The line-up of sponsors for IPL broadcast on Star India's bouquet of channels and streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar gives an indication of the growing presence of startups in Indian cricket.
Dream11, which bagged the title sponsorship rights of the tournament last month for Rs 222 crore, is a co-presenting sponsor of the IPL broadcast and also the digital co-presenting sponsor.
Byju's has signed up as the co-presenting partner and also as lead sponsor of the pre and post-match analysis shows on the Star Sports network.
Last year, Maruti Suzuki was the sponsor of the shows. Among automobile companies, Hero MotoCorp is one of the associate broadcast sponsors while Cadbury Dairy Milk, Sunfeast and Gillette are also on that list.
PhonePe, CRED, Dailyhunt and Khatabook are some of the other startups, which are splashing cash.
With the economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, the startups have ensured that the brand value of IPL does not suffer any dent and have made significant inroads into a space once dominated by FMCG and auto companies.
Lloyd Mathias, business strategist and angle investor, told Moneycontrol that since most of the startups are in the growth phase, they see IPL as a good opportunity to gain mileage.
"The likes of Dream11, Byju’s and PhonePe are flush with funds from venture capitalist. They know that IPL will give them a very good exposure. Startups have taken the place of consumer durable brands, which suffered due to the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Vodafone Idea, rebranded as VI, has also come on board and understandably so because of the rebranding exercise they have undertaken. So, startups and internet economy companies are better placed to showcase their products," he said.
For this year's broadcast of the world's most popular T20 tournament, Star has managed to sell all sponsorship packages and is expected to sell the last bit of inventory at a premium during the later stages of the tournament.
He said that Star has done a good job in selling the advertising inventory considering the economic climate.
"Star has done a good job. In revenue terms, they will come relatively close to last year’s number. It is a good sign considering the state of the economy. They have been able to capitalise on the fact that there was no live domestic sporting action and also a lot of companies may wait till the festive season to kick-start their businesses," he added.
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