Sports advertising on TV down 16% in 2023, digital up 40%

GroupM ESP’s 2024 Sporting Nation report released on Tuesday said that sports on television witnessed a 16% drop in revenue from advertising in 2023.

Brands spent a total of Rs 4620 crore ($Mn 557) on television, down Rs 886 crore from 2022.

The biggest contributor to ad spends has been TV, though the share has been coming down in recent years since digital media started scoring at a high strike rate with its Over-The-Top (OTT) hitting, the report highlighted.

“Television’s share of total ad spends was 73% in 2022, which came down to 62% last year,” the report said.

“This downturn is in sharp contrast to the uptrend we saw on digital platforms, which grew by 40% over the previous year in terms of advertising expenses from brands,” GroupM ESP said. 

The loss of television was digital’s gain. 

The total spends on digital was Rs 2870 crore ($Mn 346) in 2023, which came with an annual growth rate of 40% - this represents a jump of Rs 825 crore in a single year. 

OTT platforms have propelled digital media advertising to 38% share of the whole, from 27% just a year ago.

Overall, the sports industry recorded media spends of Rs 7494 crore ($Mn 903) in 2023.

Talking specifically about ad spends on cricket, GroupM ESP said that advertising expenses on cricket properties recorded a total amount of Rs 7074 crore ($Mn 852) in 2023. 

While the IPL saw a decline in TV ad spends, digital grew by 25% over the 2022 season.

GroupM ESP said that it was in line with the overall trend that they witnessed last year. 

Comparing between Cricket World Cups in 2022 and 2023, GroupM ESP said that the numbers reveal that both TV and digital grew more than 40%. 

“However, this cannot be viewed as the proverbial apple-to-apple case, since the 2023 event was played in the ODI format, while in the previous year we had the shorter T20 version. Hence the airtime as well as the advertising inventory (FCT) would have been higher in 2023. Add to it, the fact that the ODI event was held in India- and we could see where the significant growth came from,” GroupM ESP clarified.