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New Delhi: The Indian Premier League roared to life on March 22 with trailing expectations of being larger than ever. Sunday too, was packed with thrilling matches, including one that saw the ‘Thala’ faithfuls glancing at Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
While the stadium-goers had a full-fledged festival unfolding in front of them, several people on social media alleged that the screen-viewers had a tough time getting the full IPL experience.
Multiple users expressed their fatigue with advertisements hindering their viewing experience this IPL season.
Netizens from across regions flocked to social media platforms to display their disappointment with the IPL media rights holder.
Nisheeth Chauhan, Digital Lead - North, Havas India, called it “watching cricket in between ads and not vice-versa.”
Expressing his discontent, Chauhan stated, “I understand that ads in live events get you more credibility, and events like IPL can be the icing on the cake but this is too much fatigue and irritation.”
He predicted investments in IPL on JioHotstar going down by 2027, if this is continued.
Another user highlighted being bombarded with My11Circle ads during IPL matches. “It is the only thing I remember,” the netizens said.
My11Circle ads during IPL are so cringe, yet it's the only thing I remember after the match. Guess that means it's working.
— Sai Karthik Brahma (@saikbrahma0) March 23, 2025
Another disgruntled netizen took to X to call out this bombarding of ads, ruining key moments during matches. Take a look:
@IPL @BCCI @JayShah after all build up around @msdhoni and this marquee clash, and right at his entry into the stadium you break into stupid ads !! What the point of telecast! Stop live telecast and just publish scores. You guys are not made for that. Shame! #IPL2025
— Pramod Balakrishnan (@Prambee1975) March 23, 2025
Many users complained of seeing ads that belonged to one category rather than being diverse across segments.
Another user on social media claimed that IPL was the only property that “shoves this many ads down people’s throats.”
Ironically realized why I stopped watching cricket while watching IPL, because of these ads. It feels like I am watching more ads then actual cricket. 1 over ad, hits a 6 ad, hits a 4 ad, time out an ad, wicket ad. No other big sports shoves this much ad down people's throat #IPL
— NoYou🫵🏽 (@Faazu_) March 23, 2025
Circling back to a certain type of ads, one user quipped:
I just realised that all ads in between the #IPL match are just Poker, betting and Pan masala ads 🤡🤡 Great progress India, keep it up #IPL2025
— Santosh Jangam (@SANTOSH25341755) March 23, 2025
One Sudheen Kamath, on LinkedIn, wrote, “As the IPL season starts, it's really sad to see that in spite of the awareness of the broadcasters that a lot of kids watch the matches to see their cricketing heroes in action, the advertisements that are dominating the scene are products like pan masala, surrogate marketing of course and energy drinks that should have been banned by now and the gambling ads that want to reduce people to gamblers. Really sad about the government’s inaction on this.”
Users also engaged with Grok, the xAI’s generative tool, seeking solutions to “mute” ads on JioHotstar.
Hey @grok can you help me to write code for an application which will mute the audio as soon as advertisement comes after every over of IPL match and unmute once starts the match?
— Ajay Taur (@Ajay__Taur) March 23, 2025
Help me plz.. I am bored with seeing those betting ads 😶
To which Grok replied with:
Annoyed by IPL betting ads? Try existing Chrome extensions like "Mute Ads on JioCinema" or "Ad Mute" to mute audio during ads and unmute for the match. Coding your own app is possible but tricky—needs ad detection (audio/visual) and real-time audio control. Check GitHub’s…
— Grok (@grok) March 23, 2025
Ad-based fatigue is real and detrimental. The issue of frequency capping has of late been the centre of discussion. According to a news report, Hindustan Unilever, one of the largest spenders in the ad world, had a tussle with JioStar on the premise that the OTT giant was serving repeated ads to users.
To bring in transparency on how ads are served on JioHotstar, JioStar announced its collaboration with Nielsen, aiming to offer near real-time campaign-level metrics such as clicks, impressions, reach, and on-target reach on a dashboard—all validated by a third party.
With the IPL's exclusive media rights, the merged entity is eyeing a massive influx of ad spends from brands. According to reports, JioStar plans to rake in Rs 4,500 crore from ad sales during the IPL 2025.
Earlier this month, the Health Ministry instructed BCCI to prohibit all forms of tobacco and alcohol promotions, including surrogate advertising, during the IPL 2025.