The Indian Premier League (IPL) Season 13 is set to begin from September 19 and while the franchises’ preparations are in full swing, the broadcaster Star Sports also seems to have finalised its advertisement pricing. Despite the entire world being hit by the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic, Star has reportedly decided against reducing its ad pricing.
As per a report in Rediff, Star will be charging Rs 8 to 10 lakh for a 10-second ad in the upcoming IPL season. The report claims that Star had generated Rs 3,000 crore from advertisement revenue last year and is hopeful of garnering another extravagant amount this time, eyeing ‘record viewership’.
Since IPL will mark the return of Indian cricket, the industry experts are hopeful of this being a ‘record’ season in terms of viewership which will help the broadcaster when it comes to generating revenue through advertisement commercials.
This will be a 53-day IPL season, with the final entering the Diwali week. The early trends suggest it to be a bumper season from the viewership perspective, especially considering how much people have been deprived of entertainment due to the virus outbreak.
As far as the BCCI is concerned, the board would be charging the broadcaster (Star) Rs 3,270 crore for the season on account of broadcasting and digital rights. Having not gotten a Covid discount from BCCI, Star refused to lower their charges too.
It also has to be noted that Star had charged brands INR 25 lakh for 10-second slots during the India vs Pakistan ICC World Cup match and between 16 to 18 lakh for other WC matches. In comparison, the IPL ad charges are still reasonable.
It has been learned that IPL 2019 had generated a viewership of 424 million which astonishingly comprises of 51 percent of the TV viewing population. The OTT platforms saw 300 million people tune in to watch the T20 league live.
“Our viewership of IPL on TV, as well as OTT platform, has grown year-on-year, and that will continue even this year,” Uday Shankar, president of Walt Disney Company APAC and chairman Star & Disney India, said.
“Also, for any company, which is looking at advertising, IPL provides the best and most-effective platform,” he asserted.
