For years—if you’ve watched Indian Premier League (IPL) ad breaks with even half an eye open—you know who owns those fleeting seconds between overs. Fantasy gaming platforms, led most visibly by Dream11, have all but monopolised the space. Their aggressive spends have not just dominated visibility; they’ve reset the benchmark for what it costs to be seen on cricket’s biggest stage.
That certainty is beginning to fade. In its place, a more diversified advertising ecosystem is taking shape, one where dominance is no longer concentrated in a single category, but distributed across emerging sectors, new-age platforms, and legacy brands rethinking their play. The shift is not just visible in ‘who is advertising,’ but in ‘how the IPL is being valued as a platform’ itself.
“Nearly 55% of sponsors this season are new on JioStar, reflecting the property's expanding commercial appeal,” says, Anup Govindan, Head of Sales, Sports, JioStar. He adds that the returning brand base has remained strong, with advertisers that saw measurable outcomes last season coming back with larger and more structured commitments.
At its peak, gaming and RMG (real-money gaming) platforms didn’t just spend heavily; they shaped the economics of IPL sponsorships. The category once accounted for as much as 25–35% of total ad spends, according to Nandini Mahant, Founder, Sorta Famous. These players were aggressive bidders, often driving up valuations across inventory. Its withdrawal has not led to a like-for-like replacement. Instead, what has emerged is a more fragmented, category-diverse sprawl of brands now finding a place in the IPL—each entering with different budgets, expectations and strategies.
Their exit has led to a more fragmented ecosystem. Unlike gaming companies, which spent ‘heavily and uniformly,’ the new categories are more targeted and strategic in their investments. According to Rohin Desai, Chief Client Officer, Madison Media there has been a clear broadening of the sponsorship mix, with increased participation from categories such as consumer durables, paints, EVs, e-commerce and technology platforms. He notes that while the exit of gaming players had initially created an advertising gap of ‘close to ₹1200 crore,’ this gap has since been considerably reduced, driven by the steady influx of newer categories.
A parallel shift this year has been visible in how AdEx is being split. On the TV versus digital split, Govindan notes that the shift is less about one medium outperforming the other and more about how both are being planned together. He points out that data from the BARC | Nielsen ONE Ads study during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 showed cross-platform duplication below 10%, leading to a more coordinated approach, with nearly 40% of advertisers now present across multiple screens.
But even then, the question remains. Why? Why do brands keep hooking on to IPL despite the clutter?
Broadcast & Streaming Partners Speak
For some of the new players the brief was simple. “We’re leveraging the scale and energy of the IPL to showcase Flipkart Minutes as the smartest way to shop,” says Pratik Shetty, VP-Marketing, Flipkart Minutes. He adds the brand is using the platform to highlight its proposition of value and instant delivery to consumers across India.
Some of the new entrants are buying cultural belonging. “For a young fintech brand in a crowded UPI category, the biggest challenge isn’t explaining the product. It’s entering consumer habits,” says Aditya Nair, Director- Marketing, SuperMoney. He explains that the IPL offers a rare intersection of national attention, conversation, and daily behaviour at scale—allowing the brand to build familiarity quickly, establish itself as a serious national player, and position its cashback proposition within a cultural moment that consumers are more likely to remember.
For brands that have stayed the course, the IPL continues to serve as more than just a high-reach platform, evolving into a consistent driver of brand building and business outcomes.
“Mondelez continues to prioritise differentiated consumer experiences as a core growth-driver, and the IPL remains a strategic platform to deliver this at scale,” says Anjali Krishnan, Consumer Experience–Lead, Mondelez. She adds that over the years, brands like Cadbury have built strong cultural affinity through the tournament.
Mondelez has been associated with the IPL for over 5 years. Currently, with campaigns like #TheKhaasSeat, the brand is tapping into the exhilarating consumer experience of watching a live match for the first time. Krishnan further notes that for Mondelez, IPL has consistently delivered beyond visibility—driving brand equity, consumer consideration, and sustained sales growth.
Inderpreet Singh, Head - Marketing, Birla Opus Paints expresses, “Our partnership with JioStar on IPL has been a strategic choice and has been instrumental in boosting our visibility,” He explains that the platform offers the right mix of scale and relevance across regions and demographics, helping the brand build reach while driving culturally rooted conversations.
Last year, Birla Opus Paints used ‘Indian Colours League’ to celebrate India’s diversity, building a distinct identity on the Indian Premier League. This year, its ‘Main Bhi’ campaign shifts focus to credibility, usage and trust in product quality.
For financial brands like Angel One, the IPL sits at the intersection of awareness and intent—reaching a young, financially curious audience just as they become investable.
For others, consistency is the strategy. Pawandip Singh, VP Marketing at Rapido says the brand has stayed invested in the JioStar–Indian Premier League ecosystem over the years. “The IPL on JioStar brings together hundreds of millions of viewers across TV and digital—exactly where our core audience of urban, mobile-first, value-conscious commuters is. As an associate partner, we’re able to piggyback on the league’s gravitational pull.”
He explains that sustained presence on the JioStar–IPL platform for over five years has built long-term brand equity and a perception that Rapido ‘owns’ the urban mobility space.
The Wider Sponsorship Mix
While broadcast and streaming partners anchor the ecosystem, the IPL roster extends far beyond them, with brands entering for diverse objectives.
Plum, the official Skincare and Digital Partner for Mumbai Indians sees the IPL as a way to scale beyond metro audiences. "The IPL delivers simultaneous reach across markets while creating shared cultural moments," says Akansha Baliga, the brand's Marketing Lead. What she is describing is a rare media event: one where a consumer in Jaipur and a consumer in Bengaluru watch the same thing, feel the same tension, and respond to the same ad for a few hours each evening.
