The unifying power of Disney Star and television to make IPL 2023 a first of its kind.

Mumbai : The countdown for IPL 2023 has begun and Star Sports is leaving no stone unturned to make it the biggest ever edition on TV. The recent announcement on 12 key matches of IPL being aired on FTA channel Star Utsav movies opens up a sizable unserved audience for advertisers, making the canvas bigger than it’s ever been. The past year has seen television get bigger in India both in terms of platform scale as well viewership for Live cricket on TV. All roads are leading to Disney Star making IPL bigger and better for advertisers and more accessible to viewers across. Here’s why.

Cricket TV Viewership Scaling New Heights: Star Sports, the official broadcaster of IPL has been flagbearer of the rising cricket viewership on TV, delivering a ratings growth of 36 per cent-50 per cent across live cricket events in the last 6-8 months. In 2022, 750+ million viewers watched live sports on television, with cricket on TV contributing to 650 million of it as per BARC. The broadcaster has even broken all-time viewership records across key events in the time span.

For the first time ever, IPL goes FTA with Star Utsav Movies –12 marquee games of IPL 2023 will be broadcasted on FTA channel Star Utsav Movies, taking the league to a broader base of audiences. Star Utsav Movies is India’s third biggest channel in terms of reach with a potential of 200+ million additional audiences for brands to reach out to this IPL. The channel will boost IPL viewership on TV in the HSM region and can be a gamechanger for TV advertisers this summer.

Pay TV universe continues to grow in India: Pay TV homes have grown from 163 million in 2020 to 168 million in 2023 as per BARC and will continue to grow in the next 5 years. Cord cutting on the other hand, is merely 0.2 per cent of the overall TV universe. Additionally, 400+ million TV viewers in India cannot be accessed by digital platforms, showcasing the gulf of TV scale in comparison to digital.

IPL on HD – The Biggest Platform to Reach Premium Audiences

HD homes in India have grown to 70 million in 2023 amassing close to 200 million premium audiences, a scale 7X of connected TV. HD TV continues to remain by far the ideal platform for brands targeting premium audiences. The launch of new HD channels in Star Sports Tamil HD and Star Sports Telugu HD will empower the viewership of IPL in the southern market. HD viewership during the IPL in the South was under-indexed by almost 1/3rd due to the absence of regional HD channels which will now change with new channel launches ahead of TATA IPL 2023.  

The Power of the Disney Star Network Comes Together for IPL 2023: The league will be broadcasted LIVE on TV across the widest-ever bouquet of 22+ channels within the Disney Network which commands a market share of 30 per cent on television. Continuing its legacy of driving regional viewership, the broadcast will feature more than ten language feeds. The network has also roped in over 100 cricket experts to create a series of customised regional content that will bring the whole country together as they bond over the love for cricket.

Unparalleled Brand Impact with Cost Efficiency like no other medium: IPL on Star Sports has been a catalyst in driving brand impact for advertisers across categories. No other platform provides a launchpad for brand and product launches in India like IPL on Star Sports. Numerous brands across industries such as automobiles, mobile devices, e-commerce, consumer durables, digital payments and more have taken to IPL on TV to grow market share and build categories as well. Over the past five years, a significant 75 per cent of B2C unicorns in India and a range of brands across various categories and stages of development have effectively utilized Star Sports' IPL coverage to achieve remarkable growth.

Dabur media head Rajiv Dubey feels television brings an ideal mix of scale and credibility. “Television is still the most credible platform with over 900 million reach which is measured through the BARC panel of 55,000 households cutting across geographies, socio-economic classes, urban, rural, mega cities etc. For IPL on Star Sports what works is that it generates viewership across the whole country and with huge spill over. Surprisingly, for many businesses spill over is good. Cost per 10 sec may seem higher because the ticket size is huge but if you compare cost per impression on TV vs any other medium it would still prove to be cost effective.”

Disney Star is taking IPL to new heights in 2023 for both viewers and advertisers. If the past few months of analyzing cricket viewership on TV is anything to go by, IPL 2023 could witness a platform reach of over 500 million a scale like no other media property or platform in India.