Indian sports sponsorship industry grew by 14% in 2017

The overall sports sponsorship in India grew by 14% in 2017, as per the latest report released by ESP Properties- the entertainment and sports arm of GroupM and SportzPower. The report also revealed that advertising rose to Rs 7300 crore against Rs. 6,400 crore in the previous year.

While on ground sponsorship grew from Rs 1,165 crore to Rs 1,337 crore, team sponsorship went up from Rs 700 crore  to Rs 819 crore. Franchise fees rose from Rs 548 crore Rs 684 crore. As always, making up the biggest quantum of sports sponsorship investments was media spends accounting for 55.68 % of overall spends. Growing at 15.8 %, they were up from Rs 3511 crore to Rs 4,065 crore. Looking at the highs of 2017, IPL carried forward the momentum from 2016 and soared even higher, both ratings and revenue-wise.

The league mopped up Rs 1,200 crore in ad sales revenues for Sony Pictures Network India, compared to Rs 1,020 crore in 2016. In terms of viewership too, IPL’s 2017 season brought in 411 million viewer against 361 million for IPL 9 as per data provided by BARC.

Surprisingly, the sponsorship of non-cricketing sports also grew in 2017 with participation and attendance in football growing by 64%.  As India hosted its first ever FIFA U-17 World Cup, attendance for the event stood at a record 1,347,133, surpassing China's 1985 audience of 1,230,976.

Vinit Karnik, business head, ESP Properties said, “The year 2017 was a big year for the business of sports. With Pro Kabaddi League emerging as the second-most popular league in India after the Indian Premier League, and the India edition of U-17 Football World Cup creating history in terms of audience attendance, has given sports sponsorship enjoyed a bull run. As popularity of sports grows in India, sports stars also expand their brand endorsement portfolios. Virat Kohli led brand endorsements with 19 brands and 150+ crore in value, while PV Sindhu leads the non-cricket endorsement space with 11 brands and Rs 30 plus crore in value.”

The year 2017 also saw the birth of five new franchise based leagues – UTT, SBL, SFL, Cue Slam and P1 Power Boating. Brands are bullish about investing in emerging sports; 25% increase in franchise fees came from developments in other sports, as Cricket remained unchanged. Thirty-six new franchises were added across all new and existing leagues. While demonetisation and GST hit overall ad expenditure in 2017, the sports sector has been able to ride the storm with a steady and positive trajectory. All major sporting leagues managed to bring on board sponsors at a 100% or more incremental value for the title sponsorship. Specifically, the IPL has emerged as one of the top five most valuable global sports properties in the world.