Mumbai: The IPL tournament is a game of fanfare which keeps everyone at the edge – from viewers to advertisers, and even broadcasters. The push and pull from Viacom’s Jio Cinema and Disney Star’s Star Sports is driving the country into a frenzy – not just with regard to viewership, but also with regard to brand ambassadors, brands advertising on these platforms and more. And the war has just begun.

In a confab with Indiantelevision.com, Social Panga co-founder Himanshu Arora discusses why brands want to be associated with the IPL inspite of it being a costly event, about choosing between linear and digital advertising, and more.

Social Panga is an independent integrated creative and digital marketing agency based out of Bangalore. Co-founded by Himanshu and Gaurav Arora, in 2014, the agency has a team of 260+ individuals across various digital and social media services and is among India’s leading digital and social media agencies.

Himanshu Arora is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned advertising professional with 16+ years of experience. He has worked with numerous brands like Google, Facebook, Nestle, Myntra, Reliance, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Tata Motors, Mama Earth, Accenture, Kimberly Clarke, National Geographic, Zepto and more.

Arora has played a pivotal role in scaling multiple consumer brands and driving them to become big enough to be a Unicorn. From an industry leader to a challenger brand, at Social Panga, Arora has worked with all kinds of profiles.

His love of marketing and all things digital goes back to 2006 when he founded his first company, a content platform for cinema lovers. Post that he founded another one in 2010 in the ed-tech space.

When questioned about Social Panga’s brands that are associating with IPL this year and the kind of partnership they would plan to have with the game and why, Arora reveals, “We are working with a few brands in the health and D2C space and building some exciting campaigns. I will be able to share more details at a later stage during the tournament.”

Edited excerpts:

IPL is undoubtedly a hot property. But associating with it in any way is an expensive affair. In spite of that, a lot of brands want to jump onto the IPL bandwagon. What, according to you, attracts brands to IPL?

IPL offers a solution to every advertising need. It enables marketers and advertisers to efficiently handle all aspects of their brand, including imagery, consumer engagement, and brand linkages, all in one convenient location. This is the key attraction for brands to connect with this property.

Cricket is and has always been a big attractor in sports and IPL as a property has been built nicely. Associating with an event of this level gives a great push to consumer brands. India's active Internet users are expected to increase by 45 per cent over the next five years, reaching 900 million by 2025. That number is thrice the current amount of internet users in the US. This helps to reach a very new set of audiences, across the country.

This year, one of the main reasons why international corporations like Disney and Viacom were fighting over a game that most Americans would never watch. India has demonstrated a willingness to endure commercials in exchange for affordable rates, so when Jio offers free IPL streaming, more eyes are sure to follow.

Digital is the way forward. But a lot of TV viewers still exist in the country and all are not cord-cutters yet. So what do you vouch for – digital advertising or linear advertising? And why?

Television remains a valuable advertising platform for advertisers targeting diverse audiences across socio-economic classes. IPL 2022 attracted a massive 400 million viewers, surpassing the combined viewership of popular shows like KBC, Bigg Boss, The Kapil Sharma Show, Khatron Ke Khiladi, and Shark Tank by 80 per cent. TV also offers a wide range of regional language content, projected to experience significant growth in the future, driving increased TV content consumption.

This underscores the relevance of TV as an effective advertising medium, with ample opportunities for advertisers to connect with their target audience across all NCCS classes and achieve their marketing goals. Also, linear advertising is slowing down as OTT consumption has grown and a mix of digital and traditional advertising is required.

Advertising for the IPL – in your opinion, will brands gain more from their association digitally (with JioCinema) or on television (with Star Sports)? And why?

Both platforms have declared war against each other to grab the eyes of both audience and the advertisers with campaigns like Shor On Game On with Virat for Star and Digital India Ka Digital TATA IPL with Dhoni, the numbers have come in to show who’s on the lead in the race.

Jio Cinema may have an upper hand in terms of its brand value proposition as it offers a superior experience to viewers with various features like multi-cam viewing, and a 360-degree camera, gaining numbers like 147 Crores views on the opening weekend. With a stadium-like experience on Star TV, the channel gained a reach of 14 Crore on its opening day alone. However, these numbers don’t confirm the percentage of the overlap between the two platforms.

What, according to you, can change the game for brands advertising on the IPL, in any way?

Cricket is a festival for the Indian audience. It goes beyond just a match series, it’s a family entertainer. And now that this media space is open to all brands on both online and offline platforms, we don’t see just FMCG brands in the ad space. Many start-ups like Dream11, Niine, CRED and so on have made massive growth through the cricket season.

With innovative offerings and technological advancements, Jio Cinema aims to revolutionize the sports viewing experience on digital platforms in India. The platform has been focusing on enhancing the consumer bond with multi-camera angles, 12 regional languages, 4K resolution, live statistics and more. With this bond, they can draw more eyes to brands once they figure to tackle CTV advertising to gain higher engagement rates and better ROI. This will be the main game changer for brands advertising this season.