NEW DELHI: Sports partnerships have always been a lucrative opportunity for brands. The mass viewership that cuts across regional boundaries continues to appeal to advertisers. So, it was no surprise that when the sports tournaments resumed in 2020 sans any audience, brands were upbeat about scoring big.

It began with the return of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in September 2020. The much-awaited cricket league was initially expected to be held in April, but faced postponement due to the pandemic. The delay did not mar the enthusiasm, rather it paved the way for several new players which joined the bandwagon, along with the traditional big brands which have been driving partnerships for the league for years.

Having said that, there is no denying that the power of television advertising continues to soar high and give brands bigger returns each time. That is why each year more and more brands join the TV advertising band cluster. The last edition of the IPL saw a rise of new categories too. FMCG stands as one of them.

The biggest share of the pie was claimed by ed-tech platforms which were riding high on the digital boom that revolutionised the industry during the pandemic year. While Byju’s continued its association with on broadcast advertising on IPL, emerging upskilling platform upGrad also came on-board to leverage the event’s broadcast.

The partnership helped upGrad achieve its target of expanding its reach across all tier-2 and tier-3 cities. The app gained over 7.4 lakh new users since the IPL and recorded 1.5X growth in average daily downloads. There was 146 per cent increase in daily downloads since the IPL and 69 per cent of these downloads took place during the league, according to reports.

Extramarks was another ed-tech company that joined the cricket fervour to expand its reach beyond metro cities and promote its regional language classes. The brand saw significant growth in only ten days that it remained associated with the league. According to reports, it witnessed 143 per cent increase in average daily downloads during the tournament days.

Thanks to the wide variety of viewership demographics, a myriad of brands is looking at sports partnerships. Also, what makes sports events worthwhile for brands is the massive audience that they are able to reach out to, which in turn brings high return on investment. With new brands joining the bandwagon each year, the IPL is emerging as a perfect arcade for this model.  Interestingly, in its thirteenth edition it dominated the annual cricket viewership by 40 per cent, with 50 per cent IPL viewers aged below 30 years.

The fantasy cricket app FanFight also turned to IPL to strengthen its presence among the consumers. The new player saw a significant growth on the back of IPL. App Annie reported that it saw +5X growth in average daily downloads during IPL, compared to the pre-IPL days. There was +4X growth in website traffic during August to October according to Similarweb Analytics.

No doubt it was a dream season for fantasy gaming. Gamezy too cashed in on the opportunity with its advertising campaign led by brand ambassador K L Rahul, who captained IPL team Kings 11. It recorded +5X average daily downloads as per App Annie and 9X growth during IPL vs pre-IPL. The traffic data shows there was +4X growth in website traffic visit during August to October. My11Circle too used IPL to amplify its reach as it went all out with TVC as well as league official partnership.

Several new players from telecom, online payments, gaming and FMCGs had vied for a piece of this first mass viewed sports event. Lenskart.com also entered the fray with its campaign, which was a spinoff of the popular idiom ‘Nazar Hati, Durghatna ghati’, highlighting how hampered vision can lead to mishaps. According to reports, the app added over eight lakh new users since IPL. It also recorded an 18 per cent growth in traffic visits in September-October compared to July-August, data from SimilarWeb showed.

The league is generally viewed as a platform for big spenders, but last year, several new players came on-board too. The fact that it coincided with the festive season made it all the more viable. There is enough data to prove the benefits of associating with sports, with exposure being the prime highlight. This provides emerging brands, new-players and start-ups that are looking to maximise reach, brand awareness and overall brand recall an opportunity to go the extra mile and grab attention.

2020 may have been a challenging year, but it proved yet again, how IPL broadcast can help emerging brands get the right kind of impact on consumers and build their reach.