MUMBAI: Hotstar, the Star-India owned OTT platform, has upped the digital co-presenting sponsor rates for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 to Rs 500 million, which is nearly a 60% increase from the last season, Exchange4Media reports.
For some context, it bears noting that in 2017, the likes of Vivo and Maruti had paid Rs 150-200 million to Hotstar for the same.
On the other hand, the associate sponsor rights for 2019 have been pegged at Rs 250 million. It is believed that Hotstar will give advertisers only one option to choose out of its three forms of ad inventory this year, namely the Watch N’Play gaming feature, social media branded cards and the traditional pre-rolls (6 second ads) and mid-rolls (10 second ads) on live and match highlights clips for example. The only difference will remain in the fact that associate sponsors will get lesser impressions on the inventories apart from Watch N’Play.
The website’s Masthead, which is the top most part of the page that features the five most popular videos on the page of the category, is expected to be valued at Rs 1.5-2 million a day, a prominent media buyer told the media news website. It has been targeted by brands such as Dream 11, who might have to cough up approximately between Rs 90 million to Rs. 120 million this year in the IPL.
During Indian cricket matches throughout the year, the Masthead is said to attract Rs. 1 million a day.
Hotstar is also ramping up marketing efforts by allowing advertisers to go regional and target 24 cohorts that will take demographics and language largely into account.
