IPL 2022: Disney Star’s ad revenue may rise 25%, digital’s share to increase

The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has not only returned to India but will also sport two new teams this year, resulting in higher advertising revenue for the tournament.

Advertisers are betting more on the league this year as more number of matches leads to higher inventory, resulting in more ad revenue for Disney Star. The network’s Star Sports is the official broadcaster of IPL and Disney+ Hotstar is the official digital streaming partner.

“This year the uptick will be 25 percent in ad revenue as the number of matches will be around 20 percent more,” said Karan Taurani, senior vice-president at Elara Capital. “However, more matches will not lead to a big increase because some matches will be scheduled in the afternoon slot. So, that is where the challenge is.”

He said the evening matches attract far higher rates than afternoon matches.

Twelve matches have been scheduled at the 3:30 pm slot this year – compared with 11 last year – and the rest will be played from 7:30 pm. Ten teams will play a total of 70 league matches and four playoff games scheduled over 65 days starting March 26.

Along with more matches, TV ad rates have gone up to Rs 15 lakh for a 10-second slot from Rs 14 lakh.

“Last year, it (IPL ad revenue) was Rs 3,000 crore on TV and Rs 400-500 crore on digital and this year, the overall number will surpass Rs 4,300 crore,” added Taurani.

Even with 14 additional matches this time, Disney Star has already sold almost 90 percent of the inventory on its TV and online properties, said Anand Nair, CCO of ad agency 4AM Worldwide. More than 100 brands will be featured this year across mediums, pointed out Nair.

Fast&Up, a company that caters to the nutritional needs of athletes and focuses on TV and digital, said IPL is bigger and better this time with two new teams.

“I have been interacting with a lot of media houses, fellow brands and there are a lot of eyes on IPL because everyone wants to capitalise on the upswing in the conditions post-Covid,” said Vijayaraghavan Venugopal, cofounder of Fast&Up. “In a way, there is a fear of missing out.”

In 2020, Fast&Up was the official Nutrition Partner Digital for Chennai Super Kings.

“For us, we would definitely be looking at a hybrid model where we are present across multiple mediums. The ratios would vary, but for sure looking forward to spreading our focus,” said Venugopal.

Experts estimate faster growth in digital ad revenue for IPL.

“There is supposed to be a significant increase in digital ad spends this year and IPL will be no different. With digital spends expected to cross TV spends by 2023, one can expect a 30-35 percent growth this year,” said Nair.

Taurani said digital’s share of overall IPL ad revenue will increase because the medium is growing faster – TV is growing by 7-8 percent and digital by 25-30 percent.

Mitesh Kothari, cofounder of White Rivers Media, a digital marketing agency, said the response of advertisers has been pretty good.

“A lot of slots were sold out way before time. A lot of advertisers are not just focusing on digital but the ‘digital powered by innovation’ this year,” Kothari said.

He added that there is a change in the kind of advertisers that Disney+ Hotstar is attracting for the league.

“This year, we have seen a lot more categories of funded startups alongside the crypto startups who have been aggressively advertising this year,” he said.

Ambarish Ray, cofounder of Digital Dogs Content and Media, noted that fintechs and startups that are buoyant on funds and are looking to pay their way into the awareness and top-of-the-mind spaces of consumers are the norm this year.

For the 15th edition, Disney Star has signed 15 sponsors and Disney+ Hotstar has onboarded 13 sponsors including Dream11 as the co-presenting sponsor, Tata and CRED as the ‘co-powered by’ sponsors, Swiggy, Pristyn Care, Zepto, Ather Energy, Niyo, Parle Agro, Spotify, Livspace, L’Oreal and Spinny as associate sponsors.

“There is heightened interest from advertisers across categories for the upcoming season of Tata IPL owing to the addition of new teams, thus an opportunity for them to reach out to a new set of audiences,” Nitin Bawankule, head - ad sales, Disney Star, said in a statement recently. “All key features including Super 4s, Super 6s, Fall of Wickets and Milestones have sold out on our platform.”