Back-to-back sporting events set to rake in over Rs 2,100 crore for broadcasters

A hectic sporting calendar, packed with PKL, ISL, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and FIFA World Cup Qatar, in the midst of the festive season, is set to attract huge ad revenue.

With the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), the Indian Super League (ISL) and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup going on this month, and the FIFA World Cup Qatar starting next month, brands have a wide range of sporting properties to advertise on. With the busy sporting calendar coinciding with the festive season, the broadcasters are set for a double bonanza.

Industry estimates suggest that the inventory sales of these sporting properties can rake in more than Rs 2,100 crore for TV and OTT. 60% of the ad money may go to broadcast, and the remaining 40% to digital.

“These sporting properties are expected to do a pure inventory sales of close to Rs 2,000-Rs 2,100 crore this season. Traditionally, cricket contributes around 80% of the sports ad spends, and the same may hold true this season,” says Ramsai Panchapakesan, senior vice president and national head, integrated media buying, Zenith.

While Disney Star has the broadcast rights for PKL, ISL and the T20 World Cup, the FIFA World Cup’s rights are with Viacom18. FIFA has 64 matches to sell, while the T20 World Cup has 45, ISL has 110 and PKL has 66 matches.

Reports suggest that Disney Star India has sold over 80% of the TV and digital ad inventory for the T20 World Cup.

Suraj Nambiar, national media head, Tonic Worldwide, says there is a huge demand for digital ad spends on the T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, with better adoption of OTT platforms, the FIFA World Cup’s viewership is also poised to increase.

“While India is still a TV-heavy market, we are able to see a good shift to OTT platforms. There will be a good amount of spending on digital as well this World Cup. However, the majority of the spends will still go to TV sponsorships,” adds Nambiar.

Housing.com is advertising both on TV and OTT for the T20 World Cup. Snehil Gautam, chief growth and marketing officer, Housing.com, PropTiger.com and Makaan.com, says that both the mediums play an important part in its media strategy.

“OTT, especially when targeted on CTV, helps us to reach our core audience. Whereas, TV is a huge (reach) driver at a very economical cost per reach. We continue to closely keep a track on the growth of OTT across Tier-I and II markets,” he says.

While brands choose the medium based on the reach and targeting needs, it also depends on the match timing. For daytime matches, there’s a shift to OTT platforms. Moreover, the T20 matches are in the afternoon, not clashing with the primetime programming.

Of the Rs 2,100 crore, the T20 World Cup itself is expected to hold 75-80% of these spends. Since cricket is the most popular sport in India, it naturally garners more eyeballs and, thus, more advertisers.

“Since the brands’ budgets are finite, they may have to choose between the events and, in this country, most will bet on cricket. But if other sporting events gain ground, it will help the brands get multiple options to take part in low-cost sporting events. Broadcasters and OTT platforms will also get the opportunity to create a new property,” Nambiar says.

Housing.com’s ad spends are also skewed towards cricket. Gautam says it’s “because of the massive reach that gives us exponential spikes in our brand metrics”.

Paramjeet Singh Mehta, marketing head, consumer PC and gaming, systems group, Asus India, says T20 World Cup, followed by FIFA, is the most important property to drive impact campaigns for its target audience, which is primarily in the 18-35 age group.

“If we look at the India viewership statistics, cricket owns more than 70%, followed by wrestling (acted wrestling shows) and football (8%). Live sports is one of the media where most of our target audience actively participates. At the same time, the viewership for sporting events provides the highest impact and awareness,” Mehta mentions.

Panchapakesan says that other sports are a great entry point for brands that can’t afford the entry cost of cricketing tournaments. “It is considered to be expensive, by virtue of scale and reach. So, if some brands want to reach out to sports enthusiasts, other popular non-cricketing and sporting events like PKL, ISL or FIFA are affordable as well as sustainable options to explore.”

According to a recent Ormax Media report, football takes the second spot, with 23-28 million fans in the country. The estimated viewership for FIFA World Cup from India this year, stands at 300 million.

“This massive uptick in viewership can be attributed to preferable game timings and new fans of the game. The tournament has the added edge of being an event that happens once in four years and the anticipation from football fans across the world, is immense,” says Vineet Sharma, VP marketing – South Asia, AB InBev.

The AB InBev-owned Budweiser has been the official beer sponsor of the FIFA World Cup for over 35 years now. For the 2022 World Cup, it kickstarted the FIFA campaign’s first phase, 'The Drop', by dropping interactive QR codes in five locations, including India, to provide a football enthusiast a chance to travel to Qatar and experience the World Cup in-person.

“About 35 years ago, we identified how football and the FIFA World Cup mirror the brand’s core marketing principle of creating, sharing and celebrating high-energy moments that matter to our consumers,” says Sharma.

However, with such a hectic sporting schedule in October and November, there are concerns of poor viewership on some properties. Mehta says it impacts the low viewership events, where advertisers opt for high impact avenue.

“At the same time, the publisher of high impact events is charging a surplus which, in turn, impacts the advertising cost per impression. However, if the schedule is created carefully, then the impact campaign can be sustained for a longer period than ever before,” he says.

AB InBev’s Sharma believes the Indian appetite for sports will continue to grow and definitely has room for more. He also points to an OTT skew.

“The latest Asia Cup matches clearly show a skew towards OTT platforms across metro cities, and TV in Tier-I and below towns,” he says.

The festive quarter usually garners around 40% of the annual adex. With the consumer sentiment being at an all-time high, it is considered to be an ideal period for the seasonal brands to advertise. As the sporting events are scheduled at this time, they are expected to greatly benefit from the festive cheer.

“Sporting events during the festive season help in addressing immediate reach buildup and additional eyeballs in the market for the brands to achieve their media objectives. It also helps to break through clutter and focus on specific audiences, especially on OTT platforms,” adds Panchapakesan.

Sporting properties generally attract categories like FMCG, automobiles, consumer durables and lifestyle goods. Meanwhile, on OTT, apart from these categories, there is also edtech and online games.

Traditionally, categories that have a skew towards male audiences, would spend on sports. However, Panchapakesan says that now, sports has become category-agnostic. Also, lesser startups and new-age advertisers advertise in this quarter, as compared to the April-June quarter.

“Gone are the days when only specific product categories would spend on sports. Today, all categories, whether they target men or women, advertise on sports,” he says.