BHARTI AIRTEL, India’s largest telecommunications company, has signed as the title sponsor of the inaugural F1 Indian Grand Prix to be held in New Delhi over the weekend of October 28-30.
Frontiers values the three-year deal, which will see the race branded the Airtel Grand Prix of India, at around $10m per year.
The price of Airtel’s sponsorship, originally thought to be significantly lower than other Grand Prix title rights given its fledgling status and the limited time frame in which the deal was struck, is in fact one of the most lucrative title sponsorships on the current Formula One calendar.
By contrast, Qantas reportedly pay $3m per year for rights to the Australian Grand Prix while Etihad Airways pay $6m per year for their tenure as title rights holder to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
There are a number of reasons for such a high premium in India, however. Firstly, Formula One is growing in popularity amongst the Indian population. While cricket remains steadfast as the nation’s number one sport, Formula One, along with football, is attracting larger audiences every season – the 2010 F1 season attracted 25 million viewers nationwide, for example, while the 2011 calendar attracted 16.5 million viewers over the first eight races.
Secondly, having withdrawn their sponsorship of cricket’s Champions League earlier this year, Airtel are keen to move away from their affiliation with an event which failed to live up to the expectations of advertisers and television audiences in the same way as the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Combined with a cumulative worldwide audience of around one billion people, such factors indicate that Formula One is a great opportunity for Airtel in terms of brand awareness and, more importantly, rebuilding brand association.
Being grouped with other well-respected major brands such as Mercedes-Benz of India, Red Bull India, Vodafone and Diageo, who have also signed up as official sponsors of the first Indian Grand Prix, will further enhance Airtel’s stock as a credible sporting sponsor.
Elsewhere, German-based insurance company Allianz have been announced as the title sponsor of the second Korean Grand Prix which takes place in Yeongam on October 14-16.