Capturing fan attention: Analysing sponsorship effectiveness and brand resonance in the Indian Premier League
Abstract
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has become a global phenomenon, captivating cricket enthusiasts worldwide. Its impact extends far beyond India, attracting massive viewership and lucrative sponsorship deals. Renowned as the most attended cricket league globally, the IPL made history by being the first major sporting event to be live-streamed on YouTube. This unprecedented move solidified its position as a trailblazer in the sports industry. Moreover, the IPL has emerged as a coveted platform for young Indian cricketers, offering them a unique opportunity to showcase their talent and potentially achieve international recognition. Cricket being a deeply ingrained passion in India, the IPL has provided fertile ground for aspiring athletes to nurture their skills and make their mark on the global stage. This paper examines the sponsorship effectiveness utilising logistic regression for the dependent variables, ie sponsorship recall and sponsorship recognition based on independent variables, ie age, gender, familiarity, attitude and perceived fit. The data was collected from 960 respondents (cricket fans) through a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical measures were conducted through logistic regression to analyse the data. The results of the study suggest that there is a statistically significant effect of age, gender, familiarity, attitude and perceived fit on sponsorship recall, while there is no statistically significant effect of these variables in the case of sponsorship recognition. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.
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Author's Biography
Avtar Singh is an associate professor of marketing at the Mittal School of Business, Lovely Professional University. He holds a PhD in sports marketing and an MBA degree, and has more than 13 years of experience in the marketing industry, which equips him with a deep understanding of practical marketing strategies and challenges. His areas of specialisation and research include social media marketing, sports marketing, artificial intelligence, sustainability and digital marketing.
Rahul Sharma is a professor of marketing with over 15 years of experience in academia. His research interests include consumer behaviour, business analytics and digital marketing, and his work has been published in various journals. Dr Sharma is also a recognised authority in faculty development programmes.