This year, when the regulatory introduced a ban on Real Money Gaming (RMG) rocking the Indian sports industry, interestingly the traditional brands came forward to absorb the losses.
IPL Sponsorships Broken ₹1000 Crore Mark
When it comes to the sponsorships, it has become a key pillar of growth for the Indian sport industry which has recently risen by 13.4% as compared to last year, a s per the ‘Sporting Nation’ report for 2025 prepared by WPP Media.
The industry size— ₹18,864 crore ($2.13 bn)—is estimated to have doubled over the period of last four years.
It is no longer an emerging market story but one of scale as only cricket accounts for an 89% share of this growth story predictability.
Reportedly, the media spends have contributed heavily ( ₹9571 crore) and there is growth in digital advertising outpacing TV.
Despite the regulatory disruptions, there are Sponsorships accounting for ₹7,949 crore—growth of 8% year-on-year, which is significant.
As expected, the cricket sponsorships scored heavily ( ₹6434 crore) and doubled over four years.
There are some additions where Apollo Tyres entered the fray to replace Dream 11 as Indian team sponsors. Similarly, Google has recently replaced My11Circle as IPL sponsors.
Google’s foray into cricket was three-fold mostly driven by the AI wars including the Sponsorships during the 2025 women’s World Cup and the T20 World Cup.
Moving ahead, the report talks about the “Sponsorship growth in 2025 is driven more by asset value correction and premiumisation than volume expansion.”
So far the sponsorship slots are sealed pre-tournament, but India’s success in the Champions Trophy, Asia Cup and women’s ODI World Cup, and now the T20 World Cup, has definitely given a boost to the investor sentiment.
Remarkably, the IPL team sponsorships broke the ₹1000 crore mark for the first time reportedly.
IPL Driving The Sponsorships
This is significant as the back of the same number being breached through IPL official sponsorship in the recent past. When it comes to the IPL it is mainly driven by demand and scarcity, and remains a big deal breaker.
Coming to franchises, they have different layers of commercial appeal with Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings known to be making in the range of ₹150 crore in sponsorships.
Next rank is achieved by the Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans rank followed by the rest to make the ₹1033 crore sponsorship number.
It appears that RMG drove the sponsorship business, to compete with My11Circle, IPL’s official sponsors.
Moving ahead, Dream 11 captured the jersey sponsorship of five IPL teams, be it from cement to real estate to electronics to auto, others have stepped in, reportedly at higher valuations.
MD, WPP Media, Vinit Karnik said, “IPL is not just big, it is the backbone of Indian sports commerce, it goes to show, if there is an aggregated audience for an impact property, the traditional sponsors or new sponsors are ready to step up.”
It seems that the sponsorship pot in IPL revenue has ample room for growth with team earnings from media rights accounting at least five times higher on an average.
