What Makes the IPL a Success? Let's Discuss the Key Factors Behind Its Business Model

Hello all,

Many of us are familiar with the Indian Premier League (IPL). Can we have a discussion thread on what factors made this IPL such a success?

To start the thread, I feel that:

1. Advertisement money
2. Telecast rights

Thanks and regards,
Chandra Sekhar

Hi,

To add on, I think it's the interest of Indians in the game of cricket, as well as the involvement of Bollywood stars and business tycoons, that made the IPL so popular.

Thanks and regards,
Poonam

Hi all,

Maybe Poonam is right to some extent, but initially, people were not inclined towards IPL so much. However, in later stages, IPL was able to draw the attention of the people. In my opinion, it is basically a time factor that is making 20-20 more popular.

In its first season, the IPL was rocking. I think next year there is scope for better management of the tournament.

Hi,

Since this is the first time such a huge event is being conducted in India with the involvement of people from all countries, the general excitement among people has contributed a lot. Additionally, I feel that the success of ICL has helped IPL improve in a few areas and made it a huge success.

Keep sharing your comments on the topic. Appreciate you for raising this topic for discussion.

Regards,
Pavan

Well, cricket is a religion for all Indians. I wonder why we still say hockey is our national game when people worship cricketers. The IPL was a landmark substantiated by 20-20. Apart from that, it was a coming together of different nationalities, a meeting of egos, and rather a totally power-packed teamwork - esprit de corps. :) We should congratulate M.S. Dhoni for his marvelous captaincy. He has once again proved that he is the best manager. Keep posting!

Cheers,
Aparna Nair

Dear Aparna,

You are absolutely right, and people start paying more attention when the Indian team clinches the series or tournament. You forgot the fate of the Indian Cricket Team after the World Cup 2007. I think if the Indian Hockey team performs well at the international level, then everybody will be happy and will give recognition to the hockey players.

Aparna Nair said, "Cricket is a religion for all Indians. I wonder even today why we say hockey is our national game when people worship cricketers. IPL was a landmark substantiated by 20-20. Apart from that, a coming together of different nationalities, meeting of egos, rather a totally power-packed teamwork, esprit de corps. :) Should congratulate M.S. Dhoni for his marvelous captaincy. He again proved that he is the best manager. Keep posting. Cheerz, Aparna Nair."

Well, according to me, IPL has been a huge success because of the time factor and lots of advertisement and media hype.

India has always been a cricket-loving nation. But since people don't have time to watch the whole game, the 20-20 format has been a huge hit as it is easier to spare 3.5 hours than to dig out 10-12 hours a day. Additionally, the factor that players belonging to different national teams have been brought together and played against some members of their own national team makes the whole thing a lot more interesting.

Endorsements by some national celebrities/entertainers have given the IPL an extra boost. For example, fans of SRK belonging to Delhi have been supporting the Kolkata team! Isn't it interesting and the right time for the brands to boost up their sales?

Most of the players in the IPL are the current national players of different countries, quite unlike the ICL; so they have a media presence as well. In fact, they themselves have acted as endorsers of the IPL. What better way to promote?

IPL has been a huge success. Two of the teams have even earned profits during its first season itself, and one is just on the verge of breaking even.

Great business scheme... I must say... Well thought out!

Hi Everyone!!

I think that IPL has been popular because it was planned in a way that today's audience wanted it to be. It was tailor-made to reach and affect everyone, thus gaining popularity.

- There was cross favoritism - (I belong to Mumbai, so I will support the Mumbai team, but my favorite player is Dhoni - so I watched matches of both teams - result increased viewership)
- Corporates were involved - all employees came in the preview of the audience. The feeling of ownership of the team made them part of the audience.
- It didn't involve the viewers for the whole day...
- Timings were generally in the evening when it can have the maximum audience.
- Players involved were from across borders...
- It was commercialized - cheer groups, freebies, FM-TV ads all made it so happening that the one not watching it was looked at with surprising eyes, "What, you are not tracking the IPL series?"

I guess it was a very great business model with just a win-win situation for everybody.
- The owners got publicity and money.
- Viewers got entertainment.
- Players got new fans and money, of course!

Regards,
Sakshi Gupta

Hi Everyone,

IPL is a very well-planned activity. It has given an identity to the newcomers. Let's find out what we learned:
1. Marketing Strategy
2. Promotions
3. Media Influence
4. Leadership Style
5. Rewards
6. Motivation
7. Team Building
8. Creating Bonds
9. Empowerment
10. Stress Management

Rani

IPL succeeded not because of cricket (comparatively) but because of high entertainment quotient. Cheer girls - even when they were not around, controversies surrounding them provided enough entertainment material. Bhajji-Sreesanath case got the entire nation hooked as to what is so special about this game that can lead a national player to slap another. SAAS BAHU - for a break took the backseat because of timing. Entire family could watch together something that is edge of the seat. City Loyalty - Not a new thing to sports. Chelsea-ManU final is as hot as a World Cup final. Because of franchise-based system and international players, it truly represented glocalization. People got involved at the local level because of their state's name.

