Sports advertising spends grew 20%; Virat Kohli tops chart with deals worth Rs 280 crore

Sports sponsorship spending grew by 19.33% in 2016 to Rs 6,400 crore from Rs 5,363.3 crore in 2015, according to a GroupM ESP – SportzPower report. 

Spending on sports sponsorship by brands accounted for 11.5% of the total Indian advertising expenditure (AdEx) with was Rs 55,671 crore in 2016.

Source: GroupM ESP-SportzPower report

On-ground sponsorship grew from Rs 1,030.5 crore to Rs 1,165.2 crore - a steady 13% growth in 2016 while overall team sponsorship and franchise fee grew by 25.33%, sports celebrity endorsements saw a growth of 14.4%. 

Media spends being the biggest contributor grew handsomely by 24.63% from Rs 2,816.9 crore in 2015 to Rs 3,510.8 crore in 2016.

Source: GroupM ESP - SportzPower report

On-ground sponsorship grew from Rs 1,030.5 crore to Rs 1,165.2 crore, team sponsorship was up from Rs 558.2 crore to Rs 699.6 crore, franchise fees went from Rs 541.3 crore to Rs 548.0 crore and endorsements from Rs 416.4 crore to Rs 476.4 crore. The media spends shot up from Rs 2,816.9 crore to Rs 3,510.8 crore.

As has been the case for the last two years consecutively, cricket owned the majority chunk of sports sponsorship, but witnessed a 3% fall in its overall contribution, said the report.

Kabaddi saw a massive surge and raked in almost triple the sponsorship than 2015 at Rs 122 crore in 2016. This was due to surge in on-ground sponsorship as there were two seasons of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) and one Kabaddi World Cup during the year from just one season of PKL in 2015. Kabaddi team sponsorship saw a 45.76% increase in its two-season swing - the highest by any sport

The Pro Wrestling League (PWL) took a hit allegedly due to demonetisation and was hence postponed to the following year in January. However, no other sports sponsorship saw a hit due to demonetisation as these were long time deals.

Cricket as a sport sprung forward on team sponsorship as compared to the rest of the pack with 51% more matches played in 2016 as opposed to 2015.

Source: GroupM ESP - SportzPower report

Football team sponsorship instead witnessed a loss from Rs 99 crore in 2015 to Rs 98.2 crore in 2016. Sponsors went down marginally for Indian Super League (ISL) as well with numbers dropping to Rs 37.2 crore as against Rs 38 crore a year ago.

In terms of endorsements, Virat Kohli was at the top of sports endorsements rising from Rs 264.4 crore to Rs 279.3 crore in 2016. 

However, women athletes saw a great jump in endorsements as Rio Olympic medalists PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik contributed to non-cricket endorsements growth by 83.5% in 2016 from Rs 42 crore to Rs 77.1 crore.

Source: GroupM ESP-SportzPower report

On-air spending in sport grew an incredible 34.74%, from Rs 1,756.9 crore to Rs 2,367.2 crore. Cricket was obviously was on top with over Rs 1,020 crore net in ad sales revenues for Sony Pictures Network

India, a good over 25% over 2015’s numbers. For the first time, there were separate SD and HD sales for IPL in 2016. Women (41% including rural) and kids dominated the viewership pie for IPL.

Vinit Karnik - Business Head, ESP Properties said, “Gone are the days of male dominance in sports viewership. The year’s biggest chunk of spectators came from women and kids."

Thomas Abraham, Co-Founder, SportzPower said, “Demonetisation disruptions aside, 2016 was a great year for the industry and this year will be even more so. Team sponsorship may have experienced certain upheavals and newer leagues will change the sporting diaspora even more so this year. However, what remains to be seen is franchise sustenance, endorsement rates and the manner in which technology and data influence these numbers."

"We expect 2017 to only get bigger, not just on the back of growth from the leagues that are now up and running, but also from new kids on the block that are debuting in the year – Table Tennis being a notable one,” he added.