Disney Star signs up five IPL sponsors as it preps for clash with Viacom18

Disney Star, the official TV broadcaster of the IPL, has signed five broadcast sponsors for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at a time when advertisers are taking time to close deals. The sponsors include Dream11, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Asian Paints, and Airtel.
Incidentally, Dream11 and Pepsi have also signed up with Viacom18 as streaming sponsors for IPL. The media company is believed to have closed 14 sponsorship deals so far.

Industry sources say that Disney Star is also in the advanced stages of discussions with advertisers to close sponsorship and spot-buy deals. A questionnaire sent to Disney Star remained unanswered till press time.

According to media buyers, the IPL ad deals are taking longer than usual to conclude due to aggressive competition between Disney Star and Viacom18, which will be streaming IPL for free on the Jio Cinema app. “Barring some, most advertisers can afford to advertise either on TV or digital since the outlays required for IPL sponsorship is very high,” a media buyer said, adding that the advertisers are trying to get the best possible deals from Disney Star and Viacom18.

Market sources say that Disney Star is seeking outlays of Rs 150-160 crore from co-presenting sponsors and Rs 65-100 crore from associate sponsors.

It is charging `18 to Rs 18.5 lakh per 10-second spot from spot buyers and Rs 17.5 to `18 lakh per 10-second spot from sponsors. "The ad deals are eventually happening at a discount since these are the asking rates," the media buyer quoted above added.

The broadcaster will be airing the IPL on 20+ channels including Star Utsav Movies, a Hindi movie channel that is also available on the free direct-to-home (DTH) platform DD Free Dish. Star Utsav Movies will air select IPL matches.

Besides the Star Sports network, the IPL will also be telecast on the network's Hindi and regional movie channels. Industry watchers say that the broadcaster is putting its TV network might behind the IPL to ensure the overall reach is higher than the previous year.

Star Sports has launched the ‘Shor On, Game On’ campaign featuring cricketers Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, and KL Rahul.