The Indian Premier League (IPL) has emerged as a cultural juggernaut, captivating the nation's attention and transforming into a platform where sport, entertainment, and business converge in spectacular fashion. The IPL's magnetic appeal is evidenced by the fact that 80% of team sponsorships for the upcoming 2025 season have already been secured, with advertising inventory poised for an early and complete sell-out.
As we approach this monumental event, it’s the perfect time to dissect the IPL's evolution into a media and advertising sensation that has reshaped India's marketing landscape. The tournament's reach is staggering, surpassing even the vaunted US Super Bowl in viewership—not just for a single event, but for each of the 74 matches spread across a two-month season. This sustained engagement presents an unparalleled opportunity for brands to connect with a diverse and enthusiastic audience across the Indian subcontinent.
The IPL's influence extends far beyond the boundaries of the cricket field, permeating social media, digital platforms, and everyday conversations. It has become a canvas upon which brands paint their narratives, using the passion and excitement surrounding Indian cricket to forge deep connections with consumers. As we look into the intricacies of the IPL's advertising ecosystem, we will explore how this sporting spectacle has become the ultimate haven for brands seeking to make their mark in the Indian market.
The IPL: India's Unparalleled Sporting Spectacle
The Indian Premier League's impact on the digital landscape and consumer behavior is nothing short of revolutionary. The 2023 IPL season catalyzed a remarkable 45% surge in streaming app installations, underscoring the tournament's role in driving digital adoption across India. This exponential growth in digital engagement is further exemplified by the staggering 449 million views garnered during the same season, cementing the IPL's status as a content powerhouse. The 2024 edition of the IPL has continued this upward trajectory, demonstrating the tournament's enduring appeal and expanding influence. The season witnessed a 10% increase in overall buzz compared to previous years, with conversations and interactions reaching unprecedented levels. Perhaps most notably, the consumption of IPL-related video content experienced a threefold increase from the previous season, highlighting the audience's insatiable appetite for cricket-centric media.
From a financial perspective, the IPL's impact is equally impressive. The 2024 season generated an earned media equity of Rs 4,094 crores, with sponsor-related earned media valued at Rs 905 crores. These figures not only reflect the tournament's commercial viability but also underscore its effectiveness as an advertising platform.
The IPL's ability to drive user engagement is particularly noteworthy. During the tournament, there is a significant spike in user interaction across various platforms, creating a unique window of opportunity for businesses. This heightened engagement allows brands to adopt more assertive messaging strategies, capitalizing on the audience's increased receptivity and attention.
How Can Brands Make Use of the IPL
The Indian Premier League offers a diverse array of opportunities for brands to engage with their target audience. These can be broadly categorized into four key areas:
Awareness & Launch: The IPL provides an unparalleled platform for brands to introduce themselves to a nationwide, or even worldwide audience. The tournament's massive viewership ensures that new products or services can achieve instant recognition.
Association: By aligning themselves with the IPL or specific teams, brands can tap into the emotional connection fans have with the sport, fostering positive associations and brand loyalty.
Consumer Promotion: The excitement surrounding the IPL creates an ideal environment for brands to run promotional campaigns, offering special deals, contests, or limited-time offers to drive sales and engagement.
Licensed Products: The IPL's popularity opens up opportunities for brands to create and sell official merchandise, tapping into fans' desire to show support for their favorite teams.
Beyond these categories, brands can explore additional avenues such as:
Merchandising: Creating and selling IPL-themed products to capitalize on fan enthusiasm.
Partnerships: Create special occassions to offer exclusive deals or experiences.
Meet and Greet Events: Organizing fan interactions with players to create memorable brand experiences.
Digital Engagement: Leveraging social media and apps to create interactive, IPL or specific team-themed content.
In-Stadium Activations: Designing unique, on-ground experiences that resonate with live audience.
The versatility of the IPL as a marketing platform allows brands to craft multifaceted campaigns that resonate across various consumer touchpoints, ensuring maximum impact and return on investment.
IPL Advertising Case Studies: Awareness and Launch Campaigns
The IPL has proven to be a launchpad for numerous brands, catapulting them into the national spotlight. Two memorable success stories in this realm are PhonePe and CRED.
PhonePe's IPL Strategy
PhonePe leveraged the IPL as a pan-India marketing opportunity, employing a multi-pronged approach:
Visibility: Utilized stadium placements, banners, and logo placements on team uniforms.
Engagement: Organized giveaways, offers, and contests centered around the IPL theme.
Media Mix: Deployed informative short video ads and poster ads across various platforms.
