The day after the Women’s Premier League (WPL) finale happened in Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians cricket groups on March 26, the league’s broadcasting and streaming spouse Viacom18 claimed that the event’s inaugural season had delivered the best possible viewership on any ladies’s occasions. Majority owned via Reliance Industries, Viacom18 was once regarding WPL’s virtual footprint via its streaming app JioCinema, which it stated, clocked the best possible watch-time — greater than 50 mins in line with fit in line with consumer.
In a remark, Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj stated: “Our vision is to nurture the Tata WPL into the biggest women’s sporting league in the world, and this is a big leap in that direction. To see it already on its way to becoming the largest viewed sports event in the world in its first season is a remarkable feat and testament to its potential.”
The corporate claimed the overall conflict noticed greater than 10 million ‘new’ audience music into JioCinema although it didn’t percentage additional main points. The determine may just now not be independently verified, although rival broadcasters alleged the viewership numbers had been inflated.
Viacom18 didn’t reply to queries on WPL’s efficiency and possible.
However, the media trade professionals HT spoke to stated that the league that started on March 4 and concluded on March 26, noticed a tv succeed in of about 65-70 million. Though evaluating the newly introduced WPL to the 15-year-old males’s Indian Premier League (IPL) would now not be truthful, in a just right 12 months, the tv succeed in of fellows’s IPL for the Disney Star community was once about 400 million. In 2022, it dropped to 360 million owing to IPL fatigue and resumption of mobility after two Covid years. When Disney+Hotstar held the virtual streaming rights, the height concurrent viewership (the ones gazing the fit on the similar time) of IPL at the app was once upwards of 20 million.
Vinit Karnik, head of sports activities, esports and leisure at GroupM South Asia, alternatively, stated the brand-new WPL can’t be in comparison with a mature league like IPL. “WPL has completed neatly. Anything in its first 12 months needs to be neatly won and generate sure social media chatter, which it did,” he stated.
To ensure that, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) floated the delicate for media rights for the ladies’s cricket league in December 2022. In January, Viacom18 gained each virtual and tv media rights for 951 crore. Disney Star, the one different contender, made an overly low bid for the streaming rights. BCCI moved speedy and declared 5 successful bids of staff house owners in January itself. The Mumbai franchise was once gained via IndiaWin Sports Private Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries that still owns the IPL staff Mumbai Indians. The Bengaluru franchise went to Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited proudly owning RCB within the IPL whilst the Delhi Capitals franchise, co-owned via JSW and the GMR workforce, gained the rights to function the ladies’s league Delhi staff. Adani Sportsline, the sports activities arm of the Adani workforce, purchased the Ahmedabad franchise Gujarat Giants. Capri Global Holdings Private Limited (CGCL) gained the bid for the Lucknow franchise and referred to as it UP Warriorz.
The WPL, hurriedly scheduled to be performed in March, was once ill-timed, stated advert trade professionals and sports activities entrepreneurs. It got here on the finish of the monetary 12 months for lots of manufacturers that had already exhausted their promoting budgets. It was once additionally a duration marked via investment crunch for startups and macro-economic headwinds for companies. Besides, WPL was once slated simply earlier than IPL — a large, confirmed sports activities assets for which advertisers set cash apart. It’s hardly ever unexpected then that the ladies’s cricket league generated round 150 crore in promoting for its inaugural season, in line with other folks monitoring media spends.
The sum might appear underwhelming observed within the context of greater than 3,500 crore that IPL generated ultimate 12 months however then the lads’s event has been constructed over a duration of 15 years. Besides, WPL had fewer groups and fits and the event was once over in 22 days with restricted unfastened business time to be had on TV.
Tuhin Mishra, managing director and founding father of Baseline Ventures, a company that manages a bevy of sportspersons together with cricketers, stated in a rustic this is used to gazing males’s cricket, viewership for ladies’s video games must be constructed. “Men’s cricket is a unique beast altogether. It was once giant even earlier than the IPL. So, we must have fun WPL. Earlier BCCI would membership ladies’s cricket with males’s video games in TV offers. It was once given extra as a freebie. Now it’s being showcased one by one,” he stated.
Not simply that. It has were given its personal set of sponsors even supposing the sponsorship charges or value of a 10-second advert spot could also be a fragment of that of IPL. Mishra stated a number of women-centric manufacturers got here on board this 12 months and extra might apply in long term seasons. Some of the staff franchises had been sponsored via manufacturers akin to Mia (a jewelery model from Tanishq), Joy Personal Care, Lotus Herbals and Himalaya Face Care.
The league itself had TATA Group because the identify sponsor which has signed up for 5 seasons. Others at the listing come with strategic timeout spouse Ceat, pouring spouse Amul and myth league spouse Dream11 — each and every spending between 2.5 crore 6 crore in line with season for those partnerships.
Dheeraj Sinha, CEO, Leo Burnett, South Asia stated the league can have completed a lot better when it comes to advertiser reaction. “It simply had to were deliberate and idea via higher when it comes to timing. The assets will want backing and make stronger for a while,” he added.
That should not be a problem as cricket stays probably the most sought-after game for advertisers. In 2022, the Indian sports activities trade, when it comes to sponsorship, crossed 14,000 crore of which 85% was once contributed via cricket, in line with the Sporting Nation Report 2023 via GroupM ESP.
Like Mishra, Karnik believes within the long-term long term of WPL. For starters, BCCI has taken the accountability to release it as a definite assets and is not likely to drop the ball on WPL. Secondly, it’s sponsored via huge firms the place 3 out of 5 franchises have revel in in advertising and marketing, construction and operating winning males’s IPL groups. “They will ensure WPL franchises become profit centers too,” stated Karnik. Lastly, the broadcasting spouse Viacom18 has a robust base and is anticipated to make the event, televised on a host of channels in its community and streamed unfastened for shoppers at the JioCinema app, even larger.
Mishra and Karnik level to different upsides of WPL for ladies’s cricket within the nation. Talent scouting for ladies cricketers was once absent to this point. Team franchises will trade that. Not simply that, extra ladies gets a possibility to play. “When they play the home circuit, they don’t seem to be within the limelight. WPL provides rapid reputation and can fast-track a few of them into the senior staff identical to what IPL did for males,” stated Mishra.
What WPL calls for is momentum for the following 2-3 years. It is a scalable and sustainable assets, stated Karnik, including, “It’s for the audience to pick it up and make it big.”