JioCinema, the official digital streaming partner of TATA IPL, has tied up with media-tech startup NEWJ (New Emerging World of Journalism) to increase the digital distribution of the 16th edition of the TATA IPL. As part of the collaboration, NEWJ promoted the match highlights in six languages including Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Punjabi and Hindi across its social media platforms.

Cricket is often considered a religion in India, and JioCinema has democratised the TATA IPL by making it free to watch across the corners of the country. In addition to taking the matches to screens in every nook and corner, JioCinema wants to offer viewers the option to watch their favourite team play in languages that feel most familiar to them. NEWJ, a social-first, video-only publisher, has harnessed its presence in regional markets to amplify this mission.

“JioCinema is a pioneer in how India consumes sports and entertainment. At NEWJ, we function on the mantra, stories of India, for India and by India. With this collaboration we are taking the TATA IPL to the vernacular and regional markets who consume content on social media on their smartphones”, Kunal Chaudhary, co-founder, NEWJ said of the partnership. As per a report by Synchronize India and Unomer 73 per cent of viewers stream IPL 2023 on JioCinema, while only 27 per cent watch it on television.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Star Sports broke last year's record. According to the BARC data for 48 matches shared by the broadcaster, the cumulative reach for live broadcast of 48 matches stood at 451 million unique audience. It's 21% higher as compared to last year's full season's reach. Also, it's 33% higher than last year's season with the same number of matches.

According to the broadcaster, the highest ever reach garnered in HSM, North and West in the history of IPL. It is also highest ever reach in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP, Rajasthan, MP, Bihar, Pune/ Haryana/HP, Odisha and Bangalore and second highest ever in Delhi, Mumbai and Karnataka.

Meanwhile, TV saw 266 billion minutes consumption for the first 48 matches – which is the second highest ever (excluding COVID years).

Additionally, there is also growth of 29% in TVR for the first 48 matches. 

The league also recorded the highest HD reach of 86 million which is 3.4 times higher than the last year's season.

JioCinema, the official digital streaming partner of TATA IPL 2023, has reported clocking over 1300 crore video views in the first five weeks. As per the streaming platform, the average time spent per viewer per match also touched 60 minutes. TATA IPL 2023 on Connected TV reached twice the number of viewers than that on HD TV, it said.

“JioCinema continues to grow from strength to strength every week and it is based on clear evidence of consumer’s outright preference of catching the TATA IPL on digital,” said Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj. “The combination of outstanding cricket action and our robust platform proved the stellar opening weekend was just the beginning of bigger things to come. I would like to thank all our sponsors, advertisers, and partners for showing faith in our journey as we continue to elevate every fan’s TATA IPL viewing experience.”

As per JioCinema, it breached the peak concurrency records of TATA IPL twice in a span of five days. On April 12th, it clocked a 2.23-crore peak during the Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals match. In the Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings fixture, JioCinema says it broke the record again with a concurrency of 2.4 crore.

Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the 16th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL),  has upped ad rates for the playoffs and is charging a premium for the second leg of the game. According to multiple sources, the broadcaster is looking for Rs 20-24 lakh for a 10-second ad spot during the quarter, semi-finals and finals.  The ad rates on league matches are priced at Rs 15-16 lakh per 10 seconds.  

“The broadcaster is seeking Rs 20-24 lakh for a 10-second ad spot. This is a tentative price; the transaction may close around Rs 20-22 lakh depending on the type of deal,” said a senior media planner on the condition of anonymity.

He also stated that if a marketer wants to buy a spot on all of the matches (combo deal), the broadcaster will most likely close it between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 22 lakh.

Another senior media planner informed that the broadcaster is in discussion with several brands right now and that the deals will most likely be finalised by next week. 

"Every year, broadcasters raise ad rates for the final matches due to the high level of interest during the playoffs," said a senior media planner. He further added, "There will be advertisers who want to buy spots on the final matches because advertisers understand that IPL matches reach a large number of people, especially during the finale.”

