IPL 2020 | Hotstar steps down as associate sponsor ahead of 2020 season
Hotstar has withdrawn as an associate sponsor for the 2020 edition of the IPL after they opted to trigger the exit clause in their contract with BCCI. IPL associate sponsorships are usually in the range of INR 40-80 crore and the Hotstar deal, reportedly, amounted to around INR 42 crore per year.
As per recent reports in India Today, leading online broadcasting company - Hotstar - has stepped down as associate sponsor of the Indian Premier League ahead of the 2020 edition of the tournament. The senior management at Hotstar have chosen to exercise an exit clause in the deal as on-grounds sponsors of the league.
“There was an exit clause in the deal and Hotstar chose to exercise it,” a BCCI source told India Today.
Star India holds the Indian Premier League media rights after they won the winning bid of INR 16,347.5 crore for both television and digital platforms in 2017. Earlier, Hotstar had claimed to have crossed 300 million viewers in addition to having registered a 74% increase in watch-time compared to the year before. The report, however, has clarified that this will have no impact on the online streaming deal between the two organisations and Hotstar will still be the official online broadcast partner for the IPL.