At halfway stage of IPL 2021, it is the right time to look at where the revenue stands for this season. Sportsman recently reported how the official partners were using the IPL season as an ideal tool to promote and advertise themselves. A tournament with such a wide viewership makes branding and building customer loyalty an easier task.
IPL 2021 has bought VIVO back as the title sponsor, after the telecommunications brand paid Rs 440 crores, double the amount of Rs 222 crores that Dream11 paid last year. With such a massive jump in sponsorship revenue, BCCI will be looking at gaining about Rs 4000 crores from this season after reporting a 30-40% dip last year.
Besides Vivo, the official on-ground partners, Tata Safari, Dream11, Unacademy, Cred, and Upstox will also be contributing an estimated Rs 200 crore. Umpire partner Paytm and Strategic time-out partner will bring in another Rs 60 crore, making the total sponsorship revenue to be around 700 crores.
According to various reports, the official broadcaster of IPL 2021, Disney Star Network is targeting 3200 Cr from the IPL advertising this year. Star India will pay Rs 3,269.5 crore to the BCCI for broadcasting rights this season. The contract between Star and the board is valid until 2022 after Star India has paid around Rs 16347.5 crores to acquire media rights.
Apart from BCCI, the eight franchises are also eyeing a 25-30% higher revenue this season. BCCI shares 50% of the revenue with the franchises as part of the central pool. In turn, the teams contribute 20% of their total revenue back to BCCI at the end of the competition as per the contractual terms between both parties.
Last year all teams had reported a significant dip in their revenues due to the pandemic, but this year the franchises are projected to earn Rs 440 crore with the bigger franchises earning between Rs 65-70 crore and the smaller ones making anywhere between Rs 30-40 crore.
This season the franchises have gained sponsorship interest from a multivalent diversity of brands coming on board, from startups to unicorn as new entrants to established brands. Apart from the usual partnerships, there has also been a rise in digital deals. These digital sponsorships are the ones that allow brands to leverage a team’s social and digital presence or are executed only on digital media such as streaming services or social media platforms.