Gemini, the artificial intelligence platform developed by tech giant Google, has struck a multi-year sponsorship agreement with cricket’s elite Indian Premier League (IPL) competition.
The agreement, which will cover the next three editions of the tournament, is reportedly worth INR 270 Crore ($29.7 million, or $9.9 million) per year, which places it firmly in the upper echelon of IPL sponsors.
While that figure is far below what steel magnate Tata pays for the naming rights (reportedly $60 million per year), it still places it among top-tier sponsors such as fantasy sports platform My11Circle ($15 million per year), digital brokerage business Angel One ($9.88 million), and payments company RuPay ($8.4 million).
Although details are yet to be revealed, Gemini will likely gain prominent branding presence across IPL operations, with pitch-side hoardings, media backdrops, and more all up for grabs.
This deal illustrates India’s position as a crucial sponsorship battleground for tech industry players
Just recently, rival AI firm ChatGPT took up a sponsorship of the IPL’s associated women’s competition, the WPL, worth a much-smaller INR 16 crore ($1.76 million) across two years.
While the much smaller sponsorship fee there reflects the fact that the WPL is much younger (only beginning in 2023), and doesn’t boast the reach of the men’s competition, ChatGPT’s willingness to