IPL more popular as before: Advertisers verdict

IPL6 has begun on April 2nd with a scintillating opening ceremony and so has the excitement which will last from April 3rd to May 26th this year. Over the past six years the cricket carnival has become a preferred event for advertisers – big and small to get associated and build, reinforce their brand awareness. There are lot of ground events to support the team and the players and corporate India, Bollywood, politicians – everyone wants to get noticed.

The event as a platform provides numerous and innovative on-ground sponsorship opportunities for advertisers at the central level, and a plethora of opportunities at the franchise level including team sponsorship, licensing & merchandising, and the ability to leverage multi-screen mass media experiences including broadcast, web, mobile, etc.; it’s a platform which can be exploited by different brand categories to reach out to their target audience efficiently and effectively.

Many skeptics have said that IPL as an event is facing a crisis or call it a sort of advertisers fatigue leading to rejection of the event as a platform. On the contrary, leading media buying and planning agency, MEC, also a founding partner of GroupM, in their findings of their IPL TV Rating Estimation Study has said that the average TV rating for the league stage is expected to go up from 3.8 last year to 3.9 – an increase of 2.6 per cent (15+ years, Male/Female, SEC ABC). The deciding factors are Home team – 84 per cent; Favourite team- 79 per cent and Indian stars- 64 per cent plus the Time of the match- 49 per cent are gaining importance.

To find the truth, Adgully spoke to various professionals on IPL’s preference and popularity as an advertising platform and the findings were interesting. Following are the views and opinions.

According to T Gangadhar, Managing Director, MEC India, “Our study suggests that IPL seems to have matured as a property. The study clearly establishes that ratings in the first phase (first 18 games) impact the fate of the entire league. With Pepsi activating their title sponsorship in a big way, the BCCI launching the IPL Fantasy League and India’s strong performance against Australia, the first stage of the league could get  further momentum.”

To this Sunder Muthuraman, Managing Partner, Meritus Analytics added that, “that the IPL brand is reflecting the behaviour of a typical mature consumer product. Our proprietary survey, that is integral to the forecast, shows that there is a segment of audience who will watch more than last year (say, the loyalists) and another segment who will watch lesser (say, the rejecters). Given that the former segment is larger than the latter, the ratings are likely to be marginally higher than in 2012.  Given our past successes, we hope our pioneering rating forecast methodology will be adopted by all broadcasters and advertisers.”

Avers Neeraj Vyas, Executive Vice-President and Business Head of Sony Max and Sony Mix, which has the broadcasting rights, “My expectations from IPL series were always high and so as this year too. Everyone knows today what IPL is all about and there is nothing much to explain in this. In fact there is more positivity around the IPL and especially after India performed against Australia. Our campaign featuring Farah Khan ‘Sirf Dekhne Ka Nahin’ has added a lot of happiness to this season. With digitization in metros done and phase II also on, it is going to be more fun.” He opined that the huge success of the opening, there is a surge in positive sentiments that needs to be carried out throughout the tournament and now Sony is just hoping for a good game ahead.

Vinit Karnik, Head of Sports and Live practice at GroupM, ESP also predicted, “The IPL would be great this year. It is true that the numbers have gone down but we can also not deny the fact that the reach has gown up, more people have got associated with it.”

Agrees Sanjay Tripathy, Executive Vice. President and Head of Marketing, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, “IPL will be quite good this time like always. Actually IPl has reached to a level from where it will just go up and up. While the sentiment about IPL is positive, his company has chose not to be an associate sponsor for IPL6, “there are no specific reason for this, we just wanted to give it a break this time,” Tripathy said.

So what is the crux of the matter?

IPL 6 commencing on April 3, 2013 is going be a milestone of sorts. With the end of the successful IPL season 5 last year; all the central sponsorship deals were up for renewal. A tender floated by IPL for the title sponsorship saw cola giant Pepsi bagging the title sponsorship for next 5 years. Another noteworthy change in the IPL configuration saw India’s leading media conglomerate, the Sun Group, acquire the Hyderabad franchise heralding the rise of a fresh new team, ‘Sunrisers’.

Adds Karnik, “we strongly believe that IPL is India’s biggest and the most powerful marketing platform for brands to leverage the combined appeal of cricket and entertainment. This season has been a busy and fruitful season.” GroupM ESP, the content, sports and entertainment arm of GroupM Media India, has been an active intermediary and enabler, for clients and their brands and team owners and their franchises seeking to leverage the IPL on-ground sponsorship platform, by providing end-to-end IPL related solutions. Some of the sponsors for IPL6 include Make My Trip, 7UP, Garnier, Kingfisher, Live In Jeans, Manyavar, Sheltrex, RN Sports, Bajaj Allianz and Mumbai Indians, Flying Machine and Royal Challengers Bangalore, Godrej Consumer, Samsung, and Vodafone.

And what is the verdict?

IPL continues to remain a preferred option for advertisers and brands to drive maximum impact with their consumers. Until a viable & popular option comes up, there is no threat to IPL’s ability to attract brands in this cricket crazy, rather worshipped nation.