Disney+Hotstar has got on board as many as nine sponsors for the India versus England cricket series that started from February 5 and will go on till March 28.
The series comprises four test matches, five T20 matches, and three ODIs.
The platform has roped in Dream11 as the co-presenting sponsor, ICICI Bank and Tata Cliq as the powered by sponsors. For associate sponsors, the platform has signed-on Zomato, Unacademy, 1MG, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Kingfisher Storm Soda, and Kingfisher Packaged Drinking Water.
A Disney+ Hotstar spokesperson said, "Advertiser interest has been at an all-time high, which shows in our completely sold out ad inventory on the key T20 and ODI matches."
"International cricket has come back to India after a while, resulting in a tremendous high-energy, positive sentiment from both, fans and advertisers, alike," the spokesperson added.
The series will be streaming on Disney+ Hotstar in five languages including English, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil and will be exclusively available to subscribers of Disney+ Hotstar VIP for Rs 399 for 12 months and Disney+ Hotstar Premium for Rs 1,499 for 12 months.
The advertiser interest for the India-Australia series was also strong with Sony getting 17 sponsors on board and SonyLiv, the digital arm of Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) signing around four sponsors.
Coming back to the ongoing India versus England series, while Disney+Hotstar has got nine sponsors on board, Star India - the official broadcaster of the India-England series - has signed 17 sponsors.
For the series, Star India has got Dream 11, Byju’s, Ceat, Maruti Suzuki, Kamla Pasand, Orient, Amazon, Mondelez, Pepsi, Ultratech, Policy Bazaar, Exxon Mobil, Zomato, Havells, Paisabazaar, LIC and Lenskart.
In a statement, Anil Jayaraj, Executive Vice President, Star Sports had said that the India-England series "marks the return of international cricket after a long gap. The two-month-long series will prove beneficial for brands, especially the day-night test which will be an exceptional opportunity for advertisers to leverage as the matches will be broadcast during prime-time.”
According to Star India, consumption and reach of bilateral series on its sports channels have been growing year on year.
Data by the broadcaster shows that the average reach for a bilateral series telecast on Star Sports for two to three weeks typically has been close to 190 million which means nearly every third paid television viewer tuned in to watch the matches.
This is why Star India is confident about the India-England series especially because the series has more telecast days compared to the series in the past.