Meanwhile, Disney Star has on boarded four new sponsors after the start of the IPL and, according to the channel, discussions are happening to bring in a few more brands.  In total, Star Sports has roped in over 40 brands across 7-8 categories since the IPL began.

Star Sports has associated with close to 95 brands in the IPL this season. Out of these, close to 45 brands are new for the IPL; they were not present in previous seasons. There have been multiple new categories in this season, ranging from FMCG products like biscuits, dry fruits, dairy products, to brick & mortar-driven products in construction, to mobility-driven categories like travel luggage, online travel booking, and family-driven products like jewelry, ethnic wear, kitchen appliances.  

Disney Star now has a total of 16 sponsors for the 16th edition of IPL –Dream 11, Kamala Pasand, Airtel, Coke, Parle Products, Mountain Dew, Asian Paints, Tata Neu, Mondelelz, Britannia, Rupay, Jindal Steel, Rapido, Amul, Ultratech and Vanessa.

The network has retained the TV rights of IPL for Rs 23,575 crore.

With the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League swaying audiences across the board, brands have been in the forefront to make the most of this sporting spectacle. Not far behind have been radio players who have become a key advertising medium for most categories. From collaborations with franchises to churning out creative content for the season, radio has been playing all the right tunes.

Association with IPL teams

According to Nisha Narayanan, COO, Red FM, the IPL season is an integral part of the programming calendar as listeners like to be engaged with content around the league. “We have an existing collaboration with Sunrisers Hyderabad - a Sun group-promoted team that we partnered with every year. The association between Red FM and the orange army has been very fruitful and is an incredible partnership of 12 long years.”

As for Monalisa Mandal, AVP, Marketing & Digital, Fever FM, the franchise associations have paid off well. “We take pride in being a significant contributor to the league's success and have partnered with Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chennai Super Kings, and Mumbai Indians for the last decade. This year, we have added Gujarat Titans to our kitty. Moreover, our association with multiple teams stands us out during the IPL season.”

Big FM too has partnered with Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings. Abraham Thomas, CEO, of Reliance Broadcast Network, said, “We have done a lot of work with the stars of these teams.”

Sharing more on Radio City’s associations, CEO Ashit Kukian says, “Radio City's collaboration with Lucknow Super Giants is a strategic move to tap into the potential of the booming sports market and drive further growth in the radio business. Such associations allow Radio City to attract more advertisers who aim to attract a larger chunk of the audience during the season, thereby increasing the radio station's advertising revenue.”

Radio partnerships with cricket teams have become innovative and the attempt is to move beyond just branding and create immersive experiences for the listeners, Kukian explained. “The cricket updates provide an exciting experience to listeners as it builds an interaction with the radio station, allowing them to participate in contests such as predicting scores and predicting match winners. This, in turn, has increased engagement and made radio advertising more attractive to advertisers.”

Profits from tier markets

Radio may not have the visual appeal unlike TV and digital but is still a prominent medium of investment for brands. Partnership with IPL teams makes this pull stronger for radio and to achieve a greater reach radio players are going in for custom campaigns and in regional languages.
“As these matches take place in multiple cities, custom campaigns are created in regional languages to help brands acquire local connections. Brands that may not have the resources to go national also come on board and beat the limitations of distribution and ad wastage,” Narayanan pointed out.

Challenges any?

“The biggest challenge is the official accreditation like any other press for sports coverage and lack of clarity on the audio coverage of match moments. Live broadcasting is one of the most essential parts of the FM industry, and the inability to broadcast live is the biggest letdown,” Narayanan said.

“If we were permitted to broadcast live commentary, we could have brought sports to every corner of the country and made significant contributions and earnings, as they are two sides of the same coin.”

Kukian, however, believes radio as a medium offers unique advantages that cannot be replicated by television or digital media as it provides extensive and immersive coverage of matches, thereby activating the theatre of mind experience of the listeners.

Getting creative

IPL campaigns on the radio have stood out because of their creative and vivid style. “We bring our audience interesting content with campaigns like ‘Crowd Bajayega Loud’. It is an all-encompassing campaign with several cricket-related capsules on-air and on-digital,” said Narayanan.

