IPL Witnesses 20 Per Cent Decrease In Ad Spending, Reflects Changing Trends, Says Viacom18 Sports CEO

The CEO of Viacom18 Sports, Anil Jayaraj, stated that advertising expenditure on the Indian Premier League (IPL) through TV and digital has decreased by 20 per cent compared to last year, as per Economic Times report.

"Overall, the IPL ad spends have dropped 20 per cent over last year because some of the categories, like betting, cryptocurrency, edtech, etc., were completely missing, and the IPL TV viewership had fallen quite dramatically last year," Jayaraj said, adding that the viewership drop has a lag effect on advertisement revenue”, he stated.

Jayaraj explained that the absence of innovative advertisers has had a greater negative impact on linear TV as compared to digital formats. He further noted that digital revenues are not affected by specific sectors, offering affordability and flexibility to advertisers in terms of audience targeting.

This year's IPL ad revenue is estimated to have decreased to Rs 4,000 crore from last year's Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 crore.

Disney Star previously held both TV and digital rights. Viacom18, which now holds digital rights until 2027 after paying Rs 23,758 crore, has met revenue and viewership targets; however, no specific details were given by Jayaraj.

"We had set targets on revenue and viewership. On both, it certainly looks like we should have done that (achieve our targets)," he said. Viacom18 had set a target of attracting ₹3,700 crore in ad revenue and reaching 550 million viewers. "We are still collating the viewership numbers," he said.

Jayaraj reports a shift in the Indian Premier League's revenue mix, with TV no longer the dominant contributor, as was the case in previous years.

He believes that the IPL will come out very strong due to viewership growth this year. He expects missing advertising categories like new-age companies to come back strongly next year.