Gaming continues to be top spender on TV during IPL'23: TAM Sports

With 20% share of ad volumes, the e-commerce gaming category continues to be the top spender on TV during Indian Premier League (IPL) 16 as it was for IPL 15. As per a report by TAM Sports, for first seven matches of IPL 16, number of categories, advertisers and brands have dropped in IPL 16 compared to same number of matches in IPL 15.

As compared to IPL 15, we are seeing ed tech platforms have dropped this year from the top five categories list and have been replaced by categories like aerated soft drinks, cellular phone service and biscuits category.

During IPL 2021, ed-tech was the top advertiser category, according to a TAM study. However, in IPL 2022, advertising by ed-tech brands declined and it was the fourth most advertised category. In 2020, Unacademy came on board as an official IPL partner. The partnership was slated to cover three seasons, ending with IPL 2022. The three-year deal was worth Rs 120-130 crore.

While last two years were about ed-tech, fin-tech and e-commerce brands, this year seems to be more about biscuit partner- Sunfeast Supermilk and soft-drink partner- Pepsi.

This year, the top five categories together had more than 55% share of ad volumes, out of which, 'e-commerce gaming' alone contributed 20% of ad share. Last year, all categories were tech based except 'Pan Masala'. As per the report, two out of the top five categories were common between IPL 15 and 16 i.e 'Pan Masala' and 'e-commerce gaming'. Pan Masala's share of ad volumes in IPL 16 has doubled as compared to the last season.

Additionally, the top five advertisers contributed nearly 40% share of ad volumes during the seven matches of IPL 16. Sporta Technologies ad K P Pan Foods were the only common advertisers among the top five advertisers during IPL 16 and IPL 15.

Sporta Technologies operates the portal in India, which offers cricket, football, basketball, hockey and kabaddi fantasy games through Dream11.

Many fantasy gaming startups such as Dream11, My11Circle, MyFab11 have entered IPL as sponsors this year. Dream11 is backing six teams this IPL season. Many new platforms like CrickPe, Gamezy, Howzat, etc., are also trying to improve their presence in the market, which will bring in more users.

11 new categories and 45 new brands advertised in seven matches of this season as compared to last season. Among the new categories, majority of the e-commerce categories didn’t advertise in IPL 16 compared to IPL 15. Among the 45 new brands, ‘Airtel 5G Plus’ topped the list followed by ‘Vivo V27 Series’.

Parle Platina Hide & Seek Black Bourbon, Joy Hello Sun Sunblock Anti-Tan Lotion and Thumbs Up Charged were the other new brands in the list. As per the report, in the first seven matches this year, over 25 categories, 35 advertisers and over 60 brands have advertised.

One of IPL’s most obvious impacts, is on the advertising industry. The large viewership drives brands across categories to spend big on the IPL.

This year, JioCinema onboarded a record of 23 sponsors to advertise on the platform in the opening week of IPL 2023. Both the number of advertisers roped in and the revenue booked are remarkably higher compared to the previous season of the tournament on digital platform.

Meanwhile, Star Sports, has roped in Dream 11, Asian Paints, Charged by Thums Up, Airtel, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Mountain Dew, Parle Biscuits, Kamala Pasand, RuPay, Britannia, Tata Neu, Jindal Panther and LIC.