Opinion: Indian Premier League from a digital lens

Maanesh Vasudeo of LS Digital writes how brands can leverage digital advertising during the Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL) and reach out to their audience via one of the biggest marketing platforms.

India's unique strength lies in its colossal and highly diversified audience. With the current population of 1.42 billion, India is indeed a land of opportunity and a massive untapped potential. The industry has seen first-hand the potential of the Indian market, with a staggering 692 million internet users and a median population age of 28.7, making it a hotbed for consumption and untapped potential. 

Now with this amazing India opportunity comes the next big discussion, i.e., the IPL. The Indian Premier League is not just a cricket tournament, it's an emotion that unites the entire nation. It offers a massive opportunity for businesses to reach out to a vast audience and acts as a festival of sorts. One of the key reasons why it is such an attractive proposition for advertisers is its sheer scale. Last year, the IPL recorded a cumulative reach of over 400 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched sporting events in the world. According to Jio Cinema, it aims to reach 500 million viewers through free streaming this year. 

In addition to its massive scale, the IPL is also unique in terms of its demographic profile. The IPL’s  audience reflects this diversity, with viewers from across the country and from different age groups and socio-economic backgrounds. It has a massive following amongst the digital-first and digitally-enabled audience, making it crucial to reach out to this target group during the course of the event. 

One of the most exciting aspects of advertising on the IPL is the range of opportunities available to  advertisers. In addition to traditional ad spots during matches, advertisers can also leverage sponsorships and content integration to create a stronger brand recall and enjoy the benefits of an integrated marketing approach. 

Also Read: The IPL Tug Of War – TV & Digital pull out all stops, but winner remains undecided

So, how should brands leverage this opportunity?  

Firstly, it is important to focus on getting the right reach at scale and create campaigns that are designed to build awareness, register the message and drive engagement. IPL being available on Live stream and then its surround ecosystem with content, fantasy teams and special episodes, broadens the scope of Ad inventory and hence needs a more holistic view while planning, by brands and their teams. This offers a highly conducive window to do extremely specific audience targeting with an elbow room for personalized messaging. 

Secondly, it is crucial to closely consider multi-environment advertising, which is increasingly becoming the preferred way of doing things for brands. With regional/geo-targeting now available on mobile, advertisers can reach out to audiences in specific regions and tailor their messaging accordingly. Connected TV is another massive opportunity with more than 10 Million connected TV households, which are affluent and can be ideal consumers for many categories. 

Finally, as an industry, we have seen a lot of marketers facing the challenge of measuring the right impact of IPL campaigns. Let us try to address this challenge. It is important to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns in a holistic manner. This may mean different things for different brands and setups, it may mean a different thing for someone who is an App product/service vs a web product/service provider; again it may have a different meaning to a full-funnel investing brand vs a performance-marketing-only brand. However, measuring reach and frequency right and knowing its value will be extremely critical for every participating brand.

Since there are so many permutation combinations of setups on the brand side, consulting on the right measurement setup in the scope of an article might be difficult. But to give a gist, the solutions may range from something as simple as a Brand Lift survey to something as Advanced as a right Ads Data  Hub (ADH) use case or maybe even a combination of multiple measurement solutions. So if  measurement is really a critical challenge, the need to take expert guidance is inevitable. Since IPL  marketing has proven impactful for many brands over years, the question of whether it works or not, becomes secondary, but the real question becomes have you (as a brand) done it the right way from planning to creatives to execution to measurement? 

Our team has an extensive experience in creating successful campaigns for clients from diverse  industries. We have demonstrated excellence in measurement, advanced setups and platforms. We have also delivered more than 100 IPL campaigns over the last decade. Be it achieving a lift of 141% in brand queries from a full-funnel strategy along with a full-stack tech deployment for a leading online gaming platform to gaining 1.8 billion impressions from a high reach geo-targeted campaign  for the pioneers in quick service delivery app, we have seen some remarkable results. With this enriching experience behind us, this year we are looking forward to some interesting high-reach, high-impact campaigns with some awesome creatives and great tech behind them. 

In conclusion, the T20 tournament presents a unique opportunity for advertisers to leverage the power of digital advertising during IPL and reach out to a wide and diverse audience. By focusing on high-reach campaigns,  targeted surround advertising, and holistic measurement, advertisers can create impactful  campaigns that drive engagement and deliver results. As a partner to many brands and inventory owners, we believe that IPL represents an exciting opportunity for brands and look forward to working with ones who have already signed up and the many more who will associate with us in the coming weeks.

The article is penned by Maanesh Vasudeo, Senior Vice President-Media Operations at LS Digital.  

Disclaimer: The article features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the stance of the publication