Indian sports sponsorship revenue led by cricket increased by 14% from the previous year to reach Rs 7,300 crore in '17, "outpacing the overall advertising business," a report jointly published on Wednesday by GroupM ESP and sports business news company SportzPower revealed, according to Vidhi Choudhary of the HINDUSTAN TIMES. The report "did not give a break-up by sport," but based on the numbers it provided, spending on cricket was an estimated Rs 4,692.5 crore, or 65% of the overall spending and a 15% increase over '16, "largely driven by the steep sponsorship deals" for the Indian Premier League. Overall advertising revenue grew 10% last year to reach an estimated Rs 61,263 crore, according to GroupM. The fifth edition of the report titled "Sports Nation in the Making," released in Mumbai, reaffirmed the "willingness of advertisers to spend big money on sporting events" -- in terms of team sponsorships, endorsements by sportsmen and women and advertising during sports events spread across print, TV and digital media. Other sports, including football and kabbadi, are "beginning to make their presence felt," accounting for 35% of all sports sponsorship revenue at Rs 2,607.5 crore. Football accounted for "about half" of this at Rs 1,074 crore. GroupM Business Head Vinit Karnik said, "The balance is a great number because five years ago, this number did not exist." Sports viewership on TV is "increasing in rural areas, paced by kabaddi and football," the report said (HINDUSTAN TIMES, 3/21). SCROLL reported India crossed the $1B mark for the fist time in '17 (SCROLL, 3/21).
CHINESE FUNDS: QUARTZ's Suneera Tandon reported Chinese smartphone maker BBK Electronics emerged as the "unlikely leader in Indian sports-sponsorship in recent years." The company "bet record amounts of money on Indian sporting events." BBK’s two smartphone brands, Oppo and Vivo, which are "among India’s most popular," together committed Rs 3,540 crore ($5.5B) on sponsoring sporting events in India -- "mostly cricket." This amount, to be spent over the next five years, was "roughly 50% of all such sponsorship committed in the country that year" (QUARTZ, 3/22).
