Cricket Playbook: Brand building with the Hotstar Marketing Platform
Here’s an interesting fact: ‘IPL online’ was one of the top global search trends in 2020.
The IPL 2020 was one of the most awaited and biggest celebrations last year, enjoying fans’ anticipation like never before. At a time when they couldn’t be present in stadiums to cheer their favourite teams on, audiences were hooked to the matches on digital through Disney+ Hotstar.
Therefore, it is no surprise that over 300 advertisers partnered with Disney+ Hotstar to be a part of the live cricketing action. Over the years, the online streaming platform has proved how live cricket helps tell brand stories like never before, and IPL 2020 was no different. Disney+ Hotstar offers brands a highly engaged and affluent audience, incremental reach, sharp targeting and a multitude of ad formats, making it irresistible for advertisers to partake in the action.
IPL 2020: Impact on brand campaigns
The impact of brand campaigns during the IPL 2020 has been significant. Brand lift studies show that the impact of IPL 2020 brand campaigns have seen 14% higher uplifts* as compared to industry benchmarks. Brands across several categories – auto, BFSI, and online, to name a few, have seen significantly higher uplifts.
*Source: Industry benchmarks defined by Kantar norms in the ‘Disney+ Hotstar and Kantar BLI Studies’ for IPL 2020 Campaigns.
Further, Disney+ Hotstar helps businesses of all sizes reach their marketing goals. New brands witnessed brand uplifts at par with the overall uplifts for IPL 2020 campaigns. Uplifts were also seen across brand metrics such as awareness and purchase intent.
These are all impressive goals for brands to achieve during a short burst of time, all made possible by a partnership with Disney+ Hotstar during the IPL 2020.
Why brands cannot overlook live cricket on Disney+ Hotstar
When it comes to live cricket audiences, brands need to find the sweet spot between fans’ love for the game and their palpable excitement of a live match. Disney+ Hotstar helps advertisers choose the best way to reach the audiences they desire on live cricket. Some of what it offers:
- Involved watching: The platform’s viewers aren’t passively watching but are highly engaged. Viewers used social features like Hotshots and Watch ‘n’ Play – they shared 4 billion emojis and answered 500 million questions – to engage with friends, family and their favourite players.
- A premium user base: Disney+ Hotstar reaches a premium, affluent subscriber base, with ~53% of live match viewers being NCCS A
- Innovative solutions for brands: The platform offers richer, innovative video formats such as pre-roll takeovers, midroll carousels, customized content solutions, and over 25 targeting options to choose from. This enables brands to tell their stories in more impactful ways
The wait for the next season
The excitement for this year’s edition is already high. Fans’ posts around #HowIMissDreamIPL revealed the withdrawal they felt immediately after last year’s edition drew to a close. However, they are already looking forward to the iconic mega auction slated to happen in Chennai on February 18, that will decide which teams their favourite players will end up in.
With such enthusiasm in the air thanks to the arrival of IPL 2021, brands can barely afford to overlook the tournament and keep it off their marketing strategies.
This is the first of Disney+ Hotstar’s blogs in the ‘Cricket Playbook’ series, that will help advertisers successfully leverage the Hotstar Marketing Platform. Marketers need to stay tuned for more blogs that will help them understand the platform’s phenomenal branded content opportunities for live sports, the guidelines to best develop and optimize their creatives, metrics to measure campaign success, and much more.
For now, though, it’s all eyes on April!
