Are IPL advertisers getting bang for their buck?

Many advertiser categories, even with high spends, struggled to break through the clutter, reinforcing the need for smarter marketing strategies, Ghosal said. Strategic brand integration was key as ad volumes alone may not aid recall

The high-profile Indian Premier League (IPL) which started on March 22, may be top-of-mind among cricket fans, viewers and marketers, but what about brand recall for advertisers spending ₹3,000-4000 crore on the sports property? A recent brand track study shows that in the first week of the tournament, two out of three IPL viewers recalled a fantasy sports brand, making it the most memorable category, followed by tyres, with one in three viewers recalling a brand. Sport and fitness as well as beverage brands struggled to make an impact, with much lower recall despite their presence in the tournament, the study noted.

Are IPL advertisers getting bang for their buck?

Viewers were reached on their phones via call centres and asked to recall the brands they saw on the previous day’s game watched on linear TV, mobile or OTT. The day-after recall is a time-tested methodology to assess a brand’s success in lodging a long-term memory based on exposure, said Ritesh Ghosal, partner, CrispInsight, a two-year-old consumer research and marketing advisory firm which did the study in collaboration with Kadence International. The weekly tracker will reach out to 20,000 viewers by the end of IPL to study brand recall and brand impact indices.

Many advertiser categories, even with high spends, struggled to break through the clutter, reinforcing the need for smarter marketing strategies, Ghosal said. Strategic brand integration was key as ad volumes alone may not aid recall. Brands leveraging team sponsorships, stadium branding, and in-game placements have been able to cut through the noise, he added.

Over the years, the ad rates and the number of advertisers on IPL have exploded. TAM Sports said the number of TV advertisers during the first 13 matches of IPL 2025 are 31% higher than during the first 13 matches of IPL 2024. Parle Biscuits was the top advertiser with 9% volume share in the first 13 matches, while Dream 11’s Sporta Technologies had 4% volume share, TAM Sports said. Yet CrispInsight’s brand tracker showed much higher recall for fantasy gaming pushing brands to move beyond the conventional ad-heavy approach and explore engagement-driven strategies.

Often, IPL audiences may not have affinity to certain product categories but those brands continue to invest without much evaluation, Ghosal said. “Brands need to focus on how to get more out of IPL other than reach,” he added.

The cricket tournament has grown bigger over the years. Audiences have multiplied thanks to the matches made accessible on mobile and the introduction of regional language commentary, Ghosal said.

Angel investor and marketing expert Lloyd Mathias agreed IPL was still invaluable. “It happens after exams and over the holiday season. Besides, it is prime time entertainment viewing. All matches peak during the 7 pm to 10-11 pm block,” he said.

However, Mathias said its viewership hasn’t expanded after JioCinema offered IPL free on mobile. “There was a spike two years ago when Disney and Reliance were rivals (before the merger) and JioCinema pushed IPL on digital in the rural markets,” he said.

Clutter isn’t responsible for low brand recall as, like all cricket in India, it has always been advertisement heavy, Mathias said. “In general, a lot of advertising isn’t connecting with the consumer barring some notable exceptions like the Dream11 campaign,” he said.

In the brand tracker, fantasy gaming recall seems to be high owing to Dream11’s very smart campaign where they seeded the entire star cast (film and cricket celebrities) even before IPL started, Mathias said. “Even their short takes from the campaign during the matches stand out. A lot of the other ads are very average,” he added.

The sports property hasn’t lost its charm but “brands are not hitting it out of the park in a big way. Also, many brands have shifted focus to influencer marketing and moment marketing on digital media,” Mathias said. “The lesson for brands is to exploit the property creatively instead of using it as a billboard,” he said.

CrispInsight and Kadence International are tracking more than 130 brands on IPL and their respondents come from more than 60 cities in India.