With the festive season fast approaching, advertisers are busy finalizing media plans to acquire and retain customers. The upcoming eleventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League, launching mid-October, offers a prime platform for brands to strategically unveil new products, amplify festive promotions, enter new markets, and elevate their premium positioning.
The last edition of Pro Kabaddi League reached a whopping 351 million viewers, achieving a 20% growth from the preceding edition. A large part of this reach was driven by premium audiences with 65% coming from NCCS AB households. What makes Pro Kabaddi League unique is the high-octane format and the collective viewing experience of the sport, commanding a watch-time of over 50% - higher than most other sports on live broadcast.
Reasons that make Pro Kabaddi League Season 11 on Star Sports the biggest festive media plan for advertisers:
Reasons that make Pro Kabaddi League Season 11 on Star Sports the biggest festive media plan for advertisers:
- Reach the Young and Affluent at Scale: Through its 10 editions, Pro Kabaddi League has managed to capture the attention of the youth, reigniting passion for India’s homegrown sport. In the previous edition, 70% of the league’s reach on TV came from viewers below 40 years of age. 65% of TV viewership of Season 11 was from NCCS AB households while the league’s viewership in megacities witnessed a massive 57% growth.
- Leader Across Genres during Festive: Year on year, Pro Kabaddi League has achieved leadership on television across genres, showcasing supremacy over leading impact shows. In HSM, PKL delivered a reach of 195 million, 1.75-2X of top programs including reality shows, quiz shows and talents. Similarly in South markets (TN, AP, Karnataka), PKL reached 155 million viewers, a massive 2-3X of other genres. During the festive season, active categories like FMCG, automobile and e-commerce can leverage this scale to garner incremental audiences for their brands.
- Unlock Superior ROI: PKL on TV continues to deliver high return on investment for advertisers across categories with massive uplifts along the brand funnel during their association.
- A leading FMCG brand that associated with Pro Kabaddi League last season witnessed 43% increase in sales on a leading e-commerce platform during the season, followed by 149% increase in e-commerce enquiries and a 42% increase in google searches for the product advertised.
- An adhesive brand that was a sponsor with the league last season witnessed a 14X return on investment through their association, with the TV association delivering a 36% growth in search queries and 56% increase in website traffic. Key brand metrics witnessed massive uplifts with the brand’s consideration growing 192% while purchase intent grew by a staggering 206%.
- Truly Integrated Sponsorships: Pro Kabaddi League offers a differential opportunity for sponsors like no other sporting league in India, combining the might of on-air, on-ground, access to players across teams, digital and social media to provide a high impact integrated platform for brands. Sponsorships with Pro Kabaddi League continue to provide the highest return on investment for brands, with associate sponsorships delivering a media value of 14X the investment, as per a study by Intelensa.
- Immersive Brand Opportunities on Live Broadcast: The live broadcast of Pro Kabaddi League offers deep integration opportunities for advertisers. From ownership of high impact moments during matches, to Picture-In-Picture Ads that allow brands to seamlessly integrate their TVCs without going into commercial breaks and contextual augmented reality graphics as live game intervention - Star Sports delivers an immersive brand experience for viewers.
Pro Kabaddi League is a celebration of India’s very own sport and the timing of the league merging with the festive season makes the 11th edition a powerful media solution for brands across categories looking to drive premiumization and achieve scale.