Sports sponsorship spends increased by 105% to Rs 5,907 crore in 2022: GroupM

The Indian sports industry saw a significant 105% growth in 2022 over the previous year, with sponsorship spends recording a figure of Rs 5,907 crore, according to GroupM ESP Sporting Nation report. 

This value takes into consideration the revenues in terms of three factors – Ground Sponsorship, Team Sponsorship and Franchise Fee. This is an area that has witnessed strong growth year after year, since the advent of the IPL in 2008. 

"In the five-year period before the pandemic hit the sporting world (2014 to 2019), we saw a 1.89x upswing, on the back of rising corporate confidence enjoyed by major sports events in the country. This surge was halted by the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, leading to major setbacks and a significant drop in sponsorship spends," the report stated.

As per the report, the year 2021 saw the industry getting back to the path of growth as the environment started improving; still, the year recorded a number that was 14% below that of the pre-pandemic 2019. 

The numbers reveal that in 2022, the industry recorded a total revenue that was 1.75 times that of the 2019 figures, imputing a CAGR of close to 21% - a very healthy annual growth rate indeed, despite all the challenges that came up in that time period.

According to the report, 50% of the total spends in 2022 came as Ground Sponsorship, an amount of Rs 2,953 crore which is 69% higher than the previous year’s number, while Team Sponsorship accounted for Rs 1,310 crore at a 45% YoY growth. The biggest rise, however, came as a result of the growth of 597% in Franchise Fee, which amounted to Rs 1,644 crore in comparison with the 2021 figure of Rs 236 crore.

A whopping 75% of the total sponsorship spends in 2022 came from cricket, with a total revenue of Rs 4,403 crore. This alone works out to an incremental value of Rs 2191 crore with a 99% growth over 2021. The Indian Men’s Cricket Team played 67 matches across all three formats of the game as against 36 in the previous year, which itself signifies a huge rise in the overall monetisation potential for their fixtures, the report stated.

This includes bilateral series in the red and white ball versions of the game, along with the ICC

Test Championship matches, the T20 World Cup as well as the Asia Cup.

The report further states that 2022 might end up being remembered as a landmark year in the growth saga of the IPL with the addition of two new franchises in the fold, with RP Sanjiv Goenka Group picking up the rights for Lucknow with a winning bid of Rs 7090 crore and CVC Capital Partners grabbing Ahmedabad for Rs 5625 crore.

Cricket leagues in other nations are increasingly becoming familiar hunting grounds for Indian brands, with many of them continuing their investments in these events. While cricket sponsorship was riding a growth wave in India in 2022, the other sports too saw significant levels of upsurge, proving clearly that the path to growth has seen participation across the sports sector. 

Emerging sports had shrunk considerably in the past two years from the pre-Covid high of Rs 948 crore, but what was witnessed in 2022 was a comeback with an overall revenue of Rs 1,503 crore, which in YoY terms represents an incremental value of Rs 829 crore. In the year of the FIFA World Cup, Football did put up an excellent show, and there was considerable sponsorship upside from the sport indeed.

Reaffirming the bullishness in the growing following for world football in India, EdTech platform Byju’s tied up with FIFA 2022.

2022 saw the successful return of many franchise leagues in India, starting with Kabaddi. The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) made more than one raid in 2022, with the 2021-’22 season happening first followed by the 2022 edition, doubling the joy for the fans.

While Vivo continued to be the Title Sponsor, Dream 11 and A23 were the Associate Sponsors, and were joined by Pari Match News, Ultratech and Jindal Panthers who played the role of the other Official Partners. While the pandemic caused some setback for a participative sport like Marathon, 2022 saw an emphatic return of the long runs. 

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