JioStar scores big as brands gear up to splurge on cricket frenzy from WPL to IPL

February to May 2025 is a busy season for cricket fans and advertisers in India with the ongoing Women's Premier League (WPL) and the ICC Men's Champions Trophy, as well the upcoming big daddy of sports-the Indian Premier League (IPL) which starts on March 22.

- Shuchi Bansal

February to May 2025 is a busy season for cricket fans and advertisers in India with the ongoing Women's Premier League (WPL) and the ICC Men's Champions Trophy, as well the upcoming big daddy of sports-the Indian Premier League (IPL) which starts on March 22. Media buyers estimate nearly ₹5,000 crore will be spent by advertisers on these cricket properties. JioStar, the new entity formed by the merger of Reliance Industries and Disney Star's media assets in the country, stands to gain as it has the telecast rights to these tournaments for television as well as streaming.

Ahead of IPL, the company has merged its two digital platforms JioCinema and Disney+Hotstar into JioHotstar for live streaming of sports. It is also in the process of rebranding the Sports18 television channels in the network to Star Sports.

SBI, Kajaria, TATA Capital, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), Himalaya No.1 Facewash, TATA Motors and Amul, among others, are WPL sponsors while Champions Trophy, played among world's top 8 cricket teams, signed up Dream11, Pernod Ricard India, Beam Suntory, Kohler, Birla Opus, Vodafone Idea, ICICI Bank, LIC Housing Finance Limited, Eicher Motors and Indira IVF.