Influencer marketing around IPL set to grow over 25% to Rs 700 crore in 2026: Report

Influencer marketing around the Indian Premier League is set to grow over 25% year-on-year to nearly ₹700 crore in 2026, up from ₹550 crore in 2025, according to a report by Qoruz, an influencer marketing intelligence platform. The TATA IPL 2026 season is set to begin on March 28, 2026. The opening match will feature defending champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), hosting Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The tournament is scheduled to run until May 31, 2026. 

Growth is being underpinned by a surge in creator participation. The number of creators posting IPL-related content, which stood at around 1.2 million in 2025, is expected to cross 1.5 million in 2026. This expansion is also changing how engagement is distributed, moving away from concentration among top influencers to a wider base of creators across tiers.   

Sports creators account for 32 percent of total engagement, followed closely by arts and entertainment creators at 30 percent. Meme-driven content contributes a significant 18 percent, reflecting the role of humor and real-time reactions during the tournament. Fashion and beauty creators together account for 8 percent, while travel and food creators contribute around 6 percent. The remaining 6 percent is spread across other categories, including health, lifestyle, and niche content segments.

Platform dynamics also show where most IPL influencer activity occurs. Instagram remains the dominant platform, accounting for around 52 percent of creator content related to the IPL, followed by YouTube at 28 percent. X contributes about 12 percent and Facebook accounts for around 8 percent of the overall creator activity.

“IPL is no longer just a broadcast moment, it’s an economy in motion,” said Praanesh Bhuvaneswar, Co-Founder and CEO of Qoruz. “It’s one of the few moments where demand for attention is guaranteed, but supply of attention isn’t. Everyone shows up, but not everything gets seen. What’s changing is that value is now being created in places that didn’t exist a few years ago. IPL isn’t just being watched anymore, it’s being participated in, and that’s where attention is fragmenting and resurfacing across creators.”

The analysis also points to a gradual shift in how brands approach influencer spending during the tournament. Instead of concentrating budgets on a small group of high-profile creators, campaigns are increasingly distributed across multiple creator tiers to expand reach and sustain engagement across the season.

Creator tier analysis suggests that while large creators continue to drive reach and visibility, mid-tier and micro creators account for a substantial share of audience interactions. 

According to the analysis, brands allocate about 32 percent of their influencer marketing budgets to A-list creators, while mega creators receive around 25 percent of brand spending. In comparison, macro creators account for roughly 18 percent of brand budgets, while micro creators receive about 15 percent of campaign spending. Nano creators make up the remaining 10 percent share of brand spending and engagement.

The growth in influencer marketing during IPL is also being shaped by shifts in category participation. While some historically dominant, high-spending categories have reduced their presence, increased participation from FMCG, e-commerce, entertainment, and fintech brands is sustaining overall market growth.

FMCG brands account for the largest share of creator collaborations at around 32 percent, followed by e-commerce and retail brands at roughly 17 percent. Consumer tech and telecom brands contribute about 15 percent of influencer activity, while entertainment and OTT platforms account for nearly 16 percent of campaigns during the tournament. Fintech and payments brands make up around 10 percent of collaborations, while automotive brands represent about 6 percent, with the remaining 4 percent spread across sectors such as travel, wellness, etc.

“IPL is one of those moments where the internet behaves exactly like cricket fans do,” said Aditya Gurwara, Co-Founder and Head of Brand Alliances at Qoruz. “Everyone shows up early for the hype, reacts loudly during the match, and then spends the next hour discussing what just happened. Our data reflects that too. About 34 percent of creator engagement happens before the match even starts, around 16 percent during live reactions, but nearly 50 percent comes after the match, when creators and fans start breaking down moments, celebrating wins, or roasting friends. For brands, that post-match window is where a lot of the real conversation happens.”

With nearly half of creator-led engagement occurring post-match and a growing share driven by micro and mid-tier influencers, the opportunity lies in sustained, always-on storytelling rather than burst-led activations. Brands that diversify spending across creator tiers, tap into regional and vernacular audiences, and align with real-time cultural moments stand to extract higher ROI than those relying solely on top-tier visibility, stated the report.