The results were impressive:
The campaign had a reach of over 49.3 million users
It also had a whopping 1.6 billion impressions creating an association of PhonePe with fintech and payment providers for the new India
It resulted in an awareness Increase of 11% among the 18-24 age group and 9% for those 25 and older
CRED's IPL Success Story
Cred was one of the biggest success stories in the IPL branding space. This fintech brand had a unique approach to the IPL, especially in terms of customer targeting:
Audience Segmentation: Used HD feed exclusively for ads, aligning with their upper-middle-class target audience.
Themed Promotions: Introduced 'CRED Powerplay,' offering 100% cashback on credit card bill payments during match powerplays.
Corporate Social Responsibility: Initiated 'CRED Coin Donation' for cricket coaching to underprivileged children.
Star-Studded Campaign: Launched five ad films featuring popular Bollywood actors and singers.
The campaign's impact was substantial:
Search Trends: 4x growth on Google Trends
Social Media: Reached a top trending spot on Twitter
User Acquisition: 6-7x increase in daily sign-ups
App Engagement: Over 100 million user visits
Downloads: 8x increase compared to pre-IPL period
These case studies demonstrate the IPL's power as a platform for brand awareness and launch campaigns, offering unparalleled reach and engagement opportunities.
Executive Summary
Launch campaigns during IPL have proven exceptionally effective at achieving rapid national recognition, as evidenced by CRED's 8x increase in app downloads and PhonePe's massive 1.6 billion impressions. These campaigns leverage the tournament's concentrated viewership to establish instant brand recognition, with CRED particularly excelling through its HD-feed targeting strategy, while PhonePe demonstrated how multiple touchpoints can create comprehensive market presence.
The key success factor has been the ability to maintain consistent messaging while adapting to the tournament's dynamic nature, allowing brands to build and reinforce their narrative over the two-month period.
IPL Advertising Case Studies: Association Campaigns
Association campaigns during the IPL have allowed brands to become an integral part of the cricket-watching experience. Two standout examples are Zomato and Dream11.
Zomato's IPL Journey
Zomato has consistently leveraged the IPL to strengthen its association with cricket and food ordering:
Zomato Premier League (2019): Encouraged users to predict match winners for prizes with every order.
IPL 2024 Campaign: Launched 10 ad films, one for each IPL team, customized in 7 languages.
Localization Strategy: Utilized JioCinema's feature to create contextual ads for each playing team.
Brand Positioning: Reinforced the tagline 'Match Ho To Zomato,' associating the brand with cricket-viewing nights.
The cumulative effect of these campaigns has firmly positioned Zomato as the go-to food delivery app during cricket matches.
Dream11's IPL Success
Dream11's partnership with the IPL has been transformative for the fantasy gaming market. Dream11 is also another example of the impact that advertising in IPL can have for brand association. The brand captured 42.2% of revenue in the nascent fantasy gaming market thanks to a combination of sponsorship and star-power fueled ad campaigns.
Strategic Partnership: Secured a 4-year “Official Fantasy League” partnership with IPL starting in 2019.
Campaign Evolution: Progressed from introducing fantasy sports with 'Dimaag se Dhoni' to establishing brand supremacy.
User Growth: Reached 200 million users by 2023, with 11.52 million concurrent users.
2024 Performance: Achieved 15.01 million peak concurrency and 2.35 million new users in the first IPL weekend.
Celebrity Endorsements: Utilized both cricketers and Bollywood stars to appeal to a broader audience.
Executive Summary
The IPL's emotional connect provides fertile ground for deep brand associations, exemplified by Dream11's journey to capturing 42.2% of the fantasy gaming market and Zomato's successful "Match Ho To Zomato" positioning. These campaigns succeed by weaving brands into the fabric of cricket-watching experience – Dream11 leveraging star power for category education, while Zomato brilliantly localized content across seven languages to connect with regional audiences.
These campaigns showcase how brands can use the IPL to create lasting associations in consumers' minds, driving both brand recall and user acquisition. The most successful association campaigns demonstrate how brands can transcend traditional sponsorship to become integral parts of the cricket-viewing ritual.
IPL Advertising Case Studies: Consumer Promotion Campaigns
The IPL has proven to be a fertile ground for innovative consumer promotion campaigns, allowing brands to engage directly with their audience. Two notable examples include Gan.AI's partnership with Mumbai Indians and Zepto's creative approach.
Gan.AI's Personalized Fan Engagement
Gan.AI partnered with Mumbai Indians to execute a campaign with their then star player Cameron Green. By using AI, Gan.ai was able to create personalized thank you videos. Key insights include:
Personalization at Scale: Utilized AI to generate customized thank-you videos featuring star player Cameron Green.
Fan Recognition: Each video mentioned the fan's first name, creating a personal connection.
Viral Marketing: Encouraged fans to repost videos with the hashtag #PaltansVoice, driving organic reach.
