: IPL 2020: The role of startups & digital brands in the new-age sports marketing game #IndiaNEWS #Featured Social Samosa takes a look at how newer brands, especially startups and digital companies

IPL 2020: The role of startups & digital brands in the new-age sports marketing game #IndiaNEWS #Featured
Social Samosa takes a look at how newer brands, especially startups and digital companies leveraged IPL 2020 to reach a magnitude of audiences through a strategic approach.

Television for the longest was considered the big boy’s league owing to factors such as higher entry cost and production expenses for quality communication. However, over the years, the arrival of newer content formats, technological advancements, and sharper targeting has made television advertising a viable way forward for one and all. Leagues such as IPL have played a catalytic role in this process.

Increasing AdSpends from StartUps

One needs no number to understand the quality impact that advertising during Live Sports content can create, especially when it comes to advertising on broadcast. In addition to this, IPL over the years has managed to combine cricket with entertainment, catering to a myriad of audiences that would otherwise have been difficult to reach out to through one singular platform. According to BARC data, during its 13th edition, it dominated the annual cricket viewership by 40 percent, with 50 percent IPL viewers aged below 30 years. Also, a total of 269 mn viewers saw IPL in the opening week; this is 11 million more per match compared to 2019.

IPL’s massive reach through TV and its power that still holds strong, makes it a compelling marketing power play. This combined with high RoI makes it a platform that digital companies can leverage to make the most of the current changing consumer patterns and behaviours.

Even with the pandemic induced uncertainty, startups found a strong footing in the IPL TV advertising space. The very first name that comes to mind is, without doubt, the league’s title sponsor, Dream11. Soon enough startups and digital brands from across the genres hopped on board. This included names such as CRED and Byju’s. Each of these brands, with different objectives, managed to find marketing opportunities in IPL.

My11Circle’s IPL Win

New to the fantasy sports segment, My11Circle spent the days of the pandemic cementing loyalty with their consumers through engagement tactics. Through IPL, the brand took its offering to a wider base of consumers by a TVC campaign combined with an official league partnership. My11Circle launched ‘Play with Champions’, an initiative where users get a chance to test their skills against the champions of the game.

In conversation with Social Samosa, Saroj Panigrahi, My11Circle said that the brand entered the IPL advertising spectrum to create mass awareness around their brand. “Indians saw competitive or high-quality cricket after a hiatus of around 4-5 months.