Brands make a beeline for WPL as traction grows with newer verticals opening up

More brands are showing traction for WPL.

The Women's Premier League has bowled over many brands that took to social media to congratulate the teams, especially the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), which won the 2024 trophy.

After the three-week long WPL concluded on March 17 with RCB's win, Amul, quick commerce firms Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy, and food delivery companies like Zomato promptly praised the team and other women players.

WPL has opened up new categories for advertising like beauty, which did not find much connection with the Indian Premier League (IPL), the men's equivalent of the cricket tournament.

"The traction is slightly higher (among advertisers) than last year for WPL and as we go ahead, this will only keep on growing. I see one advantage and that is the bundling of men's and women's leagues. So, a lot of sponsorship that happens for men's IPL can happen for WPL," said Karan Taurani, senior vice president at Elara Capital.

Kay Beauty and Pond's Sunscreen signed up with UP Warriorz for WPL 2024, cosmetics brand LoveChild by Masaba partnered with WPL team Mumbai Indians and personal care and beauty brands Himalaya Wellness and Lotus Herbals rolled out campaigns during the tournament.

Key categories

While WPL team sponsorships are from three women-centric categories like jewellery, FMCG and personal care, other verticals have also opened up, he added.

"Brand traction for WPL is heavily skewed towards beauty, personal care and FMCG categories. These are the key categories that are doing more sponsorships and partnerships. But other verticals that have opened up for WPL are technology, and the likes of Dream 11 firms. So, there is ample penetration and potential to grow advertising in WPL," Taurani said.

Categories including audio wearables, banking, fintech, insurance, two-wheelers, electric vehicles and FMCG have all been associated with the WPL, Karan Yadav, chief commercial officer of JSW Sports, told Storyboard18, citing the examples of CarLelo, Tata Punch EV and JBL.

In addition, IPL advertising partners have extended their association with WPL - among them Galaxy Basmati, Kajaria Ceramics, Vega Beauty, and Puma.

Nitin Menon of NV Capital said brands that came forward to cheer the success of RCB and WPL after the final may also look at associations with WPL.

"They (brands) are testing the waters now to see how they build on these in future seasons and how they can generate the necessary ROI (return on investment) for future seasons. Right now, it will be too premature to say that all the advertisers will immediately jump on the bandwagon. Such properties take time to build and once the hype, viewership and awareness gets created, then it becomes easier for brands to participate and generate effective ROI," Menon said.

According to Taurani, things looked much better during WPL 2024 than last year.

"This property can get bigger in the next 4-5 years, and we will get an idea how much it can scale up to," he said.

However, there have been some challenges in closing deals with sponsors and advertisers because many startups have cut their marketing spends. Also, most of the advertising budget in FY24 went into the Cricket World Cup 2023 played from October 5 to November 19 last year.

"It will take a couple of seasons more to catch up and advertisers will jump on to the bandwagon based on the hype and viewership which should build in the future seasons. I think sponsorship still looks good since there are sufficient bands sponsoring the seasons, but advertising will need to pick up from here (WPL 2024) for the upcoming seasons," Menon said.