Up until 2024, the IPL had a central anthem, but not anymore.
Remember “Cricket ka dharmayudh” in the launch year or the Farah Khan special, “Jumping Japang” in 2013?
Or the “India Ka Tyohaar” in PepsiCo’s final year of sponsorship in 2015 or “Ab Sab Normal Hai” for IPL 2022 when the tournament came back in full swing post the pandemic.
In 2025, whilst there isn’t a tournament-wide anthem, some of the popular franchises have their own songs, but none that is anywhere close to being catchy or popular.
One wonders why?
One stream of thought is that after 17 editions, the IPL doesn’t really need much marketing, as it has become part of the nation’s heartbeat and calendar, whilst the franchises could still do with better recall, loyalty and engagement, given the player reshuffles at the mega auctions.
The other hypothesis is that one central TV ad or theme song will not cut it anymore, especially if the tournament must attract new and younger audience segments.
Not only will the marketing efforts need to expand into Gen-Z territories across Instagram, YouTube and Snap, but also experiment with vernaculars, to further penetrate beyond the Tier 2 and 3 cities in India.
Decentralised marketing campaigns
And that is best done through decentralised and influencing marketing campaigns wherein franchises and brands engage celebrities to nano influencers to deliver credible, authentic, humorous, real-time content in digestible and shareable formats on second screens, that hundreds of millions of IPL viewers are using before, during or after the live matches.
At one hand you have commentators, ex-players and authors such as a Harsha Bhogle, Gaurav Kapur, Aakash Chopra, Jatin Sapru, Joy Bhattacharjya and Nikhil Chopra, who offer intelligent and erudite opinions through their respective digital channels that have anywhere between 500,000 to 4 million subscribers, respectively.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have digital native experts such as a Vikram Sathaye, Tanay Tiwari, Bhavna Balakrishnan, Tanvi Shah, Kshitij Khurana, Rohit Lamba, and Ayushi Shekhawat, who offer well-researched and curated reels on a timely manner, to keep the IPL fan well informed and inspired.
If one is keen to tune into the minds of a few senior cricketers or commentators that have taken to the digital media in recent years, one can choose to follow the likes of an Anjum Chopra, Anant Tyagi, Surbhi Vaid or a Pankaj Athawale.
Franchises engaging digital creators
The other trend that’s emerged over the last few years is that the franchises themselves engage digital creators to offer behind-the-scenes and humanised content to their loyal fans, something which one wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
Franchises are expected to invest 10-15% of their media marketing budgets into these high octane and humorous channels.
Be it a Jasmeet Bhatia, Piyush Sharma and a Jagriti Pahwa bringing you humorous tales from the PBKS stable or a Nisman Parpia and Sarath helping CSK fans dive into nostalgia through humor or trivia.
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Selvalaxmi goes missing after last night’s match, Ajji comes with a doctor, and Mr. Nags congratulates both teams for putting on a great Saturday show, on @bigbasket_com presents RCB Insider.… pic.twitter.com/sK6GxIHtpr
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 4, 2025
A Danish Sait has been a Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) insider as Mr. Nags for a long time and has entertained millions through his personal one-on-one interviews, be it with King Kohli, Siraj, DK, Phil Salt or even the current skipper, Rajat Patidar.
Thanks to a poetic Nayab Midha, one could learn about Rajasthan Royal’s (RR) strong culture in a unique, emotive manner; likewise, Taran Singh’s mimicry and player voice-overs made match reactions and analyses way more fun and relatable.
A Shubham Gaur and a Vickypedia are well known regional content creators that were engaged by the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and RCB to leverage humour to share insider jokes and reveal more about player engagements.
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Back-stories more accessible now
The new age digital creators have not only ensured that the IPL reaches new audience segments but have also made the players and their back-stories more accessible.
Beyond the four-hour live game, there is a lot more to digest, analyse, share and chat about thanks to the reels, shorts and full-length videos that float around on our social media and WhatsApp feeds!
These digital assets also double up as fantastic sponsorship opportunities for both the official and unofficial partners of the IPL ecosystem.
In 2024, some of the brands that weren’t sponsoring the IPL but managed to smartly capitalize on the momentum leveraging influencers included Star Sports India, Jio Cinema, Dream 11, Puma, Swiggy, Zomato, Cricbuzz and PayTM, with Jio Cinema setting a very high bar with over 23 million engagements on social media during the tournament.
Last year’s IPL saw over 315,000 social media posts from influencers driving over 3.2 billion engagements and more than 56% of that came from micro-influencers.
With over INR 550 crores being invested in influencer marketing by franchises, teams and brands, and with JioStar planning to take IPL 2025 to a billion screens this season, one wouldn’t be surprised if the reach and engagement figures for this year double up.
Bulk of that budget is expected to flow from entertainment and streaming platforms (30%) such as a Dream 11 and JioCinema; FMCG brands (25%) such Swiggy and Zomato; consumer electronics products (15%) such as Boat and Noise; eCommerce and d2C brands (15%) such as Myntra, Paytm and CRED and automative brands (10%) like a Spinny.
Beyond the short form videos and memes, brands are leveraging mobile-first, vernacular content to their advantage as well, given that 92% cricket fans in India now prefer consuming IPL content in their native language and over 86% of IPL viewers enjoy consuming content on their mobile devices whilst watching a live match.
Tale of continuous growth
During IPL 2024, over 200 million users engaged in post-match discussions, celebrating victories or reacting to losses online, generating near 5 billion views; most of those comments and engagements were in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.
During the IPL frenzy, data reveals that there is a 35% and 28% rise in Android and iOS app installs respectively; there is 6X higher click through rates in gaming apps; 21X higher video ad engagement and 13X full-screen ad performance.
Platforms like Glance have capitalised on the fact that over 120 million users engaged with cricket-related content on smart lock screens, with users spending 44% more time on cricket-related content, driving 314 billion glances and 433 million taps.
The IPL is a two-month festival across India and the diaspora fans, and it is a mega opportunity for franchise and brands to engage in meaningful partnerships and collaborations to drive awareness, reach, engagement and loyalty, especially through digital channels, given that more than three quarters of the country has a mobile device and nearly a third of them have access to social media.
And influencers and digital content creators are the smartest and fastest conduits to a fan’s heart and mind given how active and engaged they are during the 74-match window across the months of April and May every year!
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