How the festive VIVO IPL 2021 can be a game-changer for brands with limited media budgets

With phase two of the IPL just under a month away and coinciding once again with the festive season, both fans and advertisers are looking forward to what promises to be an action-packed cricket carnival. Given that the second phase will be a shorter duration, the tournament is expected to be a massive success. An important point to note is that the IPL also took place during the festive season in 2020, and achieved unparalleled viewership, amassing 39% higher TVR than four of the most watched Hindi entertainment shows combined, according to BARC. With the tournament resumption on September 19,the proposition of large reach build up in very less time combined with the high attention to ads that the cricket platforms provide due to their ad breaks being very short is too compelling for brands to ignore. Even a portion of their overall media plans having IPL will amplify and help elevate the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Presence on IPL is a proven game-changer, budgets notwithstanding

The potential impact of the second phase of VIVO IPL 2021 during the festive season is one that advertisers will want to leverage, irrespective of budgets. The past seasons have proven that the brands that advertised through lower levels of spot buys, have also seen tremendous success. One such example is online eyewear brand, Lenskart that rolled out its first-ever campaign during the IPL last year and saw a 81% jump in brand recall. Hitesh Malhotra, CMO of Lenskart in an interview with exchange4media earlier this year, pointed out that the brand saw a 25% increase in business at its stores and a 10% jump in its online business. “With the IPL ad campaign, Lenskart regained pre-COVID revenue-growth,” Malhotra said in the interview.

Another brand that ran a targeted campaign during the Dream11 IPL last year was home services business, Urban Company. The brand witnessed an instant 20% increase in overall website visits, to the extent that even after a drop in the subsequent months, the number was still higher than it was before the association with IPL, as per industry reports. Another company that has busted the myth that the IPL is only for big spenders and big budget brands is the electronics brand, BOAT Lifestyle. BOAT reportedly witnessed a 50% rise in Google search during the tournament, in comparison with pre-IPL days. Audio streaming app, Spotify is another success story of a brand that recorded a 29% growth in daily downloads during the tournament compared, as per data from App Annie. The brand dominated the share of downloads during the time compared with other top music OTT brands at the time. Depending on their campaign stages and creative strategy, brands with limited outlays have witnessed traction across the various phases of the brand funnel.

Best platform to capture the female audience

IPL dominated viewership, even among female viewers. This was demonstrated last year as the tournament garnered 90% higher TVR among women viewers compared to the top four Hindi GECs combined at the time. Indicating the clear gulf of impact between the two genres last year, the first week of the IPL saw a higher reach for female viewers than a complete season of top GEC shows. This showcases brands targeting female users can also have space for IPL as part of their media outreach programs especially those goods where the shopper is the female, but the influencers of brand choice and purchase could be other members of the family, as this content is viewed by the entire family together. No other medium could ensure a swifter, more impactful reach than IPL even for audiences that are traditionally GEC viewers. In 2019, cricket chatter on social media by female audience increased 61% during IPL compared to Pre-IPL. This also led to a 26% decline in social chatter around Hindi GECs during IPL, clearly indicating that women who regularly converse about Hindi GEC shows, talk about cricket during IPL.

As the second phase of the Vivo IPL 2021 fast approaches, brands and companies will aggressively be striving to drive consumer growth in the short but high spend festive season. The quick and high reach, high attention and impactful platform of IPL on TV would be too compelling a proposition to ignore. The timing could not be more perfect for brands to leverage the might of this cricketing fiesta, exploring diverse options to associate with it even with smaller outlays. Vivo IPL marks the start of a massive celebration in India.