Rs 50,000 for TV spot, Rs 350 CTV CPM: Inside JioStar’s bullish WPL 2026 rate card

New Delhi: With India’s Women’s World Cup win still fresh and Women’s Premier League (WPL) viewership climbing, JioStar is pitching WPL 2026 as a scaled, premium cricket property, and opening TV rate talks at around Rs 50,000 per 10 seconds.

In its pitch to advertisers, JioStar projects 245 million viewers on linear TV and 105 million devices on digital for the upcoming season, a 60% jump in digital reach over WPL 2025. 

The company also claims that WPL’s TV reach is already on par with the men’s Asia Cup, and that ratings have grown 131% since the inaugural 2023 season. 

The tournament, scheduled for January-February 2026, will feature five teams, 22 matches and a 7 pm prime-time slot.

TV spots start at Rs 50,000, but buyers see room to negotiate

Multiple advertisers and agency executives told BestMediaInfo that JioStar is currently quoting around Rs 50,000 per 10 seconds for live spot buys on TV (SD+HD combined).

“Last year, the rates were in the range of Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 per 10 seconds, depending on total outlay and level of association,” a senior executive at one of India’s largest FMCG companies said.

“We saw about a 15–20% increase in viewership compared to the previous year. In a normal scenario, with that kind of growth you would expect a similar increase in rates,” he said. “But they are asking for Rs 50,000 now. That will come down. It will not sustain at that level.”

The executive said WPL’s rates face a basic problem because there is too much men’s cricket on at the same time.

“The Men’s T20 World Cup is coming, and there is also the India-New Zealand men’s series. There will be a huge amount of cricket inventory in the market at the same time. Because of that, WPL may not get the rate increase it would have ideally expected and deserves,” he said.

He expects total collections to rise if JioStar sells a higher percentage of inventory than last season, but does not see a sharp jump in per-10-second pricing.

“Last year, not 100% inventory was sold. This year, they may sell all of it or more than what they sold last year. So, total inflows may increase, but the per-spot rate will not go up much,” he added.

A senior media buyer at a top agency also pegged the opening TV rate at “around Rs 50,000 per 10 seconds” and said most large categories will look to close deals closer to the tournament, not at the first quoted number.

CTV vs mobile

The bigger debate this time is on digital pricing.

Agency and advertiser sources said the network is quoting around Rs 350 CPM on connected TV (CTV), with mobile inventory in the Rs 180-220 CPM band depending on targeting.

A senior FMCG marketer said CTV is being positioned as the real premium layer.

“For CTV, they are usually selling on a per-10-second basis, not just on viewership or CPM. I have not seen their final structure yet, but CTV will always stay at a premium to mobile because of the living-room context and device profile,” he said.

A senior advertiser in the FMCG space said brands should not over-read early numbers.

“For properties like WPL, the final rates are never really frozen months in advance,” the advertiser said. “They keep negotiating almost till the end. Broadly, they start approaching clients around two months before with sponsorship decks and presentations. But the hard ad-rate negotiations happen very close to the event, sometimes just a week or a couple of days before matches begin.”

“Interest in WPL is definitely higher this time after the Indian women’s World Cup win and a strong WPL final, but the ratings base is still modest,” the advertiser said.

“Right now, WPL matches are broadly in the 0.2–0.3 TVR range. Even if that doubles, it is still far from men’s IPL where you talk about ratings around 5. Until you cross a certain threshold, the economics will not change dramatically,” the advertiser added.

“The WPL final did well, just like Women’s World Cup knockouts did well once India started winning. But that is event-driven and concentrated in the last few matches, not sustained across the entire league,” he said.

JioStar leans on World Cup halo and “premium women’s cricket” story

Riding the halo of India’s ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 victory, JioStar highlights 211 million TV viewers and 38 billion viewing minutes on Star Sports, with an average TVR of 1.5 for India and knockout matches and a 4.88 TVR for the final. 

On digital, JioHotstar claims 93.5 million devices, 21 million peak concurrent devices and 10.2 billion minutes of watch time for the final. 

For the WPL itself, the broadcaster says the 2025 season delivered a total TV reach of 233 million, matching men’s Asia Cup, and positions WPL as “4x bigger than the biggest GEC show” on a 30-day reach basis. 

It also claims that around 60% of WPL viewers are “exclusive premium sports viewers” who do not watch top GECs, and that digital reach is set to grow to 105 million devices next year, including 10 million CTV devices and 15 million “premium HHW” devices.

The audience profile is pitched as 70% NCCS A/B and around 70% Hindi-speaking markets, with a 60:40 male-female split, a mix that appeals to both mass and women-focused brands.