With official media rights partner JioStar aiming for 1 billion viewers across TV and internet, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, which is slated to run from March 22 to May 25, is expected to be the greatest season yet in terms of ad sales, according to a senior corporate executive.
Several sponsors, including Campa, My11Circle, Birla Opus, SBI, Coca-Cola, Kent Fans, Amfi, Amul, Zupee, PhonePe, Jaquar Bath Fittings, and Asian Paints, have been signed on by JioStar for the 2025 Indian Premier League, according to media buyers.
“We are very certain that the 2025 Indian Premier League will be far larger than the 2024 one. This season, we want to reach one billion viewers,” stated Ishan Chatterjee, Chief Business Officer, Sports Revenue, SMB & Creator at JioStar. He said, “IPL has its own place in India’s marketing calendar, and many brands plan their campaigns around it.”
JioStar has separated the market for IPL advertisers into 40 groups. IPL advertising is usually dominated by one or two prominent players each category. However, Chatterjee pointed out that several businesses are actively competing in each area this year, using the paints and fantasy sports sectors as examples.
By focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMBs) as well as big firms, JioStar hopes to increase the number of advertisers it has. In order to explain how SMBs can use the IPL to expand their businesses through more precise audience targeting, the firm recently held a roadshow in many cities. SMBs are already big marketers on platforms controlled by Meta and Google.
According to advertising professionals, the IPL’s steady viewership will continue to draw significant attention from advertisers, particularly as summer marketing expenditures rise.
“The IPL offers advertisers a distinctive pan-India reach across demographics, much like India’s Super Bowl.” According to Mayank Shah, VP of Parle Products, “it successfully engages the male 15+ audience, which is otherwise difficult to reach through other platforms.”
“The impact of the IPL’s shift behind a paywall on JioHotstar is yet unknown, even though the league is predicted to continue to have a significant viewership reach on TV. Given that TV has already attained a considerable scale, we had expected digital to provide delta reach.
Before the first game, Chatterjee predicted that the IPL’s ad inventory would be almost completely sold out. “We want to book the majority of the goods before the IPL starts. We appear to be on course based on what we have observed thus far,” he said.
JioStar has raised its ad rates by much to 15% for the current season, and it is estimated that the IPL brought in over Rs 4,000 crore in ad sales last year. In 2022, the IPL’s TV and digital ad income surpassed Rs 4,000 crore for the first time.
Rate undercutting and the division of rights caused cumulative IPL ad income to remain flat since 2023 when Star India (TV) and Viacom18 (Digital), which have since combined to become JioStar, separated their media rights.
However, because of the robust demand from advertisers in a variety of categories and the two-year-old consolidation of media rights under JioStar, media buyers expect a notable increase in ad income this year. Mobile phones, paintings, fantasy sports, consumer appliances, BFSI, FinTech, and drinks are a few of the major advertising areas for the 2025 Indian Premier League.
“Compared to bilateral and international cricket matches, the IPL consistently generates higher ratings, making it a safe option for the majority of clients. JioStar will gain from the consolidation of IPL media rights, according to a top media buyer.
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