IPL 2024: Sponsors not backing away, league to continue its dream run, says GroupM

The first weekend will feature two double headers, beginning with the Punjab Kings hosting the Delhi Capitals on Saturday afternoon, followed by the Kolkata Knight Riders hosting the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the evening

The Indian Premier League (IPL) in its 17th edition will continue to see growth in sponsorship revenue, said a top official of marketing services firm GroupM.

"We are not seeing a muted response for the IPL this year. Apart from title sponsorship rights value which has seen around a 14 percent increase, other central sponsorship rights value have also grown 20 percent. Team sponsorship, which has been growing by around 12 percent year-on-year, this year has grown by 15 percent over 2023," said Vinit Karnik, head, entertainment, esports and sports, GroupM South Asia.

He said that the effect of the startup category cutting back on advertising spends was felt more last year in IPL's sponsorship and ad market. This year new categories have come in like BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), the fantasy sports category is competing fiercely, auto is doing well, Karnik said.

The value of title sponsorship rights has grown from Rs 40 crore in the first five-year cycle of 2008-12 to Rs 440 crore per year that title sponsor Vivo had paid in 2018-19. In the latest cycle for 2024-28, Tata Sons won the title sponsorship rights for Rs 2,500 crore for five years. Tata Sons had replaced Vivo as title sponsor in the last two seasons after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) snapped ties with the Chinese phone company due to political tensions between India and China.

IPLs strong innings

In a statement after the sponsorship deal announcement, BCCI had said the Tata Sons deal value was the highest ever sponsorship amount in league history.

IPL last year had contributed upwards of Rs 3,000 crore ($361 million) to India's overall sponsorship spends including central, team and franchise, according to a GroupM ESP (the entertainment and sports division of the WPP subsidiary) 2024 report.

It added that the T20 competition has emerged as a strong competition to many international sports leagues as far as broadcast value is concerned.

IPL's per-match broadcast value stands at $14.2 million (Rs 118.5 crore). The cricket league is ahead of the English Premier League (EPL), America’s Major League Baseball (MLB) that commands a per-match broadcast value of $11 million (Rs 91 crore) each and National Basketball Association (NBA), which has a per-match broadcast value of $9 million (Rs 75 crore).

IPL's overall valuation in 2023 stood at $10.7 billion, up 28 percent from $8.4 billion in 2022. Since the 2008 launch, the total brand value of the IPL ecosystem has surged by 433 percent, the report added.

IPL versus other global sports leagues

However this year, IPL is clashing with the general election, voting for which begins from April 19. While the IPL schedule has been impacted due to the polls, Karnik does not expect any negative impact on its ad market.

"This is the fourth time in the history of IPL when general elections and the league are clashing. Historic data suggests that there will be no impact. There will be advertising for elections as well as IPL, and both of them have different niches and there is an audience for both. In fact, it will only give a boost to the ad market in India. The ad pie grows in these years (that have more than one big event)," he said.

This is borne out by the fact that In 2014 when the seventh season of IPL clashed with the general election, there was no negative effect on advertisement rates. Ad rates during IPL 7 were in the range of Rs 4.75-5 lakh for a 10-second spot on TV, up from Rs 4 -4.5 lakh during IPL 6.

Another metric is brand value, which in 2019 stood at Rs 47,500 crore for IPL, up from Rs 41,800 crore in 2018. IPL's 12th edition had clashed with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Marketers note that many advertisers have a long-term commitment to the game. Also, experts point out that while elections will dominate the news cycle, IPL will outshine in the entertainment space.