IPL 2018: Here is the amount that Star India will earn from on-air ads this season

The popularity of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a well known proposition for all. No wonder why the big companies big high amounts and shell out big bucks to be associated with the most celebrated sporting event of the Indian calendar. The Star India bagged the media rights for IPL 2018 and the subsequent editions as well. While many might think that it is an ordinary deal, the truth is quite the opposite. The company is set to make huge profits during the upcoming season.

The recent reports in Livemint suggest that Star India will earn almost INR 1600 crores from their on-air brand partnerships. The big companies like Samsung, Nivea, PepsiCo India, Hondo Motocycle, Vodafone, and Amazon are among the 80 brands signed up with the Star India for the brand promotions on air during the IPL 2018. The net profits that Sony Pictures Networks made last year from the same deals was INR 1200 crore.

“IPL is immensely popular and the biggest home-grown cricket league, both in terms of viewership and sponsorships. We expect to see a 30-40% jump in on-air sponsorship this year. Star India is already investing in creating enough buzz around the upcoming league. While television is a big revenue churner for Star, digital will see an increase in ad sales because of high viewership owing to affordable data cost,” said Harsha Joshi, an independent media-buying consultant.

Hotstar set to gain big

The digital platform of Star India, Hotstar, is also set to gain big from the tournament this year. With a plethora of matches being played, the platform is expected to get a twenty per cent raise in the viewerships. The overall revenues generated from Hotstar could sail over the INR 2000 crore mark.

“IPL will help Hotstar with at least a 20% surge in viewership. With the league being in the snacky content format along with cheap data tariffs, I foresee Hotstar outdoing itself both in terms of viewership and ad sales revenues, which may go up to Rs200 crore,” said Ashish Bhatnagar, managing director (north), OmnicomMedia Group.

Views of the sponsors

Meanwhile, the sponsors of the teams and the tournament are also looking forward to the tournament. GoIbibo, who will be the prime sponsors of the defending champions Mumbai Indians, are hoping to expand their fan base through the tournament. They are keen on coming up with engaging competitions to keep the fans interested in their services as well as in the Mumbai Indians fixtures. Their logo will be sported by the players of the franchise.

“Goibibo targets young tech-savvy consumers which aligns well with the IPL viewership. As principal sponsors of the Mumbai Indians team, we will have a logo presence on the back of the jersey. But for me, this association is an unique confluence of online travel, cricket and Bollywood (with Deepika Padukone being our brand ambassador). We are also associate broadcast sponsor with Star India so we will be promoting ad campaigns to truly connect with consumers,” Saujanya Shrivastava, group chief marketing officer, MakeMyTrip quoted.

Also, the Tata Motors cited that the IPL comes with the package that has a lot of matches. No other tournament can beat the number of matches that is played during the IPL every year. Hence, it is the biggest platform for the companies to market their products to the fans.

“The viewership and reach you get for all the 58 matches and 58 days across the country is unbeatable. Hence, associating with an event of such a large scale greatly accelerates the consideration set for the product. Once you are a part of people’s purchase cycle the product, which is inherently strong, will deliver on sales volumes,” Vivek Srivatsa, head-marketing, passenger vehicle business unit, Tata Motors, quoted.

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