As Royal Challengers Bengaluru take on Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final on Tuesday, broadcaster JioCinema is cashing in on advertiser frenzy. Ad spot rates are up by over 30% compared to last year’s finals, with JioStar nearly selling out its ad inventory.

A 10-second TV ad spot is around Rs 25 lakh, while digital rates are up by 30%-40% to Rs 400 per mille (thousand impressions). The demand is unprecedented, say industry observers. At the start of the season, FE had reported that JioStar was eyeing an ad revenue of Rs 5,000 crore this season, around 20% higher than the estimated revenues of Rs 4,000–4,200 crore last year across TV and digital. Media estimates indicate that the broadcaster may close this season with Rs 4,700–4,800 crore.

Sajal Gupta, CEO of Kiaos Marketing, said the IPL bucked the overall advertising trend. “Regardless of the cautious advertiser sentiment in the market, we’re seeing tremendous interest from new categories because of the sheer reach of the tournament, which is why there has been a significant hike in ad rates for the last few games,” says Gupta.

Although the tournament saw an unexpected suspension for a week in May on account of the India-Pakistan tensions, Gupta says the impact on advertising was minimal. As per data from TAM Sports (division of TAM Media Research), the number of brands that advertised on the IPL in the first 70 games this year grew by 28% to cross 190. In volume terms, five advertisers contributed 29% of the overall ad volumes, with Parle Biscuits taking the lead, followed by Wimli Elaichi, Reliance Consumer Products, Dream11, and KP Pan Foods. Together, the top five categories accounted for more than 40% of the total TV ad volumes, it says. There were 27 new categories this year too, including real estate, textiles and apparel and 141 new brands.

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Kushal Bhuva, associate director at White Rivers Media, remarks, “For the final matches of the IPL, digital advertising rates experienced a measured rise, fuelled by robust demand following the initial inventory release and before the brief geopolitical pause. Brands clearly prioritised IPL placements, given the limited alternative marketing options available during this period.”

On the viewership front, JioStar targeted online billion viewers this season. While the total viewership has not been made available, the first three games alone saw a 40% higher viewership with an audience currency of 34 million on digital. On TV, viewership surged by 22% from last year in the opening weekend to draw 253 million viewers.