Tata Group has come on-board as the title sponsor for the inaugural Women’s Premier League, according to the tweet by Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) secretary, Jay Shah.
The agreement is signed for the first five years.
Shah’s tweet read, “I am delighted to announce the #TataGroup as the title sponsor of the inaugural #WPL. With their support, we’re confident that we can take women’s cricket to the next level.”
The BCCI had invited bids for the title rights on February 9, days before the inaugural auction. The title sponsorship and the broadcast deal with Viacom 18 already has made WPL as one of the biggest franchise T20 leagues in cricket.
It is to be noted that the Tata Group has been active in sports marketing as well. It was the title sponsor for IPL 2022, Mumbai Marathon and Chess tournament. One of the group companies, Tata Motors has also been a steady advertiser in the recent IPL seasons.
The Indian cricket board sold five teams for a combined Rs 4670 crore, before a Rs 951 crore deal with Viacom18.
The inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League will kickstart on March 4. The 22-game season will be played across two venues – DY Patil Stadium and the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The final will be played on March 26, five days before IPL 2023 starts.
IPL is one of the world’s largest entertainment formats and WPL is an extension of the same. Since 2008 IPL men’s event has gradually gained fame and viewership, now it has reached a scale that it requires decent investment to associate as far entry cost is concerned. Any aspiring brands would want to ride and associate with IPL.
Meanwhile, WPL comes at lesser entry outlay compared to IPL, making it as a lucrative property for brands that are trying to leverage sports marketing.
As per experts, the advantage of being a part of WPL for brands is that it has a less challenging entry barrier and can enable instant reach across markets in a very short span of time, especially for brands and startups that are less than 12 months old in the market.
To give context, men’s IPL, which is a decade old property, has garnered high advertiser interest over the years. As per TAM data, indexed ad volume per match witnessed 11 percent growth in IPL 15 as compared to its previous season. However, WPL will have to establish itself year after year to match up to IPL’s success.