The Complete Playbook for Brands, Marketers & Media Planners
Disclaimer
This article compiles insights from publicly available reports, research papers, and industry news sources. As IPL 2026 is a developing season, commercial structures and platform details may evolve.
For the latest updates and official IPL advertising opportunities, please refer to:
https://www.themediaant.com/sports-marketing/ipl-advertising
TATA IPL 2026 kicks off 26 March and runs through 31 May 2026 — 84 matches, 10 teams, one unmissable advertising window.
| 84Matches (record high) | 650M+Digital viewers in 2025 | ₹18LBase TV 10-sec rate | ₹600CTV CPM (2026) |
1. Why IPL Is Still India’s Most Powerful Advertising Canvas
Let’s get something out of the way first: everyone knows IPL is big. What smart marketers need to understand is why it remains irreplaceable — and what’s genuinely different in 2026.
The Indian Premier League isn’t just a cricket tournament. For roughly 67 days every year, it becomes the shared cultural wallpaper of India — the topic dominating group chats, office conversations, and dinner tables from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. IPL was the most-searched term on Google India in 2024, beating out everything from movies to elections. That kind of cultural gravity is what every brand is actually buying when they advertise during the IPL.
The Numbers Behind the Hype
IPL 2025 reached over 650 million viewers on digital platforms alone, according to JioHotstar data. Star Sports, which holds the linear TV rights, consistently ranks as the most-watched sports channel in India during the tournament. When you combine both, the IPL’s combined reach across TV and digital is conservatively estimated at 900 million viewers per season — roughly two-thirds of India’s population.
More importantly, these are highly engaged viewers, not passive ones. Cricket fans watch with intent. They lean forward, react to every over, and are primed for brand messages in a way that passive entertainment consumption simply doesn’t deliver.
| ~700MCombined TV + Digital viewers (estimated) | 2ndMost valuable sports media property globally | 67Days of season-long brand presence | 2xBrand metric uplift vs typical TV campaigns, as reported in industry case studies. |
What’s New in IPL 2026
This edition brings meaningful structural changes that every advertiser should factor into their planning:
- 84 matches — up from 74 — creating more inventory, more inventory choices, and more match-day moments to activate around. Grade A matches, playoffs, and the final command premium rates.
- Unified rights under JioStar — Star Sports (TV) and JioHotstar (digital) are now part of the same entity following the Disney-Reliance merger completed in 2025. For advertisers, this means true cross-platform planning from a single window for the first time.
- CTV rates up 25% — JioStar has aggressively priced connected TV inventory for 2026, reflecting the growing premium audience on big screens. The base CTV CPM moves from ₹480 to ₹600 for a 10-second ad.
- Nielsen third-party measurement — For the first time, JioHotstar has partnered with Nielsen for real-time, independently verified campaign metrics, giving advertisers the accountability they’ve long demanded.
- Paid-only streaming — Unlike previous editions where digital streaming was free, JioHotstar now requires a subscription starting at ₹149/month. This means the digital audience is now a self-selected, higher-intent, premium base.
| The Media Ant PerspectiveAbhishek Mukherjee, CBO of The Media Ant, contributed to the Sports Marketing Edition of Social Samosa Pulse — a publication that brought together the sharpest minds in Indian sports advertising. That feature reflects something we’ve built over years: a deep, data-driven understanding of how to navigate complex, multi-screen events like the IPL on behalf of brands of all sizes. |
2. The Broadcasting Landscape: TV, Digital & CTV Explained
Before you spend a rupee on IPL advertising, you need to understand how the broadcast ecosystem works in 2026 — because it’s more consolidated, more structured, and frankly more powerful than in any previous season.
Star Sports: The TV Powerhouse
Star Sports continues to hold satellite (linear TV) rights for IPL 2026 through JioStar. Star Sports 1 (Hindi, SD+HD), Star Sports 2, and regional language feeds cover every match. The network reaches over 500 million TV households, making it the default choice for India’s mass market audience — particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where smart TV penetration is still lower.
TV advertising during IPL operates on a spot-buy model. You’re buying 10-second slots during live match breaks — before the match, during strategic timeouts, between innings, and during the fall of wickets. The key numbers for IPL 2026 on Star Sports:
| Inventory Type | Rate (10 sec) | Notes |
| Standard Live (SD+HD) | ₹18,00,000 | Base rate, unchanged from 2025 |
| Standard Live (SD only) | ₹15,00,000 | Regional or budget-conscious buys |
| Live HD Only | ₹7,20,000 | Premium urban audience |
| Grade A Matches | ₹21,60,000 | High-viewership marquee matches |
| Playoffs | ₹40,00,000 | Extremely limited inventory |
| Final | ₹50,00,000 | Most expensive single spot in Indian TV |
| Premium Feed (Eng + all HD) | ₹10,50,000 | English-speaking premium audience |
| CTL-2 (Co-Presenting position) | ₹13,50,000 | Premium pod position |
| All South Feeds (SD+HD) | ₹4,20,000 | Tamil Nadu, AP, Karnataka, Kerala |
| Tamil Feed only | ₹2,20,000 | Regional precision buy |
Source: BestMediaInfo reporting on JioStar’s IPL 2026 rate card
| Planning TipBase live rates are flat year-on-year, but premium positions (CTL-2) have jumped 25%. The playoff and final inventory fills within days of going on sale. If you have a specific match or position in mind, plan and commit early — ideally before the season starts. The Media Ant works with brands to secure optimal positioning before the tournament begins. |
JioHotstar: The Digital Streaming Platform
JioHotstar is where IPL 2026 lives for over 650 million digital viewers. It’s the primary screen for anyone under 35, anyone in metro India, and an increasingly large share of premium household viewers watching on connected TVs. With a subscription-only model from 2025, the audience is now more defined: you’re reaching people who chose to pay for IPL streaming, which is a proxy for engagement and spending power.
JioHotstar offers a far richer set of advertising options than TV. The key ad formats are:
Pre-Roll (Before Match Begins)
Video ads served before the live stream starts. This is the highest-attention moment — the viewer has just opened the app and is waiting for cricket. Completion rates are consistently high because the viewer can’t leave yet.
Mid-Roll (During Match Breaks)
The IPL equivalent of a TV commercial break, served during DRS reviews, strategic timeouts, and wicket celebrations. These are 10-30 second video spots, and they’re the most purchased format on JioHotstar. Volume is high but so is viewer awareness.
L-Band / Squeeze-Up (During Live Action)
The horizontal banner that appears at the bottom of the screen during live play. This is non-intrusive and appears while cricket is happening — uniquely valuable because the viewer isn’t looking away. Available on both mobile and CTV:
- Mobile L-Band: ₹2,50,000 per exposure
- CTV L-Band: ₹4,50,000 per exposure
Connected TV (CTV) Inventory
The premium tier. CTV refers to JioHotstar streamed on smart TVs, Fire Sticks, Chromecast, and Apple TVs. The audience here is watching on large screens, often in family groups — TV-like engagement with digital-like targeting. JioStar has restructured CTV buying for 2026:
| CTV Format | Rate | Notes |
| Base CTV CPM (10-sec) | ₹600 CPM | Up from ₹480 in 2025 — 25% hike |
| Any Match Selection (Live Midroll) | ~50% premium over block pricing | Cherry-pick specific matches |
| CTL-2 (Premium position) | ₹21,35,000 | Per 10-sec spot, highest impact |
| CTL-1/3/4 (Standard premium) | ₹12,95,000 | Per 10-sec spot |
| L-Band on CTV | ₹4,50,000 | Per exposure during live play |
Source: BestMediaInfo, JioStar IPL 2026 rate card reporting
Mobile: The Scale Engine
Mobile is where the numbers are massive and the CPMs are lowest — but the conversation is evolving. Standard mobile placements on JioHotstar currently range from ₹180–200 CPM for standard inventory to ₹340 CPM for premium matches. The mobile audience reached 650 million in IPL 2025, and that number is expected to grow.
What’s changing is what brands expect from mobile. The era of running a pre-roll and calling it done is over. The formats that command attention (and budget) in 2026 are interactive: click-to-WhatsApp integrations, shoppable video layers, contextual triggers that appear right after a wicket falls. Brands in quick commerce, FMCG, and fintech are allocating 40-50% of incremental IPL digital budgets specifically to mobile programmatic.
| Screen | CPM / Spot Rate | Best For |
| TV (Star Sports) | ₹15-18L per 10-sec spot | Mass reach, brand awareness, Tier 2/3 |
| CTV (JioHotstar) | ₹600 CPM (base) | Premium urban, high-income households |
| Mobile (JioHotstar) | ₹180-340 CPM | Scale, targeting, performance, Gen Z |
| L-Band (TV overlay) | ₹4.5L per exposure (CTV) | Non-intrusive during live play |
3. Who’s Actually Watching: Audience Intelligence
The biggest mistake brands make during IPL planning is treating ‘IPL viewer’ as a monolith. They’re not. The person watching on Star Sports in Patna and the person streaming on JioHotstar on a CTV in Bengaluru have different profiles, different consumption habits, and different responses to advertising. Smart planning starts with understanding this segmentation.
The TV Audience
Star Sports’ IPL audience skews toward Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, older demographics (35+), and households that still rely on cable/DTH for their primary entertainment. NCCS A and B segments dominate in metros, but the channel’s penetration in smaller cities means you’re also reaching a broader, more diverse economic spread. This is mass market India.
Languages matter on TV. JioStar’s regional feeds — Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, and others — saw significant viewership growth in IPL 2025. A brand advertising on the Tamil feed is speaking to a very different consumer than one on the Hindi national feed. This precision has real value for regional brands or national brands with regional activation priorities.
The Digital Audience
JioHotstar’s IPL audience is younger, more urban, and higher income. The platform claimed 93.5 million devices streaming during WPL 2026 (a far smaller property), giving a sense of the scale possible. During the men’s IPL, the digital audience is not just massive — it’s the dominant audience for ages 18-35.
A defining characteristic of the digital IPL viewer is second-screen behavior. Cricket fans don’t just watch — they simultaneously browse fantasy gaming apps, check scores on other platforms, share memes, and engage with brand content. This creates advertising moments that don’t exist in any other media environment.
The CTV Audience: The Premium Tier
JioHotstar’s CTV viewers are increasingly the audience that brands covet most. They’re consuming IPL on 55-inch+ screens, often with family, in an environment that mimics the emotional resonance of traditional TV but with the targeting precision of digital. JioStar claims that around 60% of WPL digital viewers are exclusive to streaming (not watching linear TV for sports) — a figure that will be even higher for the premium IPL audience on CTV.
This is why CTV rates have jumped 25% for IPL 2026. JioStar knows what it has: a premium, self-selected, high-income audience that can be targeted by demographics, purchase behavior, and device type, and served ads that are measurable to a degree TV never was.
| 70%NCCS A/B on CTV | 18-35Core digital viewer age | 12+Language streams available | 65M+CTV reach expected in 2026 |
Targeting Options on JioHotstar
One of JioHotstar’s most powerful advertiser propositions is the depth of targeting available. Unlike TV (where you reach whoever is watching Star Sports at 7:30pm), digital allows you to find your specific audience within a mass event:
- Age, gender, income bracket, NCCS classification: Demographic targeting
- State, city, pin code — critical for local or regional brands: Geographic targeting
- Mobile-only, CTV-only, or cross-device campaigns: Device targeting
- Target viewers watching in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, etc.: Language preference
- Cricket fans, fantasy gaming users, fintech users, sports shoppers: Interest-based
- Jio’s ecosystem data for income signals, product interests, behavior: First-party data
- Reach new users who match your best customers: Lookalike audiences
- Re-engage viewers who’ve already interacted with your brand: Retargeting
- Target households with estimated monthly spend above ₹50,000: Premium spend signal
4. Ad Formats: What to Buy and When
Buying IPL inventory is not one decision — it’s a series of decisions about platform, format, timing, and match selection. Here’s how to think about each.
Television Ad Formats
Spot Buys (Live)
The bread and butter of TV IPL advertising. You buy specific 10-second (or multiples thereof) slots during live match breaks. The spots are allocated in pods — typically 2-3 minutes of ads per break. Position in the pod matters: first position and last position commands a premium (CTL-1,2,3,4 in JioStar’s terminology). If your brief is brand awareness at scale, spot buys on Star Sports remain the most efficient way to reach 500 million households.
Sponsorships & Integrations
The most premium TV association. Co-presenting sponsors get logo placement in the title card (‘The match is presented by X’), branded strategic timeout segments, and a share of voice guarantee. Associate sponsors get L-band overlays, branded scoreboards, and other integrations. These are package deals negotiated directly with JioStar, typically for the entire season or match blocks. Pricing runs from ₹50-65 crore for associate positions to ₹100+ crore for co-presenting.
L-Bands on TV
The horizontal strip along the bottom of the TV broadcast. Used for quick brand reminders during play. Non-intrusive and effective for recall. Often used by brands who can’t afford multiple spot buys but still want a visual presence during the live game.
Digital Ad Formats (JioHotstar)
Pre-Roll Video
Served as the stream loads. You have the viewer’s complete attention. Ideal for brand storytelling, product launches, or high-production creatives. Completion rates are typically 80%+ because the viewer is waiting for the match to start.
Mid-Roll Video
The most purchased format. Served during match breaks — exactly like a TV ad break but delivered digitally. The advantage is targeting: you’re serving your ad to a defined audience, not everyone watching the channel. For brands with broad target audiences (FMCG, telecom, banking), mid-roll is where the majority of digital IPL budget should sit.
Squeeze-Up / L-Band (Digital)
The digital version of the TV L-band, appearing during live play as a lower-third banner. On mobile this is a small banner; on CTV it’s a TV-like horizontal strip across a large screen. Distinctive because it appears during the live action, not during a break — the viewer is watching cricket and your brand is present. Mobile rate: ₹2.5L per exposure; CTV rate: ₹4.5L per exposure.
Fence Ads
Banner ads that appear in the virtual boundary fence area of the video stream. Think digital version of stadium hoarding. Available in static and carousel formats. Well-suited for brand recall campaigns.
Carousel / Interactive Formats
For brands that want engagement beyond view, carousels allow multiple product or message cards that viewers can swipe through. E-commerce, D2C, and multi-product brands use these effectively to drive consideration and click-through.
Shoppable Ads
The emerging format for 2026. Clickable video ads with embedded purchase flows — a viewer can tap to buy without leaving the stream. Being piloted primarily for quick commerce, fashion, and consumer electronics. CPMs are higher but conversion rates justify the premium for performance-focused brands.
| A Word on CreativeIPL is one of the few advertising environments where creative quality directly affects business outcomes. JioStar’s own data shows campaigns with emotionally resonant creatives achieve double the brand uplift of generic executions. The IPL viewer has seen thousands of ads — your creative needs to earn attention, not just buy it. The Media Ant’s creative strategy team helps brands develop IPL-specific assets optimized for each screen format. |
5. How to Plan Your IPL Campaign: A Strategic Framework
The difference between brands that use IPL well and those that simply show up is planning discipline. Here’s the framework we recommend to clients at The Media Ant.
Step 1: Define Your Objective Before Your Budget
IPL can do many things for a brand — but it cannot do everything for every brand simultaneously. Before discussions about which matches or formats to buy, you must nail down your primary objective:
- Mass awareness at scale? → TV spot buys on Star Sports SD+HD
- Premium brand positioning? → CTV packages + high-production creative
- Performance / conversion? → Mobile programmatic with interactive formats
- Regional market penetration? → Language-specific feed buys on TV
- Brand affinity with youth? → Digital-first with creator and social integration
Most brands have more than one objective — but the mix of spend across formats should reflect which objective is primary.
Step 2: Choose Your Match Strategy
Not all 84 matches are equal. The IPL 2026 calendar has four categories of matches from an advertising standpoint:
- Opening matches — high viewership, expensive, great for campaign launches
- Rivalry matches — CSK vs MI, RCB vs KKR — exceptionally high viewership and engagement
- Grade A matches (15-20 flagged by JioStar) — premium pricing, premium audience
- Mid-season matches — lower cost, still high reach, useful for frequency building
- Playoffs + Final — extremely limited inventory, stratospheric pricing, reserved for brands with deep pockets or long-term associations
A practical approach for mid-sized budgets: anchor on 4-6 Grade A matches for high-impact awareness moments, then build frequency through mid-season spot buys or digital CPM campaigns.
Step 3: Build a Multi-Screen Plan
The biggest evolution in IPL planning over the last three years is the shift from ‘TV or digital’ to ‘TV and digital.’ Industry data from IPL 2025 shows that running campaigns across TV, CTV, and mobile results in less than 5% audience overlap while delivering 20-40% incremental reach. Put another way: your TV audience and your digital audience are largely different people. Advertising on only one screen means leaving a significant slice of the IPL audience unaddressed.
