Star India seen earning ₹1,600 cr from TV partnerships for IPL 11
NEW DELHI: Star India, the official television broadcaster of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which begins on April 7, is expected to earn ₹1,600 crore from on-air brand partnerships, registering an over-30% increase from last year when Sony Pictures Networks earned ₹1,200 crore in ad sales from IPL season 10.
According to a senior executive at Star India who declined to be named, Star has sold 90% of its on-air media inventory, signing 80 brand sponsorship deals so far. The brand partnerships include those with Vodafone, Amazon, PepsiCo India, Mondelez India and online food delivery firm Swiggy, among others.
Apart from presenting sponsors, the nine associate sponsors include Future Group, wire and cable manufacturer Polycab, Parle Products, Association of Mutual Funds of India and MakeMyTrip.
“IPL is immensely popular and the biggest home-grown cricket league... We expect to see a 30-40% jump in on-air sponsorship this year. Star India is already investing in creating buzz around it. While television is a big revenuechurner for Star, digital will see an increase in ad sales because of high viewership owing to affordable data cost,” said Harsha Joshi, an independent media-buying consultant.
Media buyers say Hotstar, the video-streaming platform owned by Star India, is expected to earn the broadcasting network between ₹150 crore and ₹200 crore. Last year, it made ₹136 crore from advertising. Star India, which for the first time has both the TV and digital broadcast rights for IPL, has been selling bundled contracts to advertisers, allowing them to advertise both on its TV channels and Hotstar.
Star will live-cast the matches in four regional languages— Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali—along with Hindi and English.