Getting cricketing stars on board also draws audience. Sharing more on that, Kukian said, “Radio City has launched a new edition of its cricketing show ‘Cricket ka Blockbuster’ by on-boarding cricketer Suresh Raina as its official host for this season.”

Some players have ventured into the gaming arena too. Abraham says, “With My Gaming turning into a huge creative category, Big FM has launched Big Bingo Cricket this season.”

Sharing Fever FM’s campaigns, Monalisa said, “We have already launched our digital campaigns, which are tailored for each of our partner teams. For Delhi Capitals, we have "Har Ghar Killa Kotla", “Yeh Hai Nayi Delhi”, and "Junior DC". For Gujarat Titans, we have the "Avaa Dey" campaign; for KKR it is “Dil Kahe Baar Baar Ami KKR”.

Sports and lifestyle brand playR has partnered with four IPL teams as their Exclusive Global Merchandise Partner this year. The teams include Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Punjab Kings, and Rajasthan Royals.

This partnership has enabled fans across the globe to feel more connected to the game, and the merchandise range includes apparel, accessories, and lifestyle products for fans to show their loyalty to their chosen team. The brand has been making waves in the sports merchandise industry with its commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.

In the short span since the association, playR has already achieved significant milestones. The brand has shipped over 35,000 jerseys and 15,000 fan merchandise in just 30 days. This is a testament to the brand's popularity and the trust that fans have in its products.

In addition to jerseys and fan merchandise, playR has also introduced cricket equipment for IPL Franchise, giving fans multiple touch points to connect with their favourite team.

Ravi Kukreja, Co-Founder, Director - playR says, “We are thrilled to be associated with some of the most popular IPL teams in the country. We believe that this collaboration will help us reach out to a wider audience and create more opportunities for fans to engage with the team and the sport. IPL has revolutionised an almost non-existent sports merchandise market in India, and our goal is to provide fans with the best sports merchandise and equipment. We have a wide variety of merch ranging from mugs to sippers, shakers, yoga mats, clothes, neck pillows, etc. The idea is to make fan merchandise a part of people’s lifestyles.”

playR is a sport and lifestyle brand founded in 2021 and strives to provide customers with unique and edgy apparel, sports equipment, bicycles and accessories that celebrate their style and encourages them to express themselves. It currently retails in 250 plus retail stores and will soon touch 800 stores globally. It also retails from its dedicated e-commerce store, as well as on multi- brand online stores. playR provides a wide range of products that includes t-shirts, jackets, shorts, tracksuits, bats, balls, leg-guards, gloves, bicycles, bags, yoga mats, bottles, etc., as well as limited-edition items. playR’s mission is to inspire customers to be creative, confident, and fearless by providing them with a unique and fashionable style.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 16th edition saw 26 of 38 matches registered peak concurrency of more than three crore on television. According to the data shared by the official broadcaster Disney Star Network, the top ten matches together crossed 40 crore viewership.  

The first match (Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings) garnered the highest viewership and led the top ten matches list with 5.6 crore followed by CSK vs RCB (24th) match with 5.2 crore. The 33rd match of the season garnered 5.1 crore of peak concurrency. 

Meanwhile, the sixth match of the season (CSK vs LSG) saw peak concurrent viewership of 5 crore. The fifth match (RCB and MI) saw 4.6 crore peak viewership. The 12th match between MI and CSK saw 4.5 crore. The ninth match which was played between KKR and RCB saw similar viewership of 4.5 crore. 

Last week in a press note,  Disney Star Network announced its sustained success in smashing viewership records for IPL on television with 2.53 crore new viewers tuning in to watch Week 4 of Tata IPL 2023. 

This takes the tally of total live viewership to 43.4 crore after 38 games, which is the second highest in IPL history. The broadcaster also witnessed a growth of more than 27% in TVR, for the first 38 games, compared to the last edition. The Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM) has recorded the highest viewership in IPL history with 29.1 crore fans tuning in for the first 38 matches.