The unbundling of IPL sponsorship.
For fifteen years, the IPL was sold in a single envelope. Title. Central. On-ground. Digital. Bundled, billed, forgotten. In 2026, that bundle has fractured into twenty-three distinct products.
The reason is boring and structural. CTV economics no longer reward the single lockup. Advertisers want legible slices; properties want marginal revenue. Both get it by breaking the bundle.
The twenty-three products.
What was once "IPL sponsorship" is now a menu: ground LED rights (sold per match, per venue), broadcast overlays (L-band, squeeze-backs, ad pods), digital packages (CTV pre-roll, social integrations, OTT companion), and experiential assets (hospitality suites, fan zones, player meet-and-greets).
Each product has its own rate card, its own audience profile, and — crucially — its own buyer. The brand that wants 15L worth of ground LED visibility at Wankhede is not the same buyer who wants a 2Cr OTT presenting sponsorship.
"We used to pitch one deck. Now we pitch twelve." — Senior VP, ITW Catalyst
This fragmentation isn't a bug. It's a repricing mechanism. When you sell twenty-three things separately, the sum is always greater than the bundle — provided you have the sales infrastructure to run twenty-three parallel conversations.
What this means for brands.
For the CMO with 50Cr to spend, the unbundled market is a gift. Instead of buying a fixed package and hoping the reach justifies the price, they can assemble a portfolio of micro-sponsorships calibrated to their audience.
A D2C brand targeting Tier-2 males aged 18-24 can skip the 120Cr title sponsorship and instead buy: three matches of ground LED at Tier-2 venues (18L), a digital-only CTV presenting package (45L), and ten creator-led social integrations (12L). Total: 75L for a hyper-targeted audience that the 120Cr title package would have diluted.