Star India set to garner Rs 2,100 crore ad revenues in IPL on strong response

MUMBAI: Star India is set to rake in over Rs 2,100 crore in advertising revenues from 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a sharp 20% jump over the previous season, when it had netted Rs 1,750 crore across TV and digital platforms.

“It’s been a really strong year and the response from the advertisers has overshot our earlier projections. This is testimony to the value IPL delivered last year and the plans we have this season,” said a highly placed source, adding that over 80% inventory has already been sold. IPL 2019 will kick off on March 23.

“I think Star has done fabulously well this season. Till last week, Rs 2,100 crore had been logged. The strategy to go language intensive has really helped. Also, a March IPL means residual budgets of last year are coming in handy and new fiscal budgets kicking in April,” said Dr. Sandeep Goyal, chairman, Mogae Media.


Some of the big advertisers who have come on board across TV and Hotstar this season include Coca-Cola, PhonePe, Vivo, Oppo, Swiggy, Maruti Suzuki, Dream 11, MRF, MakeMyTrip, Voltas, Asian Paints, Samsung LED, Future Group, Byju’s, Vimal Pan Masala, Mondelez, Mobile Premier League and Polycab.

Advertisers which have taken only digital sponsorship on Hotstar, include Amazon Pay, Flipkart, Madhura Garments and Nestle Maggi. Shashi Sinha, CEO at IPG Mediabrands, said the overall ad spends on IPL this season is “far better” than the previous season.

In an earlier interaction, Gautam Thakar, CEO, Star Sports, had told ET that IPL is by far India’s biggest property across genres and the company is excited to take it to the next level.

“We are better equipped this year with what can be done to make it the biggest IPL ever,” he had said.

IPL has been the only property that has delivered viewership growth year-on-year, over the last 11 years.

Star India had aired the league across six languages and 12 channels last year. This year, the network will show IPL across 22 channels. The Sunday matches will be aired on Star Gold (Hindi), Vijay Super (Tamil), Maa Movies (Telugu), Star Suvarna (Kannada), Jalsha Movies (Bengali), Star Pravah (Marathi) and Asianet Plus (Malayalam). Regional sports channels in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Bengali (to be launched ahead of IPL) will carry matches on all days.

Star had incurred a loss of over Rs 1,200 crore from the 11th edition of the annual cricket extravaganza as per ET estimates. Star India had done bundled deals — selling both TV and digital together — for Rs 10 lakh per 10 seconds ad spot. While it met with resistance, the company managed to recover about Rs 1,750 crore, a 30% jump over previous year.