IPL brand value down by 3.6% to Rs 45,800 crore due to COVID-19 pandemic; MI most valuable brand

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) also saw their brand value decrease.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) had managed to conduct its IPL 2020 season behind closed doors in the UAE due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic still managed to dent the IPL brand, as it lost 3.6% of its value.

The IPL brand was down to Rs 45,800 from 2019 when the IPL commanded a brand value of Rs 47,500 crore, which had grown 7 percent over the previous year.

However, in good news, the Mumbai Indians (MI) remain the most valuable brand in the rankings for the fifth consecutive year at a brand value of Rs 761.0 crore, it is down 5.9 percent from 2019, Duff & Phelps said on Wednesday releasing the seventh edition of its valuation report on IPL.

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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have seen their brand value erode by 16.5 percent and 13.7 percent, respectively, from 2019. While CSK's value dropped from Rs 732 crore to Rs 611 crore that of KKR declined from Rs 629 crore to Rs 543 crore the report said.

"Similar to the impact on other businesses and the overall economy, the pandemic has led to a decline in the IPL ecosystem value. However, with people forced to spend time at home, there was an increase in IPL television viewership making the 2020 edition a huge success for broadcasters as it broke viewership and advertising revenue records.

Television ratings skyrocketed and advertisers tapped into this opportunity to scale up their brand image. Despite the challenging year, this momentum is indicative of how strong the IPL brand has become," said Santosh N of Duff & Phelps India.

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With the economy opening and virus infections decreasing, sponsorship deals are expected to be back to the pre-pandemic levels. Also, an increase in the number of teams in 2022 and the renewal of media rights in 2023 will enhance the IPL ecosystem value in the future, Santosh added.

In 2020, the IPL season 13 has seen lower sponsorship revenue compared to 2019 - Dream11 paid Rs 222 crore for the season as against Vivo's canceled contract of Rs 440 crore per season for the IPL title sponsorship.

(PTI inputs)