By A Correspondent

ESP Properties, the entertainment and sports division of GroupM India, released the 2020 report on sports sponsorship in India. Overall growth in sports sponsorship at a healthy 17 per cent where the sports sponsorship Industry crossed the INR 9000 crore mark in 2019.

The 2019 was the year for cricket and dominated the sports advertising sector unanimously. IPL and ICC World Cup gave a push in both, on-ground sponsorship and media spends. On-ground sponsorship grew by 25 per cent, for the first time, crossing INR 2000 crore mark. Overall industry upsurge was INR 1347 crore of which INR 800 crore was contributed by media spends alone growing at 18 per cent.

Said Vinit Karnik – Business Head, ESP Properties: “Indian sports industry is on an upward trajectory breaking new grounds year-on-year. While cricket proved its dominance in 2019, overall the last 5 years the industry has doubled its size. If we look further, we can see a strong CAGR of 12.8 per cent in the business of sports over the last 10 years, making it one of the strong pillars of the Indian economy. With the sports industry growing at 17 per cent in 2019, the momentum on sports with added thrust from the government provides a holistic opportunity for the sector. Initiatives like Khelo India and Fit India movement are drivers towards making India a truly sporting nation.”

Added Prasanth Kumar, CEO of GroupM South Asia: “Over the last decade, we have witnessed the growth of sports leagues and their gaining popularity across the country. The sports industry has been growing and has witnessed a significant upward shift in the overall ad spends. The passion and excitement that’s involved in this platform have only strengthened. We see more and diverse audience indulging with this platform. Many innovations and leverage of assets in this space are powerful opportunities. As we are unfolding another decade, we see this space to be providing powerful thrust for greater brand stories.”

The non-cricketing space was dominated by women athletes. Badminton queen P V Sindhu was the leading non-cricketing athlete in 2019 in terms of brand endorsements. While Sindhu added four brands to her portfolio, the most notable one among them was her tie-up with VISA that made her the first Indian athlete to endorse the financial services brand.