How brands are maximising ICC events across screens on JioStar

At the India Brand Conclave 2025, industry leaders dwelled in an eclectic discussion on how brands can maximize their impact by associating with ICC cricket events across multiple screens ahead of the upcoming Champions Trophy. The session focused on the role of major cricket events on linear television, connected TV and mobile and how they cater to business objectives across the funnel.

The fireside chat featured Abhijit Shah, Senior Vice President at ICICI Prudential AMC; Jahid Ahmed, SVP & Head of Digital Marketing at HDFC Bank; Sonam Pradhan, Head of Media and Digital Marketing – South Asia at Kellanova; and Vinit Karnik, Managing Director - Content,

Entertainment and Sports, GroupM South Asia. The discussion was moderated by Neeta Nair, Editor at IMPACT.

Advertiser Excitement around the World Cup of Champions

Shah opened the conversation by discussing marketing opportunities around the upcoming Champions Trophy, “The Champions Trophy returning after 8 years is a great opportunity for brands to engage with viewers. A lot of plots unfold from a cricketing context: India’s recent T20 World Cup victory positioning them as a strong contender, possibly the last dance for legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the ups and downs of recent Indian team performances.

Pradhan highlighted the sheer emotional power of the sport, referencing a recent global moment. “Have you guys noticed that someone like Chris Martin also acknowledged the power and strength of the Indian cricket team? Who has forgotten the way he applauded Jasprit Bumrah? And if someone at that global level could do it, who am I as a marketeer to debate whether cricket works or does not work for me?” she remarked.

Pradhan emphasized that beyond metrics and effectiveness, it’s the emotional pull of cricket that makes it a powerful platform for brands. “Whenever everybody watches cricket, there are certain instances when everyone says, ‘Oh, I would have caught this catch,’ or ‘I would have bowled better.’ That kind of emotional connection is something only cricket has,” she explained. “If my brand is present during such an emotional moment, it builds a different level of memory in the consumer’s core.”

With the India-Pakistan match set to be a marquee moment, Pradhan anticipated high engagement. “There will be phones being thrown at TV screens, things being thrown around… those are real emotions. And that’s why I’m excited for the Champions Trophy,” she added.

The Strategic Lens

As the discussion moved towards how brands approach planning partnerships for major cricket events, Shah spoke about the factors that determine the efficacy of such associations. “From an advertiser’s point of view the important aspect is how you position your brand, use your assets, partner with publishers, and most importantly, how the creative lends to the medium.” He stressed the importance of deep integration and leveraging available assets to create meaningful engagement.” He also shed light on leveraging cricket to drive tangible outcomes. “The true North for us, whether from a mutual fund category or an ICICI category, is increasing penetration of investors in India. How do we leverage the power of this medium to ensure that more people enter the category, continue their SIPs, and avoid panic-driven redemptions?” he explained.

Vinit Karnik, addressing how brands should approach marketing during the tournament, stated that there is no “one size fits all” approach. “The objective that a brand would possibly want to bring from a cricketing standpoint would be different for different platforms,” he explained. “Advertisers are looking at a strategy for the Champions Trophy from a screen perspective. He noted that audiences engage with content across live and non-live mobile, TV, and CTV formats. “So it all depends upon what you want to land.”

Jahid spoke about HDFC Bank’s partnership with Disney+ Hotstar during the 2023 Cricket World Cup which marked a significant leap in audience targeting, leveraging first-party data to create a highly personalized campaign.

Ahmed shared insights into their strategy, emphasizing the challenge of refining their marketing within a vast cricketing audience. “We knew that cricket viewership ranges between 300 to 400 million, while our card penetration, despite being the highest in the country, is in the millions—around three to four. The key question was: how do we avoid redundant advertising and target the right customers with the right message?” he explained.

The campaign marked a pioneering moment in data-driven sports marketing. “For the first time, both partners—HDFC and Hotstar—sat down and structured a multi-objective campaign. We created awareness for our cards while also ensuring that our own customer base received tailored messaging about the offers they could avail,” he noted. Hotstar’s robust segmentation capabilities allowed us to layer our cohorts on top of their audience pools. They had multiple segments—e-commerce shoppers, youth, mobile users—and we mapped our audience onto these layers,”

Pradhan emphasized the expanded opportunities with the JioStar Network during the Champions Trophy. “It’s not just about the 30-second ad anymore. It’s about the plethora of services available—from top-funnel awareness to driving conversions, from CTV to mobile, and even enabling click-to-purchase on the spot,” she explained.

The shift toward immersive and interactive advertising formats is another key advantage. “All the AR/VR integrations that break the clutter—these innovations will actually stand out. A simple 30-second spot no longer cuts ice. The real challenge is embedding the brand into the consumer’s mind at a moment when they are deeply engaged with the content they are watching,” she added.

Cricket Dominates Budgets, Defies Saturation, and Delivers Unmatched Engagement

With cricket accounting for 87% of sports industry spends in 2023, as cited in GroupM’s Sporting Nation report, the discussion turned to whether there could ever be ‘too much cricket’ in India.

Karnik dismissed that notion. “There is no doubt that cricket takes most of the budgets in the world of sport—it’s a no-brainer,” he stated.

He pointed out that the cricketing calendar is packed, running uninterrupted from international series to domestic leagues. Despite concerns about saturation, Karnik argued that cricket remains resilient. “We have seen time and again that cricket is recession-free, cricket is COVID-free. How much ever clutter we talk about, people have reconciled with it because the kind of eyeballs cricket attracts—no other property, whether on television or digital—can match that level of reach, viewership, and engagement,” he explained.

For marketers, he stressed the importance of sharp strategic planning. “It all depends on how sharply defined objectives you can carve out in a very competitive landscape,” he said. “Whoever defines their objectives clearly will win this game.”

Adding to this, Ahmed underscored the benefits of long-term sports sponsorships. “If we are clear about our end goal—whether it’s six months or a year—we can create a strategic agreement covering multiple series. Not every series will be costly, which helps build brand affinity with the sport,” he explained.

The ICC Champions Trophy makes a comeback to the cricket calendar after 8 years bringing an intense battle among the top 8 teams of the world, starting 19th February on Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar.