The exit of Vivo from the title sponsorship has resulted in the fall of revenue by half from Rs 440 crore. On the other hand, Covid-19 has played its part in but will have a lesser impact according to the experts. It should be noted that the last year’s IPL brand valuation had increased by nearly 13.5% that is Rs 47,500 crore from Rs 41,800 crore in 2018.
The Indian Premier League has been a part of a number of inadvertent controversies this year. This is likely to affect and have a large impact on the brand value of the IPL.
This is the first time that IPL will be played behind closed doors. This can be considered as just the first case that will hit the brand value and equity of IPL. The second case is the anti- china sentiment which caused the exit of VIVO from the title sponsors and led Dream11 to take charge at a discounted rate.
It is expected that the valuation of IPL could go down anywhere between 5-15%.
However, the IPL is set to begin on September 19 and will run on till November 10. The 53-day tournament is scheduled to take place in the UAE.
IPL Brand Valuation
Being clearly mentioned by Duff and Phelps in their IPL Brand Valuation report that the overall value of IPL ecosystem was increased last year by a value of nearly 13.5% at Rs 47,500 crore which took rise from Rs 41,800 crore in 2018.
This year the title sponsorship revenue has been fallen by half and is quite alarming and a big blow to the IPL. Assuming VIVO could continue it would have fetched IPL around 440 crores. Here Dream11 have made a bid of 222 crores.
Another aspect that could well be acting against the brand value of IPL is a lack of ability and willingness to spend big money on advertising needs. This will also put a lot of pressure on the brand image of IPL.
Considering the market conditions much tougher than before, advertisers are still betting huge on IPL.
Covid-19 vs China factor
The threat of Covid-19 is limited but the anti-china sentiment could cost IPL a lot. As Chinese brands used to spend a lot on IPL through sponsorships and on-air advertising.
In case if the Chinese brands decide to stay low then Star India which is the official broadcaster would suffer a huge loss of around 500 crores.
Considering only Vivo alone decides to avoid the visibility of IPL this year in terms of their air advertisement then Star could be well hit by 200-250 crore.
On the other hand, Dream11 sponsorship was also being opposed as they had connections with associates from China as their investors.
Positive outlook of IPL
Keeping all the controversies aside the officials are quite confident that they can pull this off due to the lack of sporting event or content available to the public and probably fewer entertainment options. On the other hand, restrictions on travelling will keep people at home and could result in increasing the TRP of the IPL.
The viewership is expected to be much higher this year as compared to last year.
Well, there’s Hotstar as well. Where the platform had huge traffic for the IPL matches and broke its own record 10.7 million viewers that it had set in the 2018 IPL Final.
These are the few reasons that are keen to stay optimistic about this year’s IPL brand value.