IPL 2018: Big time sponsors stay away from live telecast slot

Bengaluru, February 20: Star India had acquired the global media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) through a massive bid of Rs 16,437 crore. But as things stand now, they may find it tough to recover the costs let alone make the deal profitable.

The broadcast giant has named 11 advertisers but several familiar names have been missing from the list. Reason - the companies are finding the rate of sponsorship (Rs 10 lakh per 10 seconds) too high.

Star has gathered the IPL media rights for a period of five years from 2018. The broadcaster had charted extensive plans to recover the cost - telecast the IPL in 6 languages across 12 channels and live streaming on Hotstar and generating Rs 2000 crore from TV and digital ad sales in the first year.

At the time of writing, Star has not disclosed the advertisers spot. But it is believed that only Vivo (the title sponsors), Coca Cola, Parle, AMFI and Poly Cabs are game for live telecast.

Rest of the six sponsors are relatively small time investors and they are more keen on taking slots in Hotstar and wrap-around shows, the less expensive option.

While Star officials were could not be reached for a reaction, the market experts attributed the investors' reluctance to high cost. "It's possible that the investors are turned off by the high asking price set by the Star. It is also possible that some big time sponsors are waiting for Star to reduce the price under pressure to find sponsors," a market analyst told Mykhel.

Meanwhile, Star India Pvt Ltd also won the rights for audio-visual production services for IPL and BCCI domestic cricket for the 2018-19 season.

The BCCI had invited Request For Proposal (RFP) documents for services relating to the live production of all matches for IPL Season 2018 and domestic cricket Season 2018-19.

The service agreement and the contract term will cover one season of the IPL (2018) and one season of domestic cricket (2018-2019).