As the Official Payments Partner for three franchises: RCB, CSK, and SRH, Navi UPI brings a more outcome-driven lens to the platform. “The IPL shortens the conversion journey,” explains Sumanka Gandhi, Head of Brand, Navi Limited. “When consumers see the brand during matches and then encounter it again on digital platforms, the path to action becomes much faster.”
This shift towards deeper engagement is also playing out strongly in gaming ecosystems. “Gaming is moving from being a branding surface to a high-intent engagement platform,” said Srinjoy Das, Director of Marketing and BGMI Product Management, KRAFTON India. He noted that in gaming, users are fully immersed, which means brands need to seamlessly integrate into the experience rather than interrupt it.
At Krafton, this has translated into gameplay-led partnerships, with collaborations with CSK and KKR turning cricket fandom into in-game experiences, while integrations with brands like Royal Enfield and Mahindra bring real-world products into virtual environments.
This evolution is also changing how effectiveness is being measured. “The biggest difference is the quality of attention — users aren’t trying to skip, they’re actually engaging,” said Jyoti Chugh Bhatia, Group Director, Gozoop Creative. She explains that while gaming may not drive immediate conversions, it builds stronger recall and consideration, leading to better downstream performance. Bhatia adds that there is a shift towards native integrations, with rewarded ads scaling reach and custom experiences delivering impact, making gaming a more central part of media planning, especially for younger audiences.
Govindan also mentions how there is a clear shift from inventory-led buying to outcome-led planning. Brands activating across multiple screens are seeing up to 7X higher purchase intent.
For Scapia, the IPL offers an opportunity to build experience-led engagement in a highly emotional context. A Scapia spokesperson said the brand’s IPL partnerships with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans are rooted in the league’s cultural relevance and its ability to engage a young, digitally native audience. They noted that cricket’s deeply personal nature, much like travel, allows the brand to move beyond visibility and create meaningful, experience-led connections, while these team associations help balance national scale with more local, immersive fan engagement.
CP PLUS, on the other hand, points to improvements in channel confidence and demand generation. Even transaction-led platforms are seeing measurable impact. Navi reported spikes in engagement during key IPL moments, particularly around in-app activations.
The regional playbook
If there’s one thread connecting these shifts, it’s the growing importance of regional relevance. “National advertisers continue to anchor the property, but there has been meaningful growth in regional advertisers across the years,” shares Govindan. The IPL’s strength lies in its duality: it is both a national broadcast and a collection of deeply local fan bases. Brands are learning to play both sides.
Govindan states that with the IPL now available across 20+ language feeds, the property is becoming significantly more accessible to a wider pool of advertisers. Viewership trends reflect this shift, with regional watch time nearly doubling from the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 to the opening matches of IPL 2026. While Tamil, Telugu and Kannada feeds have grown by around 65%, newer language markets are expanding even faster, with Bhojpuri viewership growing over 3X and Haryanvi nearly 2X.
Plum’s association with Mumbai Indians, Rapoo’s focus on regional market penetration, and Navi’s multi-team strategy all point to the same insight: scale alone is no longer enough—context matters. Teams provide that context, enabling brands to localise messaging while maintaining national visibility.
This expansion is opening up the IPL to advertisers who were previously priced out, while also enabling more precise geographic targeting, notes Govindan.
Entry is widening, but not evenly
While more brands are entering the IPL ecosystem, the cost structure continues to create clear tiers. Brands seeking genuine national visibility are still spending upward of ₹80–100 crore, while regional integrations range between ₹30–40 crore. The premium inventory, the most-watched slots and high-profile associations, remain firmly in the hands of advertisers with deep pockets.
At the other end, however, entry points are expanding. Emerging brands can now participate with spends as low as ₹2–20 crore through team-level partnerships and regional feeds, notes Mahant. These modular formats are less about scale and more about gaining a foothold.
There is broad consensus that while access is widening, the ecosystem is not becoming more equal. Mahant describes it as a two-layered structure, with a premium tier dominated by large advertisers and a growing middle layer of emerging and regional brands. Desai echoes this view, noting that participation is expanding, but dominance will continue to rest with large players.
This divide is also reflected in how different sets of advertisers approach the platform. Govindan highlights a clear behavioural difference, noting that smaller and regional brands tend to focus on high-impact in-match moments rather than the full schedule. Data from the Winning Edge playbook study with Kantar shows that activations around moments like Super 4s, Super 6s, DRS and Fall of Wickets deliver uplifts of 4x to 9x in salience and 4x to 10x in awareness.
In contrast, Govindan explains that national advertisers are planning across the entire tournament arc with a more full-funnel approach. Brands that added pre- and post-live segments to their live media mix saw up to 2.1x uplift in aided awareness, while sponsorship-led buys continue to outperform inventory-only approaches, with formal sponsors recording up to 9x higher purchase intent compared to those buying spots alone.
Looking ahead, Desai estimates that AdEx from emerging and regional brands could grow by 10–15% over the next three to five years. Mahant suggests this share could rise from 15–20% currently to as much as 25–35% if current trends continue.
The bottom line
What we’re watching isn’t disruption. The big brands haven’t left. The old hierarchies haven’t collapsed. What’s changed is more subtle and, in some ways, more durable. The IPL isn’t becoming easier. It’s becoming more crowded and more complex. More brands are entering, but the advantage won’t come from presence alone. It will come from how well brands use the platform.
At its core, the platform remains unchanged. It is still one of the most expensive, most competitive, and most commercially decisive arenas in Indian marketing.
