IPL 2021: Star Sports on boards same number of sponsors as last year

Ahead of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Star Sports has roped in 18 sponsors and over 100 advertisers across multiple brand categories.

Last year, the broadcaster had signed 13 sponsors around a month before the thirteenth edition of the cricket extravaganza, eventually Star Sports had got on board 18 sponsors.

The official broadcaster of the Vivo IPL 2021 has got on board brands like Dream11, Byju’s, Phone Pe, Just Dial, Upstox, Bingo, Kamla Pasand, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), Frooti, Asian Paints, Thums Up, Vodafone-Idea, Mondelez, Amazon Prime, Groww, Cred, Garnier Men, and Havells.

This year, Star India is looking at close to Rs 200 crore from associate and co-presenting sponsorship deals, say experts.

On the digital front, Disney+Hotstar has so far signed 10 sponsors for IPL 2021, including Dream11 as the co-presenting sponsor and Upstox and Vimal Elaichi as co-powered by sponsors.

Last year, Disney+Hotstar had got as many as 13 sponsors, up from 10 sponsors that the platform had onboarded for the 12th season of IPL.

Other sponsors are Phone Pe, AMFI, Unacademy, Pharmeasy, Livspace, Swiggy, and Parle Agro that have come on board as associate sponsors.

“ VIVO IPL on Star Sports has established itself as a marquee marketing platform, and the interest among advertisers has only grown with each passing year.

"The tournament spans across two months, giving brands the advantage to have extended engagement with their consumers and provide a platform that has the most significant brand value and recall. The response from the advertisers is extremely encouraging," said Anil Jayaraj, Executive Vice President, Star Sports.

When it comes to advertising rates, both TV and digital are charging a premium. While ad rates on TV are up by 10 percent, on digital it is up by around 20 percent.

While launching the IPL campaign on March 15, Sanjog Gupta, Head – Sports, Star India, had said, “VIVO IPL 2021 is returning to Indian soil with a lot of anticipation across the country."