Pro Kabaddi League Season 11: The Ultimate Festive Media Opportunity

With the festive season already knocking at the door, most advertisers are locking media plans for customer acquisition and retention. The eleventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League, starting mid-October, thus brings a very fertile platform for the strategic introduction of new products, amplifying festive promotions, entering new markets, and showcasing premium positioning. The last season of the Pro Kabaddi League reached a record 351 million viewers, achieving a growth of 20 per cent from the previous season. Much of this reach was driven by premium audiences with 65 per cent of it coming from NCCS AB households. What really makes the Pro Kabaddi League special is the high-octane format and the collective viewing experience commanded by the sport for over 50% watch time, higher than most other sports on live broadcast. Here are reasons that make Pro Kabaddi League Season 11 on Star Sports the biggest festive media plan for advertisers:

Engage the Young and Affluent at Scale: Through its 10 editions, Pro Kabaddi League has captured the attention of the youth, reigniting its passion for India’s homegrown sport. In the previous edition, 70% of the league reach on TV came from viewers below 40 years of age. 65% of the TV viewership of Season 11 came from NCCS AB households while the league’s viewership in megacities witnessed a massive 57% growth.

Pro Kabaddi League on Star Sports ignites festive cheer for advertisers

Leader Across Genres during Festive: Year on year, Pro Kabaddi League has achieved leadership on television across genres, exhibiting supremacy over leading impact shows.
In HSM, PKL delivered a reach of 195 million, 1.75-2X of top programs including reality shows, quiz shows and talents. Similarly, in South markets, TN, AP, and Karnataka, PKL reached 155 mn viewers, a massive 2-3X of other genres. Active categories like FMCG, automobile, e-commerce can leverage this scale during the festive season to garner incremental audiences for their brands. Pro Kabaddi League on Star Sports ignites festive cheer for advertisers Unleash superior ROI: PKL on TV continues to create high return on investment for advertisers across categories with massive uplifts along the brand funnel during their association.

A leading FMCG brand that associated with Pro Kabaddi League last season has seen a 43% increase in sales on a leading e-commerce platform during the season. This was followed by 149% increase in e-commerce enquiries and a 42% increase in google searches for the product advertised.
One adhesive brand saw a 14X return on investment through their association, a sponsor with the league last season. On top of that, the TV association delivered a 36% growth in search queries and a 56% increase in website traffic. Regarding hard branding metrics, this investment saw massive uplifts: consideration was up 192%, and purchase intent grew by a staggering 206%.

Truly Integrated Sponsorships: Pro Kabaddi League is a differential opportunity to be had by sponsors like no other sporting league in India. It brings together the might of on-air, on-ground, access to players across teams, digital, and social media in a high-impact, integrated platform for brands.

According to a study by Intelensa, sponsorships with Pro Kabaddi League continue to be the best in terms of return on investment for brands. Associate sponsorships deliver a media value 14 times the investment.

Immersive Brand Opps on Live Broadcast: The Pro Kabaddi League live will provide deep integrations for advertisers. Owning high-impact moments during matches, including Picture-In-Picture Ads, whereby brands can seamlessly integrate their TVCs without going into commercial breaks, and further augmented reality graphics as live game interventions, contextual in nature, Star Sports delivers an immersive brand experience to the viewer. Pro Kabaddi League is a celebration of India’s very own sport; the timing of the League merging with the festive season makes the 11th edition a powerhouse media solution for brands across categories looking to drive premiumization while attaining scale.