IPL has witnessed a huge surge in celebrity endorsements since the start of this season as compared to its previous editions. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the 13th season of IPL saw a rise of 92% celebrity endorsements compared to the previous edition of the tournament.
In 2019, the count of celebrity endorsements was 25, whereas, this year, it is already 48 with just ten days into the tournament.
One of the major reasons for the rise in endorsements is that IPL is that it is the first big Indian sporting tournament to resume after the lockdown. IPL has always been the hot favorite for advertisers due to its viewership and exposure to the global scale. Moreover, the lack of other sporting events meant IPL was bound to garner more attention and eyeballs than any time before.
Most of the brands have emerged as new sponsors for the tournament. They have roped in celebrities to leverage the brand image and brand recall amongst the audience. Moreover, high profile celebrities tend to make a big impact in the market due to their huge fan following.
MS Dhoni, Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh have been the common names in the IPL advertising list since the beginning.
SportsMint has learned from its sources that in IPL 2020, the number of advertisers and brands saw a rise of 18 percent and 23 percent, respectively. In IPL 2020, 18 sports celebrities have shown up for endorsements, whereas the previous edition had only four. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are the top names on the list.
As per the report, the top five overall celebrities during IPL 13 were MS Dhoni in the first position, followed by Akshay Kumar, Alia Bhatt, Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan. In IPL 2019, Aamir Khan ranked one with the highest share of ad volume.