What slowdown? Companies seem ready to loosen purse strings for IPL!

If you want to track what businesses are working on their marketing strategies to leave competition behind, don’t look beyond the Indian Premier League (IPL). As it took global T20 cricket to the masses during the first 12 editions, the six-week long league has scored a near perfect 10.

The 13th edition may have been disrupted because of novel coronavirus. But the stage is now set to stage the league in the UAE. Suddenly, brands managers and CEOs who harangued the world about the slowdown, appear to be ready to write a cheque. Companies are loosening their purse strings as the league appears to be finalising its plans.

The IPL management is currently going through the motions of freezing the dates for the tournament. The BCCI has confirmed to the Emirates Cricket Board that the league will be held in UAE. As the league is well poised to go ahead, it is confirmed that cricket commerce is supreme.

Brands understand that language and no sporting property, in India, delivers it better for them than IPL. The heady mix of cricket, Bollywood and business is unsurmountable. Little wonder that the number of brands that ride on IPL have been growing rapidly over the years.

IPL Advertisers

Between 2016 and 2018, according to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) the number of brands that advertised during IPL grew to 247 from 138, a jump of 79 per cent. The number of advertisers grew to 123 from 82 during this period.

This is brute market power at work.

NUMBERS TELL THE STORY

The reach that IPL delivers –462 million viewers in 2019 – does not have any parallel in India. Beginning with the very first match (when Brendon McCullum smashed that unbelievable century, remember?), there was never any doubt about the way the league would be loved. But the way the viewership has grown has made the pull for brands even stronger.

Between 2016 and 2018, from an average time spent of 28 minutes, the metric improved to 34 minutes, according to a BARC report.

In 2018, as the broadcast rights moved to Star India, it was telecast live on at least 16 channels compared to five the year before. Some of the 16 were movie channels!! In a country where following and watching movies can be religion, the multiplier effect of cricket and Bollywood can be imagined. In 2019, the matches were aired in eight languages across 24 channels.

During the three-year period mentioned by BARC above, the age segment under 15 years has registered a 52 per cent growth, the one in the 15-21 registered a 50 per cent growth in viewership while 20 per cent growth was registered in the 22-30 years olds category. All this has added to the ever expanding viewership for the live matches.

The BARC research found that it even got better than that. During 2016, IPL accounted for 22 per cent of sports viewership in India. Two years later, the figure had hit a whopping 43 per cent. For 2018, Hindi, with 55 per cent, and regional languages accounted for 78 per cent of the viewership.

On Hotstar, the digital media platform from Star, 300 million people watched the tournament, of which 18.6 million logged in to watch the finals.

If that is not IPL’s brute market power at work, nothing is.

THEY’RE COPYING THE FORMULA

All successful brands have their copycats and IPL is no exception. T20 leagues now happen in countries like Brazil, Argentina, Cyprus and Holland and the 105 members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) are taking to new locations. The leagues in countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Australia, the West Indies and others that have only added to the aura of the IPL.

The valuation of the league has been defying the law of gravity. Since 2014, the value of the league has doubled.

IPL valuation

From start-ups, occasionally behaving like upstarts, to the biggest brands that seek to drive customer engagement, IPL has been a platform for brands to go about their business.

If BCCI can ill afford to let one edition of the IPL slip out of its hands, blame it on its brute power.

Admin Sportz Front

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