A sensible multi-screen structure might look like:
- 40-50% of budget on TV (Star Sports) for mass reach
- 25-30% on CTV (JioHotstar) for premium urban households
- 20-25% on mobile (JioHotstar) for targeting, frequency control, and performance
- 5-10% on social and creator-led content for always-on amplification
Step 4: Plan for the Season, Not Just the Match
IPL runs for 67 days. Brands that treat it as a series of individual ad purchases miss the strategic opportunity. The most effective IPL advertisers build a campaign arc:
- Pre-IPL teaser (1-2 weeks before) — build anticipation with digital and social
- Opening week surge — high-weight launch, TV + CTV + mobile
- Mid-season sustain — efficient frequency through digital CPM, reduce TV to high-priority matches
- Playoff amplification — concentrated high-impact burst for final recall
- Post-IPL retention — carry forward associations through social and search
Step 5: Start with Test Budgets, Then Scale
For brands new to IPL advertising, industry consensus has converged on a smart approach: deploy 10-20% of your planned IPL budget in the early matches. Use JioStar’s measurement dashboards and Nielsen’s verification to assess actual reach, frequency, and brand lift. Then scale the remaining budget based on evidence, not assumption.
This discipline is especially important for digital. Mobile CPM campaigns can be paused, optimized, and reallocated in near-real-time. TV spots, once booked, are locked. Treat digital as your flexible, responsive layer and TV as your anchor.
| The Media Ant SMB AdvantageThe Media Ant is a certified SMB partner of JioHotstar — one of very few agencies with direct access to IPL digital inventory at SMB package rates. Brands can start advertising during IPL on JioHotstar with budgets from ₹5 lakh, accessing packages that deliver 25M+ impressions with third-party verified reporting through Flashtalking. We also provide campaign screenshots, recordings, and live dashboards to every client. |
6. Budget Guidance: What Can You Actually Achieve?
One of the most common questions we get: ‘What’s the minimum viable IPL budget?’ The answer depends entirely on your objective and which platforms you’re using. Here’s a practical breakdown.
Entry-Level: ₹5–25 Lakh
At this budget, TV spot buys are not practical (a single 10-second spot on Star Sports costs ₹15-18 lakh). But digital is absolutely viable. JioHotstar’s SMB packages start at ₹5 lakh and deliver 25M+ ad impressions over the course of the tournament — meaningful reach for a regional brand or a startup making its first major sports advertising play.
What you can realistically achieve at ₹5-25 lakh: consistent digital presence during the IPL season, 3-5 match day activations, geographic or demographic targeting, and measurable impression delivery.
Mid-Market: ₹25 Lakh – ₹2 Crore
This is the sweet spot where multi-screen planning becomes possible. At ₹50 lakh, a brand can run a meaningful digital campaign across mobile and CTV with proper targeting, plus explore a few regional TV spots on language feeds. At ₹1-2 crore, you’re building a real presence — multiple match-day activations, both mobile and CTV buys, and the ability to react to live match moments.
The key at this level is prioritization. Choose 2-3 matches where your presence will be concentrated rather than spreading thin across the whole tournament.
Premium: ₹2 Crore+
Above ₹2 crore, you’re entering the territory where national-scale impact is achievable. TV spot buys on Star Sports SD+HD become viable. Season-long digital presence on JioHotstar is affordable. CTV premium packages with first-pod positioning are within reach. Above ₹5 crore, co-presenting and associate sponsorships on specific match segments are possible.
Above ₹10 crore, you’re in the territory of full-season associate sponsorships — branded strategic timeouts, scorecard sponsorships, consistent logo placement. This is where household brands like Pepsi, Vivo (historically), and category leaders play.
| Budget Range | Recommended Approach | Expected Outcome |
| ₹5–25 Lakh | JioHotstar digital (mobile) — SMB packages | 25M+ impressions, targeted digital presence |
| ₹25L–₹1Cr | Digital-first: mobile + CTV, selective match buys | Multi-screen reach, 3-5 match activations |
| ₹1–5Cr | TV (language feeds) + full digital, Grade A matches | Broad reach + precision targeting, season arc |
| ₹5–15Cr | Star Sports national + CTV premium + digital | National awareness, associate-level presence |
| ₹15Cr+ | Season-long associate/co-presenting, all screens | Top-of-mind brand, Category leadership signal |
7. Measuring Your IPL Campaign: What Good Looks Like
IPL 2026 is the most measurable edition in history — and that’s a meaningful statement for an event that used to run largely on faith. Here’s what you should be tracking and how.
