IPL 2022 set to lose ad monies as leading crypto companies decide to stay away

The 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to kick off on March 26 sans the presence of one the biggest categories of advertisers in the 2021 edition of the mega tournament. As per media reports, leading cryptocurrency companies in the country have decided not to advertise in IPL 2022.

This decision was taken by the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), a Mumbai-based not-for-profit association under the aegis of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Companies like CoinDCX, Coinswitch Kuber, WazirX, ZebPay, CoinBase, among others are part of BACC.

The decision not to advertise in IPL 2022, as explained by Nischal Shetty, CEO, WazirX, to Economic Times, was because the crypto industry is working to ensure that strict guidelines for responsible advertisement are in place before getting into IPL ads again.

It may be recalled that in November 2021, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had declined allowing sponsorship deals with crypto currency and betting companies via surrogate measure in IPL 2022. The BCCI maintained that the crypto companies would not be allowed to have commercial deals in IPL till the time regulations were in place for the sector.

It may also be recalled that crypto companies were some of the leading advertisers in IPL 2021 and had spend almost Rs 90 crore in TV ads in IPL and the ICC T-20 World Cup last year, as per media reports. As per TAM AdEx data, during the July-November 2021 period, the Sports genre alone had more than 75% share of the crypto currency category’s ad volumes. In Jul-Nov’21, crypto currency related advertising was maximum in the month of October 2021 at 51%. Cricket was the most preferred program genre to promote crypto currency on Television.