User-Generated Content: Successfully transformed fan engagement into shareable, brand-promoting content.
This campaign showcased the potential of AI in creating personalized, scalable marketing experiences within the IPL ecosystem.
Zepto's Musical Approach:
Zepto made a significant impact during IPL 2022 with its innovative campaign:
Star-Studded Collaboration: Brought together renowned artists Usha Uthup, Shankar Mahadevan, and Kailash Kher.
Relatable Storytelling: Cast the artists as everyday characters using Zepto's services.
Unique Concept: Introduced the idea of 'India Stretchable Time,' highlighting Zepto's value proposition of quick delivery.
Brand Message Integration: Effectively communicated the brand's core offering through entertaining content.
This campaign demonstrated how brands can use the IPL platform to create memorable, entertainment-led promotions that resonate with a wide audience.
JioCinema's Star Power:
For IPL 2024, JioCinema launched a special promotional campaign featuring cricket legend MS Dhoni:
Celebrity Endorsement: Leveraged Dhoni's massive fan base and credibility.
Platform Promotion: Highlighted JioCinema's convenience and accessibility for watching IPL matches.
Catchy Tagline: Used 'Sab Yahaan, Aur Kahaan!' to emphasize the platform's comprehensive coverage.
Feature Showcase: Emphasized high-quality streaming and user-friendly aspects of the platform.
This campaign effectively used star power to promote the digital viewing experience, adapting to changing consumer preferences in sports consumption.
These case studies illustrate the diverse approaches brands can take to promote their products or services during the IPL, from leveraging technology for personalization to using music and celebrity endorsements for mass appeal.
Executive Summary
Modern IPL campaigns excel at creating interactive consumer experiences, as shown through Gan.AI's personalized video campaign with Mumbai Indians and Zepto's innovative musical collaboration with renowned artists. JioCinema's use of MS Dhoni for platform promotion demonstrates how celebrity endorsements can be effectively combined with practical value propositions. These campaigns succeed by creating multiple engagement layers – immediate rewards, entertainment value, and long-term brand connection – while maintaining clear calls-to-action throughout the tournament.
The Future of IPL Advertising: Opportunities and Innovations
As the Indian Premier League continues to evolve, so too do the opportunities for brands to engage with its massive audience. The upcoming IPL 2025 season presents huge potential opportunities for innovative marketing strategies.
Emerging Trends
Digital Integration: With the surge in streaming app installations and video content consumption, brands should focus on creating immersive digital experiences.
AI and Personalization: Following Gan.AI's success, more brands are likely to explore AI-driven personalization at scale.
Multi-lingual Campaigns: As demonstrated by Zomato's approach, localized content in multiple languages can significantly broaden reach.
Second-Screen Experiences: Developing complementary content for viewers using mobile devices while watching matches.
How Brands Can Capitalise on the IPL Phenomenon
Design campaigns that can evolve throughout the tournament, maintaining flexibility to capitalize on match moments while ensuring consistent core messaging.
Integrate traditional visibility with digital engagement, creating an ecosystem of touchpoints that reinforce brand presence across multiple platforms.
Focus on creating authentic connections through localized content and personalized experiences, while maintaining national campaign cohesion.
Leverage technology thoughtfully to enhance user experience and create scalable personalization, without losing the emotional connect of cricket.
Zupotsu as a Partner for IPL 2025
The IPL continues to redefine the intersection of sports and marketing in India. As we look towards IPL 2025 and beyond, brands have an unprecedented opportunity to connect with audiences in meaningful and innovative ways. By embracing new technologies, understanding emerging trends marketers can fully harness the power of this cricketing phenomenon to achieve their branding and business objectives.
As brands prepare for IPL 2025, Zupotsu can be a valuable partner in helping them find opportunities to make a pan-India impact like no other. We can help brands with customized strategies, developing tailored marketing approaches that align with specific brand objectives and target audiences. Brands can make use of Zupotsu's team of sports marketing expertise to explore cutting-edge marketing technologies and approaches. The key to success in IPL lies in creativity, adaptability, and a deep understanding of the IPL's unique ecosystem. As the tournament evolves, so too must the strategies employed by brands. Those who can effectively navigate this exciting terrain will find in the IPL not just a sporting event, but a transformative platform for brand growth and engagement in the Indian market.
Zupotsu is a martech platform on a mission to ‘digitise’ sports marketing. Zupotsu enables the discovery, engagement and evaluation (the ‘DEE’ framework) for every sports and esports marketing asset. Please sign up at www.zupotsu.com. Follow us on Linkedin and Instagram. Reach out at ‘marketing@zupotsu.com’ for any queries.
Comments