Industry insiders claim that Disney Star is also in the advanced stages of conversations with marketers to secure sponsorship and spot-buy arrangements. An inquiry made to Disney Star remained unanswered until press time.

Disney Star, the official TV broadcaster of the IPL, has secured five broadcast sponsors for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at a time when marketers are taking longer to conclude agreements. The sponsors include Dream11, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Asian Paints, and Airtel.

Interestingly, Dream11 and Pepsi have also joined up with Viacom18 as streaming sponsors for IPL. The media business is said to have completed 14 sponsorship agreements so far.

Industry insiders claim that Disney Star is also in the advanced stages of conversations with marketers to secure sponsorship and spot-buy arrangements. An inquiry made to Disney Star remained unanswered until press time.

According to media buyers, the IPL ad sales are taking longer than normal to finalize owing to the fierce rivalry between Disney Star and Viacom18, who will be airing 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.

Industry sources claim 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 asking `18 for Rs 18.5 lakh per 10-second ad from spot purchasers 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 carrying the IPL on 20+ channels including Star Utsav Movies, a Hindi movie channel that is also accessible on the free direct-to-home (DTH) platform DD Free Dish. Star Utsav Cinema will telecast certain IPL matches.

Alongside the Star Sports network, the IPL will also be televised on the network’s Hindi and regional cinema networks. Industry insiders claim that the broadcaster is putting its TV network muscle behind the IPL to guarantee the total reach is larger than the previous year.

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