What’s changed in agency pitches ahead of a packed sports season?

A decade ago, a pitch for the upcoming cricket season, specifically the Indian Premier League (IPL), followed a predictable, almost theatrical rhythm. Agencies would walk in with a single 'Master Creative', usually a 60-second emotive anthem featuring a superstar cricketer, and a media plan designed to blast that same asset across every television screen in the country. The agency that could induce the most excitement in the boardroom typically secured the mandate.

But as the industry stares down the barrel of the sports calendar, that script has not just flipped; it has been shredded.

With digital ad spend in India projected to hit Rs 56,400 crore in FY26 and the number of advertisers vying for IPL attention having surged by24%in the last two seasons, the questions brands are asking agencies have shifted. They are no longer asking, "Can you make us famous?" They are asking, "Can you keep up?"

Here is a deep dive into what has actually changed in agency pitches ahead of this packed sports season and why the 'hero asset' is now just the starting line.

The Shift from 'campaigns' to 'content ecosystems'

The most visible death in the modern pitch deck is the reliance on the 'TVC-first' approach. In 2025, the value of a creative idea is no longer measured by its cinematic quality alone but by its 'elasticity' - how far can it stretch across formats?

Data fromTAM Sports and recent industry reports reveal a telling trend: while the number of brands advertising during major sports leagues has increased, the average duration of engagement per asset has dropped. Consumers are not waiting for the ad break; they are scrolling through it.

Head of Strategy, Black Cab, noted, "The biggest mistake agencies make today is treating the IPL like a TV event. It isn't. It’s a 60-day real-time data war. In our recent strategy sessions, we’ve stopped pitching 'campaigns' and started pitching 'content engines. 'If you can’t turn a match-winning six into a branded meme, a shoppable reel, and a CRM notification within 15 minutes, you aren’t competing. The client doesn't just want a film; they want a partner who can hack the cultural conversation while the match is still on."

Consequently, CMOs are less impressed by a storyboard for a 45-second film and more interested in the volume and velocity of the digital layer. The winning pitch today demonstrates a "content engine". Agencies must show how one core thought can fragment into hundreds of assets: 6-second bumper ads, 15-second vertical Reels, meme templates for Twitter (X), and polls for Instagram Stories.

The rise of 'performance branding' on connected TV (CTV)

There was a time when 'brand awareness' (TV/Sponsorship) and 'performance marketing' (Conversion/Sales) were treated as separate religions, handled by separate agencies. That firewall has crumbled.

With India’s Connected TV (CTV) user base projected to cross 50 million households by 2026, the 'living room experience' has become digital-first and data-backed. The implications for agency pitches are profound. Brands know that35-40% of the premium sports audience is watching via streaming on CTV, where ads can be targeted, tracked, and attributed.

Agencies are now seeing a demand for 'performance branding'. Ideas that carry the aesthetic weight of a high-budget brand film but are engineered with the sharp call-to-action (CTA) of a performance asset. The 'About Us' of a modern agency needs to scream commercial impact.

In recent pitches, brands have been asking specific, technical questions: “How does this creative strategy link to our quick-commerce inventory?” or “How will you tweak the messaging for a Chennai audience vs. a Mumbai audience in real-time based on match results?” The pitch that wins is the one that proves creativity can drive the P&L immediately, not just vague "brand love" over time.

The 'second screen' is the primary battlefield

Perhaps the most significant behavioural shift shaping 2025 pitches is the acknowledgement of the distracted viewer. The days of undivided attention on the match are gone.

Recent insights from platforms likeGlanceshow that over 120 million users engaged with smart lock screen content during matches last season, spending44% more time on cricket-related content outside of the live match itself. Furthermore, it is estimated that70-80% of sports viewers use a second screen (smartphone) while the match plays on the primary screen.

This means the battle isn't just for the 30-second ad spot during the over break; it's for the attention during the gameplay itself. Pitches are now being won by demonstrating 'fluent integration'. It is about showing how an AR filter on Instagram connects to the TV spot, how a gamified challenge on the brand’s app syncs with the live score and how the influencer strategy feeds the CRM database.

Agencies that pitch 'siloed' ideas - where the social strategy is disconnected from the broadcast strategy - are finding themselves cut from the shortlist. The mandate is for omnichannel synchronisation.

Navigating the Media Consolidation

The consolidation of media giants has created a monolithic media environment. For the first time, a single entity controls a massive share of the sports broadcasting rights across both TV and digital.

This shifts the agency pitch from 'media buying' to 'media hacking'. Since ad rates are standardising and premium inventory is expensive, brands cannot simply 'outspend' the competition to be seen. They must 'outthink' them.

Agencies are now tasked with pitching strategies that cut through the clutter of this monopoly. This includes guerrilla marketing, ambush marketing (within legal bounds), and creating 'owned moments' on social media that ride the wave of the tournament without necessarily buying the most expensive sponsorship tier. The agency that understands how to hack the algorithm is more valuable than the agency that just knows how to buy the slot.

Founder-led agility: The 'newsroom' model

Finally, the structure of the agency itself is under scrutiny during the pitch process. The sports season is volatile. A star player gets injured; a team loses five games in a row; a controversy erupts; a rain delay changes the schedule. A rigid, hierarchical agency structure breaks under this pressure.

Clients are increasingly favouring the 'boutique-network' model - partners who operate with a 'founder mindset'. They want the specialised craft of a design studio combined with the speed of a newsroom. They want to know that the team pitching the business is the same team that will be awake at 11:00 PM on a match day, making the call to pivot the creative because the captain just scored a century.

Bureaucracy is the enemy of sports marketing. The winning pitch emphasises agility, real-time approval workflows, and a flattened hierarchy that allows for instant reaction to culture.

The bottom line

The sports season is no longer just a media event; it is a cultural stress test for brands. The clutter is real, the noise is deafening, and the cost of entry is higher than ever.

For agencies, this means the era of the 'speculative creative pitch' - where three cool posters and a script win the account - is fading. It is being replaced by the 'strategic partnership proposal'. Clients are looking for thought partners who understand the mechanics of the new digital ecosystem as well as they understand human emotion.

The pitch deck for 2026 isn't about promising a home run. It’s about proving the agency has the data, the agility, and the integrated vision to win the whole innings.

This article is penned byAayush Bansal, founder of Black Cab Agency Network.