Indian Paisa League
In this week's FinMail we are going to cover IPL - India ka Tyohaar on how is it such a big deal. We are also going to cover its impact on the Indian Economy and how it has emerged as a Platform for brands to make an impact.
The Story:
So, IPL is back! This time it's back and it's back soon to yet again keep us entertained while the world outside is burning. We don't know when IPL turned from just another cricket league to a Festival. Now it stands as a business so big, one just can't ignore it. Think of skipping a season of IPL and you are staring at losses in thousands of crores. And this is what happened last year, IPL wasn't skipped. More like it couldn't be skipped. And it happened in September.
Now that the IPL is back, you might have also noticed that advertisements are changed too. With SRK in Vimal ad (uhhh, couldn't get worse) to Dravid in the new Cred Ad (who haven't watched it more than dozen times), IPL brings out a new set of ads every season. IPL is the time when brands reboot or reshoot their ads and launch them to gain the attention of more and more people. So in today's FinMail we discuss how IPL gained the status of "Haven for the Brands" and how the marketing game looks like. Let us begin.
(IPL Trumpet playing in our minds)
It all began back in 2008 when Lalit Modi, the then Vice President of BCCI thought to attempt the cricket version of NBA or the Premier League and in no time IPL became popular in India. It soon turned to be a hit amongst the Indian Audiences who just want to be entertained (sounds odd). Cricket which is India's religion now has its festival to celebrate the religion - IPL. Within a few years, watching IPL became the most fun activity in the summer vacations and now we can't imagine a summer without an IPL.
But how did it attain so much popularity?
Let's just agree on one thing. No matter what news we hear about IPL matches being fixed or scripted to make it more entertaining, we still watch it. It is because it has now become a part of our life. How it gained so much importance in our lives? Let's look at some of the reasons.
- Mega league of our favourite sport where our favorite stars unite.
- Is scheduled at the best time - Summer Vacations
- Is scheduled at Prime Times - At Night
- Too much Excitement and Entertainment
- Shortest Format of the sport. Quick Results.
Now that we have understood the reasons that it is popular for, let us take a look at some data to check how IPL stands financially.
Last year when BCCI wanted to conduct IPL by any means we understood the importance IPL has for BCCI financially as well as for the sake of reputation too. BCCI was staring at losses up to the levels of ₹3600 crores. This was the loss of BCCI alone and we haven't taken into account the indirect losses of not conducting an IPL in the picture like Tourism Industry loss, loss of related products and services etc. But finally, it was conducted in UAE. Still, it was a relief for the investors, for BCCI, for UAE, for players, and for viewers as well. An interesting fact to note here is that the government of Maharashtra believes that there will be no need for stringent lockdowns as IPL season starts and the cases too would start to cool down as people would find comfort in their homes watching IPL matches. How interesting fact is that! The government believes this because last year too IPL was favourite during the time and last year too, the cases did take a downturn.
Last year as there were no live spectators in the tournament all eyes were on the IPL on how it would turn out because a huge chunk of revenue comes from spectators who pay to see IPL in the stadiums but IPL surprised everyone with record viewership. There were 405 Million Viewers of IPL last year which is half of the TV Watching Viewers in India. Imagine half of the population watching one single broadcast. Imagine the platform it creates for the Brands associated with IPL and this is the main course of this FinMail.
Let's jump on to how IPL is helping brands gain their user base.
As we looked at the viewership data, we can now understand that IPL is a huge opportunity for brands to get recognized. When half of the population watches TV or Digitally through apps, you need to make a seat for yourself. What's a better chance to get recognized when all kinds of age groups are watching the matches. As per reports, in the last year's IPL 162 brands had advertised themselves across 31 new categories like Wafers, Telecom, Smartphones, E-commerce etc. And now we can see new kinds of brands entering the advertising space. These new brands include CRED, Groww, Upstox, PhonePe, Mutual Funds Sahi Hai, RBI, JD Mart, Dream11, Gamezy, Jio etc.
IPL is now a part of our pop culture and it is a part of every Indian Household. You can either like it or dislike it but you can't ignore it. The Brand Value of IPL was $6.7 Billion or ₹475 Billion as of 2019. Imagine being associated with a brand like that. Unlimited Potential. And as we looked earlier, recently startups have started to get in line to be associated with IPL no matter what. What matters to a startup is to get recognized and gain more user base and what is better than having a platform that speaks to the whole country.
Now, having a platform and making full use of it is also needed, and here is what Brands compete again for - to attain unique attention and this is where I personally feel FinTech Startups like Cred, Upstox, Groww, and PhonePe has made the difference. Just look at their ads and how do they stand out against other brand ads. FinTechs are particularly hustling to gain more attention because India is a country where Money and Finance are taboo and need more attention and interest to be invoked from people. What do you think? Which brand's ad looks more compelling to you? Tweet to us @YourFinMan
To sum up there are more than 40 Crore Audience, 162 brands advertising themselves over 60 days on one single Platform - IPL. Imagine skipping a single season of IPL and we look not just at the loss of BCCI but the loss of the overall economy. BCCI in a report said that IPL contributed ₹11.5 Billion to the GDP in 2015 and this is the data 6 years ago. Surely it will be more by now. Because BCCI has paid ₹3500 Crores to the government in taxes as well since IPL launched. (2018 Data)
So, to conclude, IPL is much much more than just cricket. It has more Financial and Economic Importance just than sport. And this is why we at Your FinMan love to call IPL as Indian Paisa League.
That is it for this week's Newsletter, stay safe, stay home, enjoy IPL and we will see you in the next week.
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