The 10th season of the Indian Premier League will kick off on April 5, according to Karan Kashyap of FORBES. This year, "sensing an opportunity to the grab attention of IPL viewership," startups are in the list of the 14 major sponsors. Amazon and mobile handset maker Vivo are the presenting sponsors, while Makemytrip has been retained as one of the associate sponsors. Over the years, IPL has seen a "massive jump in its viewership reach." Last year, with a cumulative reach of 361.2 million viewers, season nine of IPL "witnessed a 254% increase since its inaugural season" in '08 and an 88% increase over the previous season. To cater to the increased number of sponsors in season 10, "a typical IPL match will see an ad-inventory of 2,300 seconds," out of which Vivo, which replaced electronics manufacturer Oppo as the presenting sponsor this year, has committed 300 seconds of airtime per match. Other than the firms investing to become associate and presenting sponsors for on-air advertising during IPL, there are "startups that have formed partnerships directly with IPL teams or transferred their ownership rights to others." Snapdeal-owned digital payments platform FreeCharge "handed over its two year on ground sponsorship rights of the IPL" to the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group (FORBES, 4/5).
