It’s been a month since the ICC Cricket Men’s World Cup 2023 started and the advertising landscape continues to surge. Ad volumes and the introduction of new categories, advertisers, and brands have witnessed a significant uptick compared to the previous season (May 30, 2019 – June 24, 2019, ICC Cricket Men’s World Cup 2019). From October 5 2023 to October 31, 2023, the tournament clocked a 22 percent growth in the index for average ad volumes per match across the first 31 matches compared to the ICC World Cup 2019.
According to TAM numbers, the category count increased from 68 plus to 90 plus, with advertisers rising from 82 plus to 85 plus. The count of brands soared from 155 plus to 200 plus in the first 31 matches of the World Cup.
Perfumes/deodorant emerged as the leading category, constituting 8 percent of ad volume. Interestingly, perfumes/deodorant and e-commerce/e-wallets were the only common categories between the last World Cup and the current one.
In the 2023 World Cup’s first 31 matches, the top five categories include perfumes/deodorant, cars, e-commerce wallets, aerated soft drinks, and e-commerce gaming. In the previous edition, the categories were perfumes/deodorant, pan masala, e-commerce online shopping, e-commerce wallets, and biscuits.
Top advertisers this year were a mix of FMCG, F&B, automobiles and e-commerce. The list was led by Vini Product, Mahindra & Mahindra, FX Mart, Coca Cola India and Hindustan Unilever. In the last edition they were Vini Product, Amazon Online India, K P Pan Foods, Parle Biscuits and Havells India.
There were new more than 50 new categories and 175 odd new brands that debuted their World Cup advertising journey this year,
Top five new categories anywhere banking, airlines, footwear, consumer durables/home appliances and paints.
And among the 175 new brands, Bharat Petroleum Mak was the leading one followed by Vi Cellular Phone Service, Indusind Bank Indie App, Emirates Airlines and Mahindra Xuv 700.
Shifting gears to the digital realm, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, thanks to free streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, the reach has been encouraging and a huge lure for brands.
Brands are strategically leveraging contextually relevant messaging infused with artificial intelligence (AI) to captivate viewers.
This approach extends from incorporating seamless shopping options to executing cross-platform promotions, emphasizing the importance of creating ads that resonate and engage effectively!
“Cricket World Cup always brings a substantial amount of advertisers to the playground. With India hosting the event, the brand interest is even higher. Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the tournament, has reportedly sold 90 percent of its ad inventory,” said Shradha Agarwal, co- founder and CEO at Grapes.
According to Agarwal, big traditional brands like MRF Tyres and Parle Biscuits who usually look towards TV as their ad venues, have also shifted to a mix of TV and digital in the recent past, but this time the trend seems to be going only digital.
“In fact, 11 out of the 19 sponsors for Disney+ Hotstar, the official digital streaming platform for the World Cup, are exclusively on digital. Considering the timing of the matches, more and more people are preferring to watch the matches on mobile screens, hence boosting mobile marketing among the brands. To tap into the living room TV experiences, connected TV advertising is rising as a key trend,” she added