IPL 2025 wraps up but was it worth the spend for advertisers?

In its eighteenth season, the Indian Premier League remained the juggernaut of Indian advertising. But IPL 2025 was anything but predictable.

To begin with, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings, two teams that had never lifted the trophy in 17 years, faced off in an emotional final. In a moment that had cricket fans erupting with joy and disbelief alike, RCB finally clinched their maiden IPL title, rewriting history and rewarding a loyal fanbase that had waited nearly two decades for this glory. 

The impact extended far beyond the field. According to a Qoruz report, RCB’s brand value surged past $140 million following their win. In 2024, the team ranked third on the brand value leaderboard at $117 million, and that was without a title. Now, with a long-awaited trophy, a projected 20% year-on-year spike, and unmatched social media clout, RCB is expected to leapfrog its rivals.

Yet, even as the cricketing drama peaked, the season unfolded under a shadow of unexpected disruption. A national emergency mid-way through the tournament led to an unprecedented pause, forcing matches to be rescheduled, media plans to be revisited, and brand narratives to be recalibrated. In moments like these, the larger context of life inevitably takes precedence over entertainment, no matter how big the platform.

For advertisers and marketers, this meant IPL 2025 wasn’t business as usual. Budgets had to stretch, creativity had to adapt, and attention had to be earned, not assumed.

While the tournament delivered on-field thrills with tighter matches and surprise finalists, the adland response was notably more measured. The exuberance of past seasons gave way to introspection. IPL may still be India’s biggest media moment, but this year, industry insiders began to weigh its returns more critically, not just in terms of how loud a brand could be, but how wisely it spent.

The numbers game

IPL 2025 delivered scale with over 450 million viewers tuning in across TV and digital. But behind the high-decibel impact, a new complexity emerged.

According to Mazhar Gadiwala, VP-Sports at Togglehead, the spotlight has shifted from visibility to value. Having worked closely with brands navigating sports marketing budgets, Gadiwala observed that the era of blindly investing in IPL for sheer exposure is giving way to sharper ROI-led thinking.

“The effectiveness of IPL advertising is under scrutiny, with rising costs prompting brands to assess the return on investment more critically. TV ad packages for IPL 2025 range from ₹40 crore to ₹240 crore, while digital slots cost approximately ₹8.5 lakh per 10 seconds on connected TV and ₹250 per 1,000 impressions on mobile,” he shared.

In other words, brands are no longer just chasing viewership, they’re interrogating what that viewership delivers in terms of action, recall, and long-term value.

Vaishal Dalal, Co-founder & Director at Excellent Publicity, echoed this sentiment. While he acknowledged that IPL remains a high-impact property, he pointed to significant shifts in pricing across platforms. He said, “On television, ad rates increased by approximately 10–15% over the previous season, with a 10-second spot on standard definition TV priced around ₹15–18 lakh.”

But the real story, he explained, was in the digital space, especially Connected TV (CTV).

He said, “CTV ad rates surged by nearly 30%, driven by the increasing value advertisers place on targeted, measurable impressions. Premium CTV spots commanded as much as ₹7.5–8.5 lakh for 10 seconds, with average CPMs around ₹650, while mobile streaming ads averaged ₹340 CPM.”

Despite the hikes, demand didn’t just hold, it soared. Much of this, Dalal explained, was fueled by the consolidation of streaming rights under JioStar (a merger of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar). 

He explained that this consolidation allowed the broadcaster to unify rights, simplify media buys, and sell integrated TV + digital packages. This resulted in most of the inventory being snapped up even before the first match began.

Dalal believes this bundling effect also helped justify the premium. He said, “Brands paid up, confident in the returns, particularly as TV reach climbed 10% and digital viewership soared by 50% year-on-year.”

So, does IPL 2025 still justify the investment? For many, the answer remains yes but not without second thoughts. The media math is getting more complicated, and brands are being more selective, choosing formats and platforms that deliver deeper engagement, not just louder impressions.

Who really won the season?

Was IPL 2025 worth the price tag? That’s a question every marketer is still grappling with, and the answers aren’t black and white. There’s a clear divide between those who went in with nuanced, cross-platform strategies and those who stayed with legacy formats, expecting scale alone to do the heavy lifting.

Amyn Ghadiali, Country Head at Gozoop Creative, summed up the split. “Brands that went omnichannel with TV, OTT, and influencer-driven activities saw up to 50% higher brand recall,” he said. “Personalised CTV ads using AI tools outperformed static buys.” For brands sticking to big-budget TV-only plans? “Diminishing returns.”

The data backs him up. According to Qoruz, brands were expected to invest ₹550 crore in influencer-led campaigns during IPL 2025.

Dalal elaborated, “This fan-first approach, memes, real-time content, behind-the-scenes banter, blurred the lines between marketing and entertainment, delivering superior recall and engagement. One study pegged IPL influencer-led campaigns at 65% brand recall and nearly 60% engagement rates, far outperforming traditional digital formats.”

This means that the platform still delivers on scale, but it no longer guarantees impact.

Adding a historical lens, Ritesh Ghoshal, Partner at Crisp Insights, noted, “IPL was never a hygiene buy. But now, with rising costs and fragmented audiences between OTT and TV, languages, and devices the ROI pressure is real.”

Ghoshal estimated 100–125 million 'super fans' watched more than 40 matches each. For brands chasing those kinds of eyeballs, the value is undeniable.

And yet, even IPL’s unmatched reach couldn't shield it from tougher scrutiny. “TV buys without layered storytelling aren’t paying off like before,” Ghadiali warned. “Depth, not decibel, is the new rule.”

