Emerging from the shadows

THEY SAY THE third time's a charm and that seems to be true for the Women's Premier League (WPL), whose third season is underway.

- CHRISTINA MONIZ

The league's opening game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Giants saw record TV viewership of 30 million, making it the most-watched league stage game ever, as per BCCI secretary Jay Shah's post on X. The opening game numbers mark a 150% rise in TV viewership and a 70% growth in digital viewership on JioHotstar compared with last season. Clearly, the WPL is no longer a sideshow. As per JioStar, connected TV (CTV) viewership has seen two-fold growth, while linear TV recorded 142% growth in viewership over 2024.

Industry insiders say the WPL collected ad revenue of ₹100-110 crore in its first edition but saw a slight drop to ₹85-90 crore last year. This year, depending on the quality of the cricket and viewership growth, experts reckon that ad revenue may grow around 20% to reach ₹110 crore, pretty much the 2023 season revenue mark.

The big question is, will these numbers attract more advertiser dollars than previous seasons?

There has already been an uptick in advertiser spending this season compared to the last two editions, observes Pankaj Malani, SVP for revenue, Only Much Louder (OML). He estimates that brands are spending 15-20% more than they did last year, and this will only increase with growing viewership.