Broadcaster Star Disney India has sold 90% of its TV ad inventory for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 that starts from April 9 to May 30. The Star is expected to take on board a few more associate sponsors. The network has so far confirmed 14 broadcast sponsors.
The sponsors include Dream11, Just Dial, Byju’s, and PhonePe as co-presenting sponsors and Vi, Mondelez, ITC’s Bingo, Kamla Pasand, Parle’s Frooti, Association of Mutual Funds in India, Asian Paints, Amazon Prime, Coca-Cola’s Thums-Up, and Groww as associate sponsors.
“Star Disney India has sold 90 percent of its ad inventory. In the coming days, the broadcaster is expected to add few more associate sponsors. The total associate sponsors will be in the range of 12-14,” according to an industry source.
The broadcaster is reportedly charging Rs. 13.2 lakh per 10 seconds from co-presenting sponsors and Rs. 13.6 lakh per 10 seconds from associate sponsors while spot buyers pay Rs. 14.1 to 14.3 lakh for a 10-second spot. Close to 50 percent of the IPL ad inventory on television will be taken up by sponsors while the remaining portion will be used by spot buyers.
Star Disney India has earned TV ad revenue of Rs. 2800 crore from IPL 2020 and is looking forward to further growth in this edition.
According to reports, Star Disney plans to cut back the number of sponsors for IPL as spot buys fetch better rates compared to sponsorship rates. In IPL 2020, sponsors used up 52 percent of the ad inventory which will settle at around 50 percent for IPL 2021. On the broadcast side of IPL coverage around 90-100 brands are expected to advertise on the Star India network.
IPL 2021 is expected to have multi-lingual feeds. In 2020, the tournament had English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi language feeds across sports and regional language channels.
Star Disney India’s streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar has secured 10 sponsors. Dream11 is the co-presenting sponsor, Upstox and Vimal Elaichi are co-powered by sponsors, while PhonePe, Association of Mutual Funds in India, Unacademy, Pharmeasy, Livspace, Swiggy, and Parle Agro have signed on as associate sponsors.
The tournament will be streamed on Disney+ Hotstar in English, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil and will be exclusively available to subscribers of Disney+ Hotstar VIP (Rs. 399 for 12 months) and Disney+ Hotstar Premium (Rs. 1499 for 12 months).
