Jio Cinema and Star Sports Network, the official holders of the Indian Premier League 2023 digital streaming and linear broadcast rights, have gotten a strong response from advertisers for the tournament, which starts today. (March 31). For IPL23, the two platforms will be supported by a total of 34 companies from the start.

Jio Cinema has signed up 21 brands to back its free IPL 2023 4K streaming. There is one co-presenter, three co-powering sponsors, and 17 associate advertisers. Dream 11 is a co-presenting sponsor, JioMart, Phonepe, and Tiago EV are co-powered by sponsors, and TVS, Ultra Tech Cement, Oreo, Castrol, Rapido, Kamla Pasand, AJIO, Haier, Amazon, Louis Philippe Jeans, Appy Fizz, Puma, Kingfisher Power Soda, RuPay, Sting, Bingo, and ET Money are all associate sponsors.

Dream11, Asian Paints, Charged by Thums Up, Airtel, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Mountain Dew, Parle Biscuits, Kamala Pasand, Rupay, Britannia, Tata Neu, Jindal Panther, and LIC were among the marquee brands acquired by Star Sports Network.

While television advertising rates and spending are always higher than digital for the same broadcast and streamed assets, it appears that this is turning into a battle for ad rupees. The ratings at the end of the first and second weeks will, perhaps, chart out an indicative graph, particularly to map the first and second encounters of each brand. Of course, once the crucial pride-, grudge-, and elimination games arrive, the competition between both platforms for higher ROS spending will heat up even more.

13 strong brands are a solid start for Star Sports, and each of these brands has some of the finest brand ambassadors in cricketers and celebrities fronting their promise.

For Jio Cinema, all of its sponsor brands are equally evolved, and while the majority of them will want to perhaps focus on digital because online and digital are the sole or primary pipelines of their customer acquisition and goods-and-services delivery, the streamer also has strong brands that focus on the offline space for their products and delivery. Most make use of both places and have powerful brand ambassadors and campaigns.

Furthermore, Bollywood Superstar Ranveer Singh, India’s most valuable celebrity (according to Kroll), will head the Star Sports IPL 2023 action as a sutradhaar. This was the most recent of several initiatives initiated by Star Sports in preparation for the marquee property. And Jio Cinema has named India’s greatest cricketer Sachin Tendulkar as its brand ambassador, along with M S Dhoni, perhaps the most famous captain in recent times across not just the IPL but all of Indian cricket’s international competitions.