Reliance bets on 'brain mapping' for IPL ads

After striking an $8.5-billion media merger with Walt Disney, Mukesh Ambani is targeting small businesses and promoting unconventional neuroscience studies to boost its revenues from the IPL, the world's most valuable cricket league.

- MUNsif VENGATIL, ADITYA KALRA & SAI ISHWARBHArath B

AFTER STRIKING AN $8.5 billion media merger with Walt Disney, Mukesh Ambani is targeting small businesses and promoting unconventional neuroscience studies to boost its revenues from the IPL, the world's most valuable cricket league.

The pricey broadcast rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and other cricketing events which cost Disney and Reliance nearly $10 billion in recent years, are set to weigh big on the merged group, which is India's biggest entertainment giant.

Battling competitors Netflix and Amazon in the $28 billion market, the Reliance-owned venture is holding a month of closed-door seminars in seven Indian cities to woo small companies to become IPL advertisers, offering ad packages worth $17,000.

"Ads are integral to IPL coverage," the company said in one document that set its streaming service a target of reaching 40 million smart TVs and 420 million mobile devices during the IPL, set to run for 60 days from March 22.