Sports sponsorship deals breach ₹9,000 cr-mark in 2019
This growth has clearly been driven by spends on digital media which shot up by 84%Ground sponsorship revenue across all sporting activities grew by 25%
NEW DELHI: The sports sponsorship industry in India, which has been growing at the rate of 17% has crossed the ₹9,000 crore mark in 2019.
This growth has clearly been driven by spends on digital media which shot up by 84% from Rs475 crore to Rs875 crore, according to Sporting Natin in the Making VII, a new report by ESP Properties, the entertainment and sports divisio of GroupM India.
The revenue numbers include streams such as media spends, ground sponsorship, team sponsorship and franchise fee, and athlete endorsements.
Media spends delivered ₹800 crore of the total increment of ₹1,347 crore over last year and accounted for 57% of the total sports sponsorship industry, the report said. The total growth in advertising expenses was 18%, with television, the largest medium, showing a growth of 13%. However, consumers shifted rapidly towards the digital medium with the advent of over-the-top video streaming, leading to growing confidence of advertisers in it.
Ground sponsorship revenue across all sporting activities grew by 25%, crossing the Rs2,000 crore mark. This was driven mainly by cricket, which delivered a strong growth of 43% with a total revenue of Rs1,290 crore. As much as 67% of all team sponsorship value in 2019 came from the sport.
Cricketers also dominated the endorsement industry that grew by 11%, further increasing their share in the total pie, the report said. Seventy new brand endorsement deals were signed in 2019, with 50 of them involving cricket players. As such, 69% of all endorsement deals were with cricket players and these delivered a value share of 85%.
Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli led the list of brand endorsers, followed by former captain M.S. Dhoni, the two of them together accounting for 63% of the total brand endorsement value across all sports.
While the cricket juggernaut rolled on, football saw a de-growth of 6% with a revenue delivery of Rs140 crore in 2019. Kabaddi has been raiding the Indian sports scenario since the advent of the Pro Kabaddi League. However, this year, the sport struggled with growth and declined by 15% to Rs128 crore, in 2019, thus dropping below football in overall value to the third position among sports in India.
Distance running, which reached the Rs100 crore mark in 2018, gained more momentum last year with a 15% incremental delivery, giving a revenue of Rs123 crore, an upswing that is contributed by price increase as well as entry of new brands into the list of sponsors.
“The year 2019 saw a strong uptrend that was driven by cricket, India’s most popular sport. The year also saw a digital revolution sweeping across sports with OTT media gaining ground with Indian fans. While TV advertising continued to grow, brands are clearly seeing a role for digital media in their marketing mix," said Vinit Karnik, business head at ESP Properties said.
Karnik, however, was quick to add that the year ahead seems challenging for sports given the economic slowdown and the looming threat of Covid-19.
“India wasn’t under the scanner until now. However, with the latest advisory on travel (the government has suspended for tourist visas and e-visas for travellers) and given the fact that 30% of all crew on tournaments like the IPL comes from abroad, it is going to be a challenging time for the sports segment that is anyway at a nascent stage in India," Karnik said.
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