In India, cricket isn’t just a sport—it’s a season. And the Indian Premier League (IPL) is its Super Bowl, World Cup, and Cannes rolled into one. For brands, it’s no longer about if they should advertise during IPL but how to maximise impact across a rapidly evolving media landscape.
A recent Market Research Society of India (MRSI) webinar, unpacked how IPL advertising has morphed over the years, with brands now spreading their bets across linear TV, OTT, Connected TV (CTV), and on-ground assets. And much like a T20 innings, the game is now about strategy, not just big swings.
The Context: IPL, the Media Behemoth
Sivakumar Somnathan, Consumer Behaviour Consultant at Curious Cat Consulting, opened the session by noting the obvious—IPL has long moved beyond just cricket. “It’s one of the biggest advertising spectacles of the year,” he said, as brands scramble for visibility on screens, scoreboards, and sleeves.
That spectacle is being shaped by three core shifts: digital transformation, media fragmentation, and format innovation.
TV’s Changing Role in a Multi-Screen World
Linear TV still commands massive IPL audiences, but the numbers tell a more nuanced story. According to Anshu Yardi, VP, TAM, linear ad volumes haven’t yet recovered to pre-COVID levels. In fact, pure ad commercial FCT (Free Commercial Time) saw a 24% drop in 2024 compared to 2019.
The more telling shift? Categories. The traditional big spenders—Telecom, Auto, and Durables—lost share to emerging players. For instance, BFSI grew 9x, and the F&B sector increased ad volumes by 28%, signaling how new categories are betting big on IPL visibility.
Yardi also highlighted that digitally embedded ads (NFCT)—those that insert brands into live broadcasts—fell by 39% from 2019 to 2024, pointing to fatigue or format saturation.
Digital Steps Up: The New Center of Gravity
If TV is still solid, digital is where the action is. Karthik Shankar, Head – Digital Investments at GroupM, was clear: “Digital is no longer just an add-on—it’s becoming central to IPL advertising.”
With deeper integration across JioHotstar and CTV, GroupM created over 400 campaign innovations, spanning everything from influencer tie-ins to programmatic ad targeting. The result? A digital ecosystem where brands not only advertise but measure, experiment, and refine in real-time.
Importantly, IPL ad campaigns are no longer passive; they’re interactive, localised, and often QR-led. Think: instant gratifications, custom feeds in regional languages, and clickable video overlays.
Viewers Are Moving—and Brands Are Following
Sandeep Ranade, EVP at Hansa Research Group, presented data from IPLOMANIA, their syndicated IPL tracker. CTV viewership jumped 2.25x between 2023 and 2024, with audiences preferring richer experiences like multilingual commentary and alternate camera angles.
The takeaway? Multi-platform campaigns pay off. According to Hansa, brands active on TV, digital, and on-ground see a 35-50% uplift in awareness, compared to TV-only advertisers. That’s a stark delta in recall—especially in categories like fashion and food, which aren’t traditionally associated with cricket.
Interestingly, with fan loyalties shifting—Virat Kohli overtaking Dhoni in popularity, RCB stealing a march on CSK, and players like Abhishek Sharma becoming breakout stars—brands have new opportunities to build regional or persona-led narratives.
On-Ground: Still Prime Real Estate
Brands haven’t given up on old-school, in-your-face visibility either. Deepa Mathew, Chief Insights and Digital Marketing Officer at CEAT, spoke about the company’s ownership of the strategic timeout—essentially a 150-second masterstroke.
In a low-involvement category like tyres, Deepa explained, “visibility is everything.” CEAT uses the timeout moment across TV, OTT, in-stadium LED, and social to drive brand salience. Add QR codes, social media CGI content, and real-time engagement—and what looks like a basic ad slot becomes a full-funnel campaign.
“The strategic timeout gives us not just eyeballs, but impact,” she noted. “Product visibility, social buzz, brand love, and ROI—it delivers on all.”
The Takeaway: IPL is Now a Marketing Operating System
In its current avatar, IPL is no longer a one-size-fits-all media buy. It’s a marketing operating system—offering formats for awareness, performance, and experimentation.
Anshu Yardi summed up the future well: The IPL is becoming “a performance-led moment”—with CTV, AI-led regional creatives, and ROI tools driving real outcomes. Brands must now think in terms of fragmented attention but unified strategy.
And with programmatic ad insertions and smart regional customizations becoming table stakes, advertisers who treat IPL like just another GRP dump might just get knocked out in the powerplay.