At GroupM ESP (the Entertainment
& Sports division of GroupM), we
are proud to present the eleventh
edition of our annual report on
the Indian Sports Industry. We
have been pursuing this initiative
with the objective of providing a
thorough picture of the playing
conditions in the business of sports,
quantitatively and qualitatively.
Sixteen years have elapsed since
the advent of the Indian Premier
League (IPL). 2008 was a watershed
year for the industry, with the
launch of the T20 blitz in our
country. Since then, the franchising
route has been cross-pollinated into
other sports too. The subsequent
years have seen the establishment
of a win-win framework, as work
practices in the sports industry
metamorphosed from the
unstructured to the structured.
While the IPL system has grown in
brand valuation by 433% (Source -
Brand Finance report), the learning
curve gained by the industry
through this ultra-competitive
cricket league has had a
snowballing eect on Indian
sports. The past decade has
witnessed a six-fold increment in
the industry, including cricket
and emerging sports.
This report analyses the trends from three perspectives – Sponsorships
(inclusive of ground, team and franchise fee), Athlete Endorsements,
and Media Spends by brands. The three, cumulatively, have delivered a
revenue in excess of INR 15000 Cr in 2023, with a double-digit growth
over the previous year. Providing the backdrop for this uptrend has been
the excellent performances by our sporting ambassadors at global
events, as evinced in the ever-increasing number of medals won by our
champion athletes at reputed multi-disciplinary competitions, and
several epoch-making wins in dierent individual and team sports in the
past few years. In cricket, the most popular sport in the country, we are
a juggernaut on the world stage, and it represents a success story on
and o the field.
Today, India is the fifth largest economy in the world. In sports too, we have
come a long way. Recent years have seen many landmark wins from our
athletes which would have seemed improbable, if not impossible, a decade
ago. An Indian has won an individual Olympic Gold in track and field, our
shuttlers have clinched the prestigious Thomas Cup in badminton, we have
crossed the threshold of one hundred podium finishes at the Asian Games
held in Hangzhou, the nation hosts a sports league with the second highest
per-match broadcast value in the world - all these and more are such
sterling accomplishments have clearly highlighted the new elevated status
we now have in sports. The first edition of this India Sports Sponsorship
Report was released by us in 2013, under the name ‘Sporting Nation in the
Making’ – because that was, quite literally, the fact of the matter. In light of
the current circumstances, we felt that a reappraisal for the nomenclature
would be appropriate. Consequently, we are delighted to bring to you the
eleventh edition of the report as ‘Sporting Nation: Building a Legacy’. The
reason for this is self-evident; it takes into account a beautiful story that
is being written now. The coming generations will look back at these
years as a glorious phase in the evolution of the industry in India.
This report gives you in-depth understanding of the fluctuations in the
sports commercialization space, with focus on the numbers on one level,
while providing perspectives on the drivers and barriers to growth, on
the other. We are in the era of marketing measurability; hence we also
zoom in on digital data like social conversations, search etc. with the
On Air Reach & TRPs in the major franchise-based leagues in the Sporting
Nation. This is in alignment with the goal of maximizing the value to rights
owners, advertisers, and agencies. Our team also enhances the report
every year by adding emerging pieces of information on spend patterns,
so that the readers are updated about the same. We are grateful for
the contributions from many rights owners, agencies, and industry
participants who have given us invaluable inputs and support, along with
oodles of energy to move forward in our resolve. We express our sincere
gratitude to all of them, and their encouragement means the world to us.
Our actions have always been driven by the commitment to share a
cogent report, and to set higher benchmarks every year. We will be most
happy to receive feedback and suggestions that will help us in elevating
the experience for the readers.
FOREWORD
Vinit Karnik
Head – Entertainment,
Esports & Sports,
GroupM South Asia
vinit.karnik@espglobal.com