The New Measurement Standard
JioHotstar’s partnership with Nielsen for IPL 2026 means that for the first time, digital IPL campaigns can be independently verified against reach, frequency, and demographic delivery. This matters because it gives advertisers the same confidence in digital metrics that they’ve historically had in TV ratings — without relying solely on the broadcaster’s own numbers.
For TV, BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) remains the industry standard for ratings and viewership measurement. JioStar also uses Flashtalking as a third-party ad serving and verification partner for digital campaigns.
Key Metrics to Track
- Unduplicated reach across all screens; average frequency (how many times each unique viewer saw your ad). Aim for 3-5 frequency across the season for brand recall.: Reach & Frequency
- The additional audience your digital/CTV buys delivered beyond your TV reach. Cross-screen campaigns typically deliver 20-40% incremental reach.: Incremental Reach
- Pre/post surveys measuring changes in awareness, favorability, and purchase intent. JioStar’s internal data shows campaigns delivering nearly double industry benchmark uplifts.: Brand Lift
- For pre-roll: target 75%+ completion. Mid-roll: 65%+ acceptable. Lower completion signals creative that isn’t holding attention.: Video Completion Rate (VCR)
- For performance formats. Industry average for IPL digital is 0.3-0.5% for standard formats; interactive formats can reach 1.5-2%.: Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Monitor branded search volume on Google during and after your IPL campaign. Effective TV and CTV campaigns reliably produce search lift within 24-48 hours of airing.: Search Lift
- For D2C brands and e-commerce, connect campaign exposure windows to purchase data. IPL campaigns routinely show 15-25% sales lift in the weeks following high-weight match activations.: Sales / Conversion Attribution
The Measurement Stack We Recommend
- BARC for TV ratings and reach
- Nielsen/Flashtalking for digital verification
- JioStar dashboard for real-time campaign delivery
- Google Analytics / first-party data for website and conversion tracking
- Brand tracker (monthly) for awareness and sentiment changes
| IPL 2025 Benchmarks to Beat in 2026Mobile CPMs averaged ₹340. A 10-second TV spot cost ₹18 lakh. Cross-screen campaigns delivered less than 5% audience overlap. Brands that ran campaigns across TV, CTV, and mobile saw 20-40% incremental reach. Use these as your baseline when evaluating your 2026 performance. |
8. Category Playbooks: How Different Industries Should Approach IPL 2026
FMCG & Consumer Goods
IPL is the natural home for FMCG advertising. The reach is unmatched for a mass consumer product; the regional targeting on language feeds is valuable for products with regional distribution strategies. The playbook: lead with TV for reach, add CTV for premium households, and use digital to reinforce with product-specific creatives. 15-30 second mid-rolls work well for product demos and emotional storytelling.
Fintech & Financial Services
IPL’s digital audience skews toward exactly the demographic fintech brands need: 25-40 year olds with disposable income and smartphones. Digital-first campaigns with performance objectives (app installs, account opens) are highly effective. Interactive formats with click-to-register work particularly well. Brands like Dream11, PhonePe, and Groww have made IPL their primary annual acquisition event for years — and their results validate the investment.
E-Commerce & D2C
For brands where measurement matters, IPL digital is compelling. The ability to target users by purchase behavior (via Jio’s first-party data), run shoppable ad formats, and track conversion at the campaign level makes IPL digital a performance channel, not just a brand channel. The caveat: you need compelling creative and a fast mobile experience. The attention window is short.
Automotive
IPL’s premium audience on CTV is tailor-made for automotive brands. High-income households watching on large screens, full video creative, and the emotional backdrop of sport — it’s the brand-building environment the category needs. Associate sponsorship of high-profile matches (e.g., CSK vs MI) is a consistent playbook for auto brands wanting regional or national salience.
Regional & Local Brands
One of IPL advertising’s underappreciated stories is how it’s democratized for smaller brands. A regional brand in Tamil Nadu can buy language-specific feed spots on Star Sports Tamil (₹2.2L per 10 seconds) or geo-targeted digital campaigns on JioHotstar for under ₹10 lakh — and reach a cricket-engaged Tamil audience at scale without national pricing. For local brands, IPL’s regional infrastructure is genuinely game-changing.
