubai International Sports Stadium in the UAE.
It’s digital first brands, as expected and predicted, that have come on board as co-presenting broadcast sponsors. This includes fantasy sports app Dream 11, online shopping major Amazon, digital payments company PhonePe, and edutech unicorn Byju’s.
Amongst the associate sponsors figure some old sports backers and some new ones: Cadbury Dairy Milk, Sunfeast, Coca-Cola, Polycab, Rummycircle, Kamla Pasand Masala and McDowell’s.
For this year, Star Sports claims to have already sold out 75 per cent of the IPL inventory. There are over 60 advertisers, including FMCG, auto, BFSI, online shopping, edutech, and other new-age brands, for spot buys, PPL shows, and features. Some of the brands in this list include Coca Cola, ITC, Mondelez, P&G, Nestle, Colgate, Britannia, GSK, and Reckitt. Star has also indicated that the number of advertisers and the amount of ad spends is higher than the usual. The network claims to have witnessed heavy demand from brands as Dream11 IPL cuts across gender and ages
The broadcaster reveals that brands from BFSI categories have shown great interest in this season of Dream11 IPL. They are seeing it as a unique combination of festive and a high impact opportunity to engage and influence consumers whose buying behaviour has been disrupted.
On the programming front, Star Sports has increased its content for pre-shows thus making more inventories available for this popular asset for brands that want to participate in this high impact property during the festive season.
IPL is the biggest live sporting event happening in the subcontinent after a hiatus of nearly five months. People are keenly awaiting the tournament to begin. It is expected that the viewership of the game will be higher as audiences have sorely missed live sports. As per BARC, currently, TV consumption is higher over pre-Covid2019 times as people are restricted to their homes. The matches, this year start at 7:30 pm and will increase audience availability by more than 20 per cent, as per BARC.
Over the years, the league has been regarded as the biggest platform reach and engagement for brands as it has continued to set viewership records across demographics year-on-year. The twelfth edition of the league witnessed 613 million viewers (consolidated + PPL + Surround). The broadcaster will continue with its focus on regional channels. IPL 2019 also saw some record-breaking numbers through women viewership. Nearly 175 million women viewers aged 15 years and above watched Vivo IPL across India between 23 March and 12 May 2019. As per the data from the broadcaster, the top 50 shows among women include cricket and IPL dominates primetime with 3.5 per cent leadership margin.
