Indian sports sponsorship crosses Rs 9,500 crore mark in 2021: GroupM ESP

Marking a strong bounce-back from 2020, when the pandemic put a break to the sports industry, the number has even surpassed 2019 topline of Rs 9,000 crore by 5.5%.

The growth was once again primarily driven by media spending and on-ground sponsorship around cricket, with the Indian Premier League and ICC World Cup both contributing, as per the ninth edition of ‘Sporting Nation in the Making.’

Overall share of cricket in the sports industry stood at 88% or Rs 8,410 crore, while emerging sports’ share was Rs 1,119 crore. While spends on cricket have increased by 64% and 15%, respectively over 2020 and 2019 spends, emerging sports spends has seen a 47% growth in 2020. However, spending on emerging sports was still down by 38% from 2019.

The spending on sports celebrity endorsement grew by 11% year-on-year in 2021. A total of 444 brand endorsement deals happened in 2021, with cricketers accounting for 318 endorsement deals and 87% of total brand endorsement value. The Olympic Year of 2021 increased Emerging Sports Athletes’ endorsements by 79%, accounting for 13% of the overall brand endorsement value.

“The year 2021 was a year of a major comeback for the sports industry,” said Prasanth Kumar, CEO – GroupM, South Asia. “Not only in sports, but we saw growth in sponsorships, endorsements, and media expenses in 2021. This year will also be a good restart point for brands to invest in sports properties since sports will see a rise and will in turn deliver ROI to brands. We even saw esports gaining significant traction and there was a major rise in the number of gamers in the country.”

As per the report, with Rs 6018 crore, ad expenditure (AdEx) on sports surpassed 2019 levels in both TV & digital with cricket accounting for 94% of the overall sports AdEx, or Rs 5657 crore.

Vinit Karnik, head – Sports, Entertainment and Esports, GroupM South Asia, said India as a Sporting Nation has finally arrived, overcoming all barriers brought by the pandemic.

“The media spends in 2021 were the biggest contributors, who accounted for almost two-thirds of all sports industry spending. While sports celebrity endorsement was on the rise in 2021, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Neeraj Chopra and PV Sindhu are the top athletes in the sports celebrity brand endorsement space,” Karnik said. “2022 will be an exciting year with the Asian Games, FIFA World Cup, Premier Badminton League, and many more properties coming up. The sports arena is an exciting drive ahead from the fanbase lens and the business lens too and we have a host of opportunities in the Indian sports industry.”

Karnik added that while the pandemic did cause a setback, 2021 was the year of a comeback.

“We are looking at 2022 with further monies rising in sponsorship spends, player endorsements and media spends. Sports on OTT platforms, broadcasters, and sportspeople endorsements brought fans closer in a more special ecosystem in 2021. We see sports in 2022 skyrocketing, with different sports properties coming up.”