JioStar's T20 World Cup ad pricing under pressure; advertisers expect 10-15% correction

New Delhi: JioStar’s aggressive pricing for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 is already triggering resistance from advertisers, with some industry leaders predicting a potential 10-15% correction if current demand dynamics fail to support the hikes.

The broadcaster has significantly raised sponsorship and spot rates across linear TV and digital, including Connected TV (CTV), betting on consolidated rights, scale, and the tournament’s marquee status to drive premium monetisation.

However, advertisers argue that shrinking category participation and budget pressure could make these rates difficult to sustain.

Mayank Shah, Vice President, Parle Products, said broadcasters may struggle to hold on to current pricing levels, particularly for cricket.

“It is likely to be difficult for broadcasters to sustain current advertising rates this year, with a decline expected going forward, particularly for cricket,” Shah said.

According to Shah, the challenge is not limited to pricing ambition but is rooted in structural shifts in advertiser participation. 

“Several major advertiser categories have either exited or significantly reduced their spends,” he said, pointing to the pullback of real-money gaming and betting platforms, which were among the largest contributors to cricket advertising.

“Their exit has left a sizeable gap in overall ad outlays,” Shah added.

He also flagged increased caution among aggregator platforms. 

“Food delivery players such as Swiggy, which were once heavy spenders, have taken a step back in recent months,” he said.

Shah believes legacy advertisers will find it hard to fully compensate for the loss of high-spending digital-native categories. 

“Categories such as fantasy gaming contributed significantly to ad volumes, and traditional advertisers cannot entirely make up for that deficit,” he said.

Given the scale of cricket investments and high media rights costs, Shah expects pricing pressure to build. 

“Taken together, these factors point to a likely correction in advertising rates. A decline of around 10-15% is considered quite possible, if not inevitable,” he said.

Agencies push for calibrated participation

From the agency side, the price hikes are being viewed as a reset rather than a routine increase, but one that is forcing clients to rethink how they show up during the tournament.

“It is certainly among the sharpest escalations that we have seen for a global marquee property in recent times,” said Vinita Pachisia, EVP-Investments, Amplifi. 

“The steep price hike can be attributed to consolidation of rights, stronger monetisation discipline, and high advertiser demand. This could also be seen as resetting the price rather than a routine rate hike,” she noted. 

However, Pachisia said client conversations are increasingly centred on opportunity cost. “Clients aren’t questioning the value of the World Cup as a platform. What they’re questioning is whether the same level of investment still makes sense relative to other opportunities available in the market. World Cup versus always-on digital, retail media, and owned platforms,” she said.

As a result, agencies are being asked to move away from full-tournament commitments. “Agencies are also being asked to recommend phased investments or marquee moments versus all-in tournament buys, as clients want to be present on the World Cup but on their terms and not the broadcasters’,” Pachisia said.

The premium pricing on CTV is also driving more selective recommendations. “With pricing where it is, the focus is on avoiding duplication, using CTV only where it genuinely adds incremental reach or value,” she added.

Feature-led add-ons, traditionally easier to sell during marquee events, are also facing resistance. “Features now need to be activation-led and outcome-driven. Logo presence alone isn’t enough to justify the incremental spend,” Pachisia said.

Price discovery before value

A senior media agency executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the pricing strategy must be seen in the context of sunk rights costs and timing.

“Look at the acquisition cost. That money has already gone out, so it has to be recovered at some point. Unless prices are pushed up, no one is going to come forward and pay more. Price discovery has to happen,” the executive said.

With IPL approaching in March, the executive said there is little incentive for broadcasters to soften rates early. “Why would they take that call right now? IPL is in March. Why would I reduce prices now?”

The executive added that broadcasters still have flexibility on value delivery. “Outside of IPL, there is plenty of unsold inventory that broadcasters have. If you agree to these prices and then ask for value, broadcasters will be more than happy to compensate through inventory.”

Sharp hikes across TV and digital

On linear TV, the co-presenting sponsorship is priced at Rs 90 crore, a 45% jump from Rs 62 crore in 2024. On digital, the rate card splits inventory into Handheld+Web and CTV, pricing each at Rs 70 crore for co-presenting sponsorship, taking the combined digital outlay to Rs 140 crore, a 75% increase over the Rs 80 crore co-presenting package on JioHotstar in 2024.

The co-presenting live partnership across TV, Handheld+Web, and CTV is pegged at Rs 230 crore. Co-powered sponsorship is priced at Rs 195 crore, while associate sponsorship comes to Rs 150 crore.

On linear TV, live inventory is sold through a Free Commercial Time (FCT) construct, with the co-presenting package carrying 9,900 ten-second spots across 55 matches. The Average Spot Rate (ASR) is pegged at Rs 8.25 lakh per 10 seconds, up roughly 33% from the effective Rs 6.2 lakh per 10 seconds in 2024.

On digital, Handheld+Web live video ROS is priced at a CPM of Rs 250, while CTV live video ROS is priced significantly higher at Rs 600 CPM, implying a clear premium for big-screen inventory.

In 2024, BestMediaInfo had reported Hotstar’s CPM at Rs 480 for CTV and Rs 230–250 on mobile without targeting. Against that, the 2026 rate card’s CTV ROS CPM of Rs 600 implies a 25 per cent hike, while Handheld+Web ROS at Rs 250 sits at the top end of the earlier mobile band.