Regards Team GroupHR

Success of any business depends upon the marketing efforts.

In the case of IPL, both cricket and celebrities were present as marketing tools.

It was a perfect recipe for success. It had the two biggies of Indian interest - Bollywood and Cricket. And of course, loads of money.

I think that the reason IPL was such a success was because it provided a little of everything for all the segments:

1. Excitement from the match.
2. The controversies (cheerleaders, the slapping’s).. :)
3. Not very time-consuming - short and sweet.
4. And it was the coming together of cricket and Bollywood and the business tycoons for the first time ever. It was a model destined to become a success.

The most important factor is the intrinsic popularity of the product - 20/20 game itself:

B.C.C.I OR B.T.T.I ? Stray Thoughts

No media hype or anything to do with marketing can sustain anything that is unpopular. Cheerleaders are not going to make test cricket more popular. The game itself is far more exciting and interesting than test cricket.

Agreed with Hiren. But it is a fact that cricket has always enjoyed a certain level of popularity in India. And if you ask purists, I am almost certain that they will find Test cricket far more interesting than Twenty20. In my opinion, we are probably trying to find out what made Twenty20 supersede one-day or Test cricket in popularity. This is where cheerleaders, media hype, shorter duration, etc., come into the picture. Love to have reactions.

Regards, Team GroupHR

Dear All,

The IPL Model is very well explained in this PDF file. I hope you all find it useful and informative.

- Shiv

Hi,

The first thing that strikes my mind when I think of IPL is: what strategies do Vijay Mallya, Ambani, and Shah Rukh Khan have in mind? Another question that comes to my mind is why their teams have not won or even reached the finals. What are the reasons for their failure? In an interview, Vijay Mallya mentioned that the captains have not selected the right people, and he is not involved in the selection process. I think it would be good if we discuss the above factors.

Hi All,

I have newly joined as a member. My name is Minal Shah, and I work for a non-profit association. I would like to know how different HR policies are for a non-profit compared to a for-profit organization. Can anyone help me with the policies that are strictly to be followed?

Best Regards,
Minal Shah

I think the success of IPL has definitely raised certain issues. The amount of money involved in it is one concern. There is a clear bias towards cricket, while other games, whether indoor or outdoor, do not receive the same privilege as cricket. IPL T20 has commercialized the game, shifting the focus from sport to money. Unfair practices often accompany the game as well.

However, it's important to note that IPL has also brought forth some splendid players who may not have otherwise had the opportunity to showcase their talent. On a positive note, commercialization has its benefits. For instance, if players fail to perform, they risk being sacked from the team. This link between money and performance means that players cannot rely on excuses like poor form; they must consistently deliver their best to remain in the team.

Dear Friends,

I feel that there were a few factors that made the IPL such a success:
- Our winning the World Cup
- Defeating Australia in the T20-20
- Glamour
- Packaging
- The Newness of the event
- The trash they are spewing out in the form of TV serials and a sudden drying up of good movies
- Timing.

Regards,
Col Jude

Hi, guys,

Luckily, I came across this nice file that explains everything. Please take a look at it and leave your comments.

Thank you.

We have been discussing quite a lot on the business model and the reasons behind its success. We should also be discussing the feasibility and scalability of this model. Also, is this model sustainable?

One thing that seems peculiar is that favoritism is clearly evident. If we see an Indian hitting most normal fours/sixes, there's a huge round of applause. However, imagine the situation when we see any non-Indian hitting remarkable shots or bowling extraordinarily... are we actually that elated?

Sustainability: One point, yes, that can be debated. Will test matches go into oblivion? Are 20-20 matches preferred over one dayers?

We learn a lot from IPL, mostly from S WARN. He is motivating a new week team to be a winner in this series. As far as popularity is concerned, Kolkata Knight Riders have won because of Ganguly and Khan. But as a manager, I would rank no. one S. WARN and no. two MSD. Vijay Mallya, Preity, Wadia, and Ambani have incurred very big losses due to poor management of their team, lack of motivation, and of course, their knowledge regarding cricket and interest. They have just invested their money and relaxed.

Hello Chandra Sekar,

In my view, IPL is a new way of making money through cricket. It's just the beginning of a new era. It's just a miniature of various Premier Leagues in football. It's surely going to change the trend of cricket.

