MUMBAI: With the days counting down for the Indian Premier League 2020 to kick off in the UAE, official broadcaster Star Sports has signed on 15 sponsors for the upcoming season.
Apart from the sponsors, Star Sports has more than 60 advertisers for spot buys, PPL shows and features.
IPL 2020 title sponsor Dream11 has come on board as co-presenting sponsor along with Phone Pe, Amazon and BYJU’s. Co-presenting partnerships have reportedly been signed in the range of Rs 1.2-1.4 billion.
Additionally, Star Sports has signed on Polycab, USL, Coca Cola, ITC Foods, Mondelez, Procter & Gamble, Asian Paints, MRF, Kamla Pasand, Rummy Circle, AMFI, as associate sponsors. Associate sponsorships have reportedly been sold in the Rs 500-700 million range.
Additionally, Star Sports has also roped in the likes of Colgate, Mobile Premier League, MyTeam11, Hyundai, GlaxoSmith Kline (GSK), Indigo Paints for spot-buys.
According to Star Sports CEO Gautam Thakar, 75% inventory on IPL 2020 has already been sold out. In an interview to Economic Times, Thakar asserted that for IPL 2020, the broadcaster has already signed 60 advertisers including 15 Sponsors.
“We have sold about 75% of total inventory and are well ahead of our IPL 2020 targets,” Thakar told ET.
He further added, “We have 15 sponsors and 60 advertisers on board and currently we are in advanced stage with a few categories for associate sponsorships and many more for spot buys.”
FMCG is the category, which according to Thakar, is investing big on IPL 2020. All the big name FMCG advertisers, including Coca Cola, ITC, Mondelez, P&G, Nestle, Colgate, Britannia, GSK, Reckitt, among others, are participating in this edition of the IPL.
Besides the traditional advertisers, key categories which are looking to leverage the IPL in a big way are online shopping, edutech, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), fantasy sports and auto.
Star Sports has increased its programming content for pre-shows thus making more inventory available for this popular asset for brands which want to participate in Dream11 IPL during the festive season, Best Media Info reports.
Increased interest from BFSI advertisers, who are considering viewing this IPL season as a unique combination of festive and a high impact opportunity to engage and influence consumers whose buying behaviour has been disrupted.
Both the number of advertisers and the amount of ad spends is higher than usual, the media website quotes industry sources as having said. “The network has witnessed heavy demand from brands, given the fact that Dream11 IPL cuts across gender and ages.”