Gaming & Fantasy Sports
Fantasy gaming platforms — Dream11, MPL, My11Circle — have historically been among IPL’s biggest advertising spenders for an obvious reason: their core user is the IPL viewer. The match-day moment is the conversion moment. Real-time ads timed to match events (the toss announcement, the first wicket) are the most effective format for this category. This is a lesson in contextual timing that every category can adapt.
9. Lessons from the Best IPL Advertisers
A decade of IPL advertising has produced a clear set of principles that separate effective campaigns from expensive ones. Here’s what the evidence shows.
Start Before the Season
The brands that extract the most value from IPL don’t start planning in February. They start in November. Early planning means you secure the right inventory before it sells out (playoff spots are often gone 8-10 weeks before the final), negotiate better package pricing, and have time to develop creative that actually works.
Commit for Length, Not Just Moments
Research from IPL 2025 and 2024 consistently shows that sustained presence across the tournament outperforms big-bang single-match spends. Three reasons: frequency builds recall, season-long presence signals brand strength, and the tournament narrative evolves — brands that stay visible through playoffs capture the highest-engagement audience. Brands like Bisleri have built multi-year tournament associations precisely because consistency compounds.
Respect the Creative Opportunity
IPL viewers are sophisticated consumers of advertising. They see hundreds of brand messages during every season and remember very few. The ones they remember tend to be funny, surprising, emotionally resonant, or distinctly Indian in their references. Cricket-specific creative (referencing team rivalries, specific players, match scenarios) outperforms generic brand spots — but requires lead time and sometimes licensing.
Use Digital for Learning
If you’re new to IPL advertising, digital campaigns offer something TV doesn’t: real-time data. You can see which creatives are completing, which audiences are responding, which match moments are driving clicks — and use that intelligence to optimize your campaign mid-tournament and carry those learnings into the following year. Many sophisticated advertisers treat early-season digital as research for later-season TV investment.
Don’t Ignore the Ecosystem
IPL advertising extends beyond the broadcast. Social media (especially Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and X/Twitter) explodes during IPL. Brands that invest in creator partnerships — cricketers, sports commentators, team-adjacent influencers — extend their broadcast presence into everyday conversation. A mid-roll ad gets 30 seconds; a cricketer’s Instagram reel can travel for weeks.
10. How to Get Started with The Media Ant
Whether you’re a national brand planning a ₹10 crore IPL campaign or a startup wondering if ₹15 lakh can make a difference, the process starts the same way: understanding your objective, your audience, and the best combination of inventory to reach them efficiently.
What The Media Ant Offers
- As a certified SMB Partner of JioHotstar, we have direct access to IPL digital inventory including exclusive SMB packages.
- End-to-end campaign management: planning, buying, creative guidance, execution, and reporting
- Third-party verified reporting through Flashtalking, plus screenshots, recordings, and live dashboards
- Multi-screen planning across Star Sports (TV), JioHotstar (CTV + mobile), and social/digital
- Strategic counsel from a team that has planned hundreds of IPL campaigns across every budget level
Why IPL 2026 Is the Year to Be In
The combination of 84 matches (more inventory, more match-day moments), unified rights (simpler planning), Nielsen measurement (real accountability), and a subscription-only premium digital audience makes IPL 2026 the most sophisticated advertising opportunity the tournament has ever offered. The brands that plan carefully, buy intelligently, and create compellingly will see results that justify every rupee.
IPL 2026 begins 26 March. Planning conversations should happen now.
| Ready to Plan Your IPL 2026 Campaign?Get in touch with The Media Ant to discuss your IPL 2026 advertising strategy. Whether you’re a first-time IPL advertiser or a brand looking to optimize an existing sports marketing budget, we’ll help you find the right combination of inventory, targeting, and creative approach for your objectives.Visit: www.themediaant.com | Call: 080-67415510 |
Sources & References
BestMediaInfo (IPL 2026 rate card reporting) • Wikipedia (2026 Indian Premier League) • JioStar/JioHotstar official announcements • The Current (JioHotstar global advertiser report, August 2025) • BestMediaInfo (IPL 2026 mobile advertising industry analysis, February 2026) • Social Samosa Pulse Sports Marketing Edition 2026 • BARC India audience measurement data
Rates indicated are based on JioStar’s published/reported rate cards and may vary. Contact The Media Ant for current and final rates.