Regards,
Shivanair

Hello all,

I have just consolidated all of our thoughts.

Regards,
CS

I was just wondering, will these IPL matches have any negative effect on our Indian team when they play for our nation? Will this lead to a split? I hope the unity in diversity remains. When there was a fight between Sreesanth and Harbhajan, I really started thinking about that. Regards, SreePillai

Change is the essence of life. I would relate this to bringing in change to avoid monotony. Earlier, we had one-day matches, test matches, and the World Cup. It is to renew the interest of the audience, which gives them enjoyment and investors a good return on investment. I have seen many people who lost interest because of cricket fixing, even though they were enjoying the game at one time. There are many things to learn from T20 cricket, especially from teams like Rajasthan and Shane Warne's captaincy.

Dear Members,

IPL was indeed a fantastic business model envisioned and realized by the guy called Lalit Modi. You could read the latest issue of India Today, which provides complete information on how this entertainment-packaged business model became a thumping success.

Cheers,

Dear friend,

I found this post really interesting. It's nice that we have such a discussion on this. I would like to bring to your notice the contributing factor of ICL. Had the ICL not come up with such an idea, possibly there would not have been IPL. Thanks to ICL at first.

According to me, the success of IPL was due to some of the following factors:
1. Money Factor.
2. Support of ICC.
3. The contract terms between players.
4. Marketing of Teams.
5. Franchise owners and their image among the public, i.e., stars like SRK.
6. Timing of matches and the period that matches with the vacation time.
7. The cheer groups.
8. And yes, some lessons from the ICL model, which they could study and improve upon.

Friends, I would like you to discuss possible reasons for the less popularity of ICL as well. Hope you can come up with some good reasons.

Thanks,
George :)

Hi all,

I think the IPL was a big hit because of:

1. Money
2. Glamour by stars
3. Time (20-20)
4. Vacation time
5. Well-planned event
6. Combination of teams (people were keen to see their favorite players worldwide playing on the same team)

I believe we should jot down the points like this and then, after discussion, select the most structured points to create a model.

Regards,
Namrata

Also, to add on to that, I went to see one match in Chennai. The entertainment arrangements were really good. Moreover, the duration of 20-20 matches is very short. But advertisements and betting stands come first.

Hello everybody,

Speaking of the "Business Model" of IPL, I must say everybody had done good homework before properly executing this idea of a series of 14 matches. It proved to be beneficial for the following people:

- The business tycoons or the companies who owned the teams. It was a sort of a betting game for all of them, putting their money on all the players.
- The companies who sponsored the teams, helped in their publicity and business.
- The players who earned big bucks.
- New talent got a golden chance. For example, the Rajasthan Royals - the winning team mostly consisted of new faces.
- Involvement of celebrities helped in gaining everyone's attention. Their involvement assured media limelight and more popularity.
- Advertising agencies earned significantly, making ads and songs for each team and all.
- SONY MAX / SET MAX channel - the one who broadcasted all the matches.

Strategies used from the starting point to finishing point had given the right amount of importance to the following ingredients of a successful recipe:

- Entertainment
- Popularity
- Involvement of all the international players - this was a very innovative idea according to me.
- The bidding funda for forming different teams - this was also an innovative and first-of-its-kind idea.
- 20-20 ka hit formula
- Publicity
- Media coverage
- Profit interest for everyone involved in the IPL.
- The time factor - Initially, people weren't inclined so much, but later IPL proved to grab everyone's attention.

In the end, it repaid everyone the price they deserved:

- The owner of the winning team
- The players of the winning team
- The audience who got a great package of entertainment
- And the people who betted on the winning teams ;)

So all in all, people made a business out of every Indian's favorite game - CRICKET!!!!

Warm regards,

Asmita

Hi all,

For IPL to be successful, it is basically the involvement of film stars and team players because the best teams with top players participating make people more engaged to find out who will perform better. It is essentially the selection of players in the team that determines whether the team is strong or weak.

Hi buddies,

A big thanks for the hot and happening topic - Indian Premier League is the nightmare for cricket fans in summer 2008. Wonderful teams, best captains, new talents such as Suresh Raina's good fielding, Gony who took 17 or 18 wickets, Morkel's sixes, Dhoni's captaincy, Shane Warne's motivation, Yousaf Pathan's batting. Entertainment, thrill, excellent memories.

Come on friends, let's work hard in order to own a team after three years or ten years. It's good business. Waiting for the next IPL session.

Regards,
Ajithaa

Hi All,

I guess it was:
1. Time factor
2. Timing of the matches (evenings and only match on weekdays)
3. Good quality cricket, as people were not biased about India or Pakistan or England, and finally
4. Jeete chahe koi bhi, Trophy to India mein hi hai na..

Sweety