The Indian Premier League (IPL) has emerged as a game-changer for Indian advertisers in recent years. Since its inception in 2008, the IPL has become a strategic focal point for advertisers who want to connect with India’s diverse audience. A report by SyncMedia that compared advertising on IPL for 2022 and 2023 noted that in 2023, TV continued to have a strong preference among IPL viewers, and grew in reach and ratings compared to its previous edition. The report further highlighted categories such as commerce, FMCG, gaming, and beverages were the top advertisers of IPL 2023, indicating diversification.
According to the report, the Biscuits and Soft Drinks category saw significant growth in advertising, and within E-commerce, there was a decline in spots for gaming, wallets, and online shopping. On the other hand, traditional sectors showed resilience and growth, while new-age sectors met with challenges.
The competitive nature of the current Indian market is electrifying, and the report attempts to inform brands of IPL’s effectiveness in terms of advertising. Interestingly, it stresses on IPL TV’s superiority over its Digital counterpart and suggests that TV continued to have a strong preference among IPL viewers. According to BARC data, IPL TV reached out to 90 percent of urban households, further brandishing its superiority.
The report rightly calls the IPL a ‘goldmine for advertisers,’ commenting on its significance in advertising. Expanding on this point, it presents a case study of one of its clients, an undisclosed e-commerce giant, which saw a 53 percent increase in average Daily Active Users (DAUs) through the campaign on both IPL TV and Digital. The e-commerce giant secured a 135 percent increase in average DAU in the IPL’s final week. Moreover, the company continued to reap the benefits, witnessing an average DAU that was 60 percent higher compared to pre-IPL numbers. It further stated that Google Trends increased significantly during the campaign.
A few key factors have been highlighted to elucidate the significant difference between advertising on IPL TV vs IPL Digital.
- Reach – It has been noted that despite the growing significance of Digital viewing, TV is a preferred medium for advertisers who want to reach out to a wide audience. Digital’s cohort approach reduces the campaign reach and restricts top funnel impact.
- Ad attention – The report suggests that there is lower attention on mobile devices because of their small screen size and distractions such as commute, work hours, etc. TV on the other hand offers higher attention for Ads.
- Individual vs Co-viewing – IPL on TV is watched by family and friends, thus, leading to more engagement. On the other hand, mobile digital viewing is at an individual level.
- Frequency for advertisers – Cohort-based impression delivery requires multiple virtual feeds to deliver the ads to a particular group. This leads to impressions being burnt on heavy viewers who are a small subset of the target audience. Digital overexposes some audiences and underexposes the rest, while TV deliveries are balanced.
With IPL 2024 around the corner, it is a good opportunity for brands to revisit the impact of IPL TV advertising. It has certainly topped the preference chart of advertisers and has become a sure-shot method for maximum impact. Add the fact that the IPL 2023 TV edition was its biggest ever, registering over half a billion viewers, and you have a juggernaut that is sure to make headlines for brands. To put it in perspective, the report suggests that Digital requires 8x more spends to create a similar impact as that of IPL TV.
