Cricket - A Smashing Audience Winner

If you are Canadian and you hear an ecstatic scream of 'SIX' or 'FOUR' or that mysterious 'HOWZZZAT' coming from your neighbour's starting end of March, chances are that they are immigrants from India. As this will signal that the sporting juggernaut called IPL has started to roll.

The Context: The Cricket calendar is about to go live

The 15th season of Indian Premier League (IPL) hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to start on March 26 and last till May 29, 2022. IPL is played in the 'T20 format' - which is the fast and furious version of the game (each of the 2 competing teams play 20 overs each). The latest edition has an expanded roster of 10 teams (up from 8 in the last season) and will return to India, having been forced to play in the UAE due to the pandemic in the past 2 seasons. A total of 74 games will be played - providing rich pickings for brands that are looking for a captive audience over an extended period of time.

The 2021 season of IPL had seen a 45% jump in global viewership compared to 2020, and with more teams - there is more content to please the Cricket-loving fans worldwide. Also, in 2021, IPL was acknowledged as the fourth most profitable league in the world with an estimated value of US $ 6.3 billion, ?a notch higher than the English Premier League (EPL) which was worth US $ 5.8 billion.

Within the fairly busy 2022 Cricket calendar, the other big tournament on the horizon will be ICC T20 World Cup, which will takes place between October 16 and November 13, 2022, involving a total of 45 games and will be hosted in Australia. That's when other Cricket-loving communities from the Caribbean, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh as well as Canadians of English, Irish, Aussie and Kiwi decent join the larger audience pool.

Who follows Cricket in Canada?

As of 2020, there were around 2.3 million South Asians in Canada, around 750,000 from the West Indies and it is estimated that there are around 7 million Canadians from other cricket loving countries. ?Cricket Canada is the official governing body for the sport of cricket in Canada and since 2008 a lot of cricket is being played in Canada involving international cricket players from India, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh for example.

The province of Ontario along with OSCA is now promoting the sport in schools via virtual training sessions and on-ground sessions with new equipment in over 150 schools further promoting physical activity and the rich history of cricket in Canada. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has already sanctioned the Global T20 tournament for Canada and we have had 2 seasons in 2018 and 2019 in GTA, until it got suspended due to the pandemic. GT20 is expected to make a return in 2022 as well. Moreover, the city of Brampton, where South Asians account for over 44% of the population, is expecting to build a $35 million stadium soon.

How does one reach the Cricket watching Canadian Audience?

Happily for Canadians, Willow TV holds the exclusive Cricket broadcast rights in North America, and hence advertisers can reach Cricket watching audiences in Canada. Willow airs over all cable channels such as Roger, Bell and TELUS. As per Numeris data, Average Audience (AMA) estimates suggest that during the course of any one game of IPL, an average of over 250,000 viewers can be reached.

The other method to watch IPL in Canada is over the OTT app called Hotstar. Though they do not reveal their subscriber base, it is estimated that their subscriber base swells to over 50,000 during IPL and advertisers can purchase ad inventory on a CPM basis. Hotstar is owned by The Walt Disney Company and has a largely un-duplicated Reach given that it can be viewed on mobile devices much like any other streaming app. Given the large number of students from the South Asian countries here today, Hotstar is the easiest and most efficient way to connect with them, in an environment that around an important passion point.

Several Canadian and international Brands have already actively used Cricket as an advertising opportunity in the past such as GoDaddy, TD Bank, CIBC Global Money Transfer, Forty Creek Whiskey, and Toronto Ford Dealers Association. Each of these advertisers found value in reaching the lucrative South Asian audience, which is the largest immigrant group in Canada - representing an opportunity for incremental growth in the short-term as well as for building equity with the fast growing new Canadian community over the long-term.

Should there be interest in finding out more on how to introduce your brand to the largest immigrant group in Canada in the next few weeks, or the larger Cricket-loving multi-cultural audience over the course of the year, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] for a chat.