Star Sports loses sponsors ahead of IPL

Five sponsors leave weeks ahead of the IPL resumption.

Ahead of the resumption of the Indian Premier League, official broadcast partner Star Sports has lost five of its sponsors due to the network’s demand of a hike in rates.

Upstox, Frooti, Vodafone-Idea, Havells Fans and Just Dial are the brands that have terminated their sponsorship deals with Star Sports, post the broadcaster asking for a 10-15% rise in rates compared to the first leg.

It is reported that Star Sports’ asking rate for a 10-second spot is between INR 15-15.5 lakh currently; it was between INR 13-13.5 lakh for the same timings during the first leg.

At the time of the postponement, the broadcaster had informed the sponsors that they needed to pay only for the ad inventory they had bought and gave an option to continue with the deals or resume when the IPL resumed. The sponsors were also given first right of refusal for the remaining leg.

A source revealed: “Inventory is too less, brands who had missed out will latch on to spot buys, especially those brands who are releasing their product campaigns during or near to IPL in UAE. Star will easily get advertisers even at the increased rates & pull out by some of the advertisers will not matter much.”

The remaining sponsors are Dream11, Byju’s, PhonePe, Bingo, Kamla Pasand, AMFI, Asian Paints, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Garnier Men, Cred, Thums Up and Amazon Prime. While Dream11, Byju’s and PhonePe are co-presenting sponsors, the remaining are associate sponsors.

With the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup succeeding the IPL, Star Sports has already confirmed six sponsors which are: Byju’s, Dream11, Coca-Cola and Vimal.

The IPL resumes from the 19th of September with the Mumbai Indians taking on the Chennai Super Kings.