After returning home following the Indian team’s Thomas Cup Bronze win, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy posted: “As usual, no one knows what happened over the past two weeks, and it seems like no one really cares”.
These words summerise India’s badminton story.
At a time when we have players like Lakshya Sen, Prannoy, the duo of Satwik-Chirag on the court, why does badminton elicit such lukewarm excitement, viewership and advertising?
Pulling brands to a sport depends to a large extent on viewership and fan engagement. According to a report by KPMG, about 145 million Indians follow the sport, making it the sixth most-watched sport in the country. This figure is dwarfed by the number of people that follows cricket — a whopping 900 million.
That muted support from the fans also puts pressure on the whole badminton economy. According to Prasanth Shanthakumaran, partner & head of sports sector, KPMG India, badminton accounts for just Rs 300-400 crore of the total sports pie of Rs 18,864 crore in 2025, which is about 2% of the overall spending. “We’ve seen first hand that sports fans will pay, engage, and keep coming back only when you are constantly adding value by building for them specifically,” says Yannick Colaco, co-founder, FanCode.
Event-Driven Trap
Karthik Yanamandra, founding partner, Inve Sports Venture (360D Sports), says badminton viewership in India is largely event-driven. “We watch it for medals, not for weekly entertainment. That is the fundamental difference between cricket and badminton,” he says. There is very little storytelling or marketing fanfare built around the numerous badminton events held every year. “A sport doesn’t grow only when athletes perform well. It grows when audiences connect with journeys, rivalries, and stories emotionally,” Yanamandra adds.
Hero Factory
Prasad Mangipudi, co-founder & MD, Sportslive, which organises the Premier Badminton League (PBL) under the aegis of the Badminton Association of India, goes a step further. “As a nation we are not serious about the growth of badminton in India,” he says. Experts also cite the lack of infrastructure and funding push as serious hurdles. “The IPL’s greatest achievement was not just showcasing established players, it consistently created new heroes every single season. Players like Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rishabh Pant became icons through the IPL long before they became pillars of the Indian national team,” Yanamandra adds.
There is a ray of hope. According to data shared by TAM AdEx, advertising volumes during live telecasts of badminton events recorded a substantial 9.8x growth in the January-March 2026 period compared to the same period last year. “If we get serious support from the government and private players, badminton has the potential to be among India’s top three sports with a size of $500 million,” concludes Mangipudi.