This shift was most visible in the digital-first success stories, campaigns that didn’t just repackage TVCs for OTT but crafted content that felt at home in the digital world.

Dalal pointed to campaigns that fully embraced the strengths of digital platforms: interactivity, real-time engagement, and native storytelling. “While many advertisers continued to repurpose traditional TV commercials for digital during IPL 2025, the most effective campaigns were those that fully embraced the strengths of digital platforms, interactivity, real-time engagement, and native storytelling,” he said.

He cited Dream11’s “Aapki Team Mein Kaun?” campaign as a standout, featuring a good blend of celebrities like Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor with cricket icons, it sparked engagement and social chatter.

Another example he shared was ‘Birla Opus’, a new entrant in the paints category, which ran its inventive “Indian Colours League”, a campaign that merged the signature colors of rival IPL teams to create new paint shades. “Positioned under JioStar’s Brand Spotlight, it gained massive visibility and consumer participation,” Dalal added.

Dalal said, “Another standout was Durex, which delivered a cheeky, highly contextual ad ahead of the final between RCB and Punjab Kings. Playing off both teams’ long title droughts, the campaign’s line, ‘18 years. 2 virgins. Who will get lucky tonight?’, went viral instantly, proving how timely, bold content cuts through.”

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Meanwhile, Ghadiali applauded brands like Vimal Elaichi for adopting a regional-first approach
“Vimal Elaichi quietly stole the show with regional-first storytelling. Proof that you don’t need to be loud to be heard”.

He also pointed to JioCinema’s CTV activations as game-changers. “Smart brands leaned into real-time moments like RCB’s chases,” he said. “The myth that IPL is only for the top 1% of spenders is lazy. It’s about the top 1% of thinkers.”

Still, not all brands made the most of the moment. Ghoshal shared that the IPL teams were better matched, the games have been closer and the final list of qualifiers a variable till the last league game. “Things have been less than spectacular in adland simply because most brands decided to hop on to the IPL bandwagon late in the day, fewer brands made IPL specific campaigns resulting in lower quality campaigns and more advertising that had little topical reference to the IPL or cricket,” he observed.

Mid-season halt

The 2025 IPL season came to a sudden halt midway, as the country faced an unexpected national emergency. In the larger scheme of things, cricket and advertising rightfully took a backseat. But for marketers caught mid-flight, the pause delivered a jolt to media plans and messaging timelines.

The moment was unprecedented, and the impact immediate. The disruption wasn’t just about airtime lost, but momentum broken.

Ghadiali said, “The IPL 2025 pause threw ₹3,000 crore in ad spends into uncertainty, forcing brands to recalibrate on the fly. Pre-scheduled campaigns lost their contextual edge, especially those pegged to specific matches or performances.” 

He added that while some scrambled, others pivoted with speed. “The most agile marketers re-routed to OTT, social, and regional platforms to keep brand momentum alive. Attention spans that are already fragmented drifted further without daily match rituals anchoring viewer behaviour. And honestly, during those days, brand messaging wasn’t top of mind for most people. It was a wake-up call to build adaptive campaign structures, not just linear media plans. Creative elasticity and real-time reallocation became the new superpowers.”

Ghoshal confirmed that some clients paused IPL and broader marketing spends altogether. “The pause being for the reason of a national crisis, some brands actually took a decision to pause their marketing campaigns - not just on the IPL but in general. When the IPL did resume, we did not observe any trend-break in terms of advertisers or the quantum of advertising,” he said.

The unexpected halt exposed just how vulnerable tightly choreographed campaign calendars can be.

Brands that viewed IPL as a moment, not a month, held better ground. Moments do matter.

-Amyn Ghadiali

But even as IPL resumed, a larger question loomed, especially for challenger brands and emerging players: was it still worth stepping onto this high-stakes pitch?

To play or not to play

For challenger brands, the IPL continues to pose a conundrum: its scale is unmatched, but so is the price of entry. The tournament guarantees reach, but whether it guarantees return is where the debate begins.

Gadiwala acknowledged this tension. “While events like the Maha Kumbh and ICC Champions Trophy have attracted significant advertising spends, the IPL remains the premier platform for advertisers seeking mass reach and engagement.” 

Even with concerns around viewer fatigue caused by overlapping events, the 2025 season clocked over 450 million viewers across TV and digital, underscoring the tournament’s enduring appeal.

Yet, he also noted a quiet shift in strategy. “Some brands are exploring alternative sporting events like the Women's Premier League (WPL) and Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) for more targeted and cost-effective campaigns, especially as IPL advertising costs rise.”

For many marketers, these leagues offer relevance without the pressure of outspending everyone else in the room.

Ghoshal reinforced the IPL’s singular dominance in terms of both scale and stickiness. “IPL is by far the platform with the largest reach. By our estimates, 600–700 million Indians would have watched at least one IPL game and between 100–125 million are super fans who would have watched 40+ of the IPL games.” 

For any brand chasing true mass appeal, Ghoshal made it clear: “There is no alternative to the IPL; AND there is no alternative that offers deeper engagement at the scale of the IPL.”

So, where does that leave us? IPL 2025 was big, but was it brilliant?

As per experts, IPL 2025 reaffirmed its status as the most powerful media property in India, but the halo dimmed a bit. From the mid-season pause to rising platform costs, stressed ROI, and a visible creativity dip, the season asked more questions than it answered.

Yet, it also revealed a new playbook for success: agility over agenda, story over scale, and audience over airtime.

In short, the rules of the game haven’t changed; the way you play has.

For brands willing to adapt, IPL remains a marketing theatre unlike any other. But for those still measuring success by how often they’re seen and not how well they’re remembered, the scoreboard is already shifting.