2008 was the year when Indian premier league had started in India and still continue to be India’s most viewed league follow by pro kabaddi league, Indian super league and 6 to 7 other sports leagues. However, this increase in the leagues has made a huge impact on the sports industry lots of investment is coming as the revenue generated by these leagues are increasing every year.
Apart from leagues Esports gaming is also emerging and helping to grow more fan engagement. Esports gaming app like dream 11, halaplay app and mobile premier league app have become more popular within a short period of time. According to the survey, Esports gaming will create a huge market in the Indian sports industry.
Today, the Indian sports industry is growing 12 to 15 % every year and it is forecasted that it will create 5 to 6 lakh employment till 2022. However, Cricket is dominating all other sports from its inception and still remains most viewed sports in India. Viewership is still increasing for both International Cricket and IPL.
Let’s take a look, how leagues are helping to grow the Indian sports market?
It has been over a decade that cricket has unleashed India’s most viewed league IPL and changed the business of sports forever. In 2018 Star has bagged 5-year broadcasting deal with BCCI from 2018 to 2022 at the staggering amount of 16347.37 cr. However, ground sponsorship grew 20% as compared to the previous year.
Furthermore, Team sponsorship has been increased by 9% over last year. There was a 22% growth of athlete endorsement last year which forecasted 29% in the coming year. As IPL completed it’s 10 years in 2017, the franchise fee grew to approximately INR 291 cr and Sponsorship forecasted to 20% growth in a couple few years.
Indian super leagues were the main reason that India now focusing on football more. There is huge fan engagement ISL has been created and people are finding football as future career opportunity than cricket. ISL has created a good sports market in India.
Hero Moto Corp has bagged title sponsorship for ISL through the investment of INR 50 Cr. Maruti and DHL were Associate Sponsors while Imperial Blue, Bisleri, SF Sonic Batteries, Britannia, Apollo Tyres, Nivea, Zeven and Dream 11 were the Official Partners of the ISL. It is worth mentioning here that football did deliver 17% more on ground revenue than it did in 2016.
India also hosted FIFA Under 17 world cup in 2017 which generated ground sponsorship amount INR 40 Cr. However hosting FIFA World Cup under 17 helped India to get more foreign Investment and increase fan engagement for football and now in India people are finding more interest in football, which will grow at the rate of 12 % every year.
No one will have ever think that sports like kabbadi will make his huge impact and will become one of the major factors to make India as multisports Nation. 2014 was the year when Pro Kabaddi League has started and within a 5 year it has shown huge potential.KPL forecasted to grow at a rate of 31% in the coming year. Vivo has bagged the title sponsorship for 5-year staggering amountINR 262 Cr.
While the PKL was Powered by Thums Up, the brands that took on the role of Associate Sponsors were Bajaj Electricals, Tata Motors, Gillette, Dream 11, Honda and R R Kabel. The rights of Official Partners went to UltraTech Cement, Britannia, McDowell’s No. 1 and HDFC. All these brands contributed to around INR 90 Cr ($13Mn) to Central Sponsorship in PKL.
This considering the fact that Pro Kabaddi, which used to have happened for 2month, now it has moved October to January 2 month more than the previous year. Cricket no doubt has the biggest money spinner league, but the home-grown contact team sport has shown its potential by surging ahead of football yet again in terms of having the grounds covered.
As India now emerging as a multisports nation as the number of leagues are increasing in India. Apart from IPL, ISL, PKL other sports leagues are also helping to increase the sports market. Premier Badminton League has shown huge potential it has generated total sponsorship around 10-11 Cr.Vodafone will be continued to be the Title Sponsor for the event and paid extra for the additional matches. The league was Powered by Indian Oil and had Spice Jet, Bisleri and Red Bull as Official Partners
Table Tennis league which has started 3 years ago will create more fan engagement as compared to last three year. One of the main reason is the performance of Indian table tennis player in Asian games 2018. India has got more medal in table tennis so this has created more awareness will definitely help to increase revenue from sponsorship and broadcasting. Ceat continuing to be the Title Sponsor. Kellogg’s was the Powered By Sponsor and along with Myntra, Servo and Stag, all these brands contributed INR 5-6 Cr (around $0.8Mn).
Fighting with these popular sports for public attention was the Pro-Wrestling League which had its 3rd edition in 2018. While the PWL enjoyed growths, it generated double revenue as compared to last year through both ground sponsorship and broadcasting rights.
Pro Volleyball league has started this year has shown a good response that it was expected. Viewership for each game inside the ground and on the online platform was much more than it had forecasted and has shown a good signal for the coming year.
There are 3 to 4 more leagues which are ready to start in a couple of years. Last month Kho-Kho Federation of India has announced that they are starting Kho – Kho league from this year. Dabur India has announced the partnership with KKFI Investing a whopping 10Cr for the first year of kho -kho league. Polo league and Ice volleyball league is also ready to start in a couple next year.
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