Brands pile in, ads get shorter: IPL 18 rewrites the rules of cricket-time marketing: Report

Mint

a day ago

The 18th edition of the Indian Premier League was a season of more—more advertisers, more categories, and ad clutter—but not necessarily more airtime.
Despite only a modest 0.5% rise in average ad volume per match as compared with last year, the number of advertisers increased by 30% and the brand count by 29% in the latest season of the popular cricket tournament, according to new research from TAM Sports.
That meant a tighter squeeze for visibility, and a sharp shift in strategy of companies to cope with ad rates. The most preferred ad format this year, as a result, was less than 10 seconds—overtaking previous year's 11-20 second spots—as brands opted for quicker, high-frequency messaging to stay in the game.
This makes sense considering that as per media reports, IPL 2025 was expected to pull in an estimated ₹ 4,500 crore in advertising revenue, with brands paying between ₹ 25 lakh and ₹ 28 lakh for a 10-second TV ad slot.
On digital platforms, CPMs (cost per mille, or cost per 1,000 impressions) ranged from ₹ 250-500, depending on a match's viewership draw. For the current season, digital ad rates on average reportedly grew by 30-40%, reaching ₹ 400 CPM, while TV spot prices softened.
On JioCinema (now JioHotstar) last year, pre- and post-match slots were priced at ₹ 200 per 1,000 views, and a single spot on connected TVs cost ₹ 6.5 lakh.
According to TAM Sports' IPL 18 advertising report, which took into account all 74 matches, despite new brands on display, the top of the advertising pile looked exactly like the year before. Surrogate ads for pan masala brands still ruled the screen, with mouth fresheners remaining the single-largest ad category for a second successive year.
Vimal Elaichi, promoted by Vishnu Packaging, topped the charts once again, followed by Kamla Pasand from KP Pan Foods, and Dream11, owned by Sporta Technologies Pvt. Ltd, show the data from TAM Sports, a division of TAM Media Research.
But the dominance of the top five advertisers this year—Parle Biscuits, Vishnu Packaging, Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (Campa Cola), KP Pan Foods, and Sporta Technologies—reduced slightly, as they accounted for just 27% of total ad volume, down from 33% last season.
The top five brands also saw their IPL ad share drop from 32% to 22%, reflecting how crowded and fragmented the ad space has become. With more than 186 brands active across national and regional sports channels, commercial breaks in India's highest watched private cricketing tournament are no longer dominated by these familiar names.
That IPL ad fragmentation was also driven by a reshuffling of sectors and categories. IPL 18 introduced over 25 new advertiser categories, while 25 others from IPL 17 dropped out.
Real estate, mobile services, fashion retail, and jewellery emerged as the top new entrants—with a focus on premium consumer sectors which were previously less visible during live sports. Meanwhile, big segments like personal care, consumer durables, and multi-product food brands saw their share decline or vanish from the top five altogether.
Food and beverages retained their lead, accounting for 36% of total ad volume this year, up slightly from 34% last year. Services remained unchanged at 23%, while the auto sector climbed into the top three with 9% share. The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector and personal care moved further down the pecking order.
The top five categories this year—mouth fresheners, biscuits, ecommerce-gaming, soft drinks, and financial services—collectively contributed 40% of ad volumes, slightly down from 43% last year, the report said.
Despite the increased brand participation, the overall indexed ad volume grew just 10.5%—a sign that IPL has reached near-saturation in available inventory, pushing advertisers to innovate within constraints. The dominance of short-duration formats this year, reversing last year's trend, is one such adjustment, helping marketers balance frequency, cost, and recall.