The 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is showing strong growth in ad volumes compared to the previous season.

For IPL 2025, the indexed ad volume rose to 108.2, in contrast to the 100 figure for IPL 2024.  IPL has undergone significant transformation and evolution, with just a few years left until it reaches the two-decade mark as a property.

The days when the IPL was regarded as a huge brand awareness ecosystem are gone.  These days, the league is being utilized more and more as a performance marketing engine.

Anshu Yardi, Vice-President of Business Partnerships & Communication at TAM, states that IPL has become a well-known entity in the realm of performance marketing.

“In the past, the IPL was primarily regarded as a huge brand awareness tool.  However, that has changed significantly.  According to Yardi, it is now being utilized more and more as a performance marketing engine — featuring IPL-specific promotions, influencer collaborations, QR codes, and real-time media activity attribution.

During an MRSI webinar on ‘IPL Advertising: Impact, Evolution & Opportunity’ held on April 23, Yardi noted that as IPL evolves as a property, an increasing number of advertisers are linking their IPL campaigns to measurable KPIs like “app installs, sign-ups, direct sales,” and similar metrics.

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Yardi illuminated the process of this evolution’s emergence.  The main advertising medium in 2019 was linear television.  This is no longer the situation.  “Today, brands are using various screens—linear TV, mobile, OTT, and Connected TV (CTV)—to connect with audiences,” Yardi said.

Focusing even more closely on the transformation, Yardi remarked, “Ad format innovation has been one of the biggest shifts.  We have transitioned from standard TVCs prior to the pandemic to a significant increase in interactive, contextual, and full-funnel performance-oriented formats—particularly on CTV and mobile.

Additionally, short-format creatives are on the rise, and there is a significant movement toward campaigns centered on ROI. She noted that the industry, in the context of the IPL, has transitioned from reach-based strategies to performance marketing goals.

The change that TAM’s Yardi pointed out will only spread further.  With the ongoing evolution of the IPL ecosystem, the tournament is anticipated to emerge as a center for strategic, multi-channel activations.

In Yardi’s view, “Brands will increasingly focus on CTV programming during IPL streaming, tapping into a more engaged and premium audience segment.

It is probable that we will see the emergence of AI-generated advertising creatives and the tailoring of regional content to enhance relevance for India’s varied audience.

Simultaneously, marketers will require real-time logo detection, sophisticated viewability tracking, and ROI tools that enable performance measurement across a multi-screen ecosystem—including linear TV, OTT, mobile, and CTV.

The data shared by Yardi illustrates that traditional advertising is being replaced by multi-screen approaches.  TAM’s data indicates that traditional Free Commercial Time (FCT) inventory—historically regarded as the foundation of IPL media planning—has experienced a 24% decline in volume since 2019.

Categories such as telecom, auto, and consumer durables—previously dominant in the advertising pie—have seen a marked decline. These categories have yielded ground to emerging sectors like BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance) and Food & Beverages (F&B).  These newcomers achieved a remarkable 9x growth in IPL 2024, as shared by Yardi.

During IPL 2024, the change in consumption behaviour was apparent.  Yardi reported that Linear TV averaged 37 hours of advertising, whereas Mobile and OTT platforms provided 48 hours.  However, taking the lead was Connected TV (CTV), which amassed an impressive 62 hours of ad time.

Regarding brands, linear had 74 advertisers and 135 brands, while OTT featured 278 advertisers representing 377 brands, and CTV included 145 advertisers for 237 brands.

The increase of multiscreen advertising indicates a varied media strategy that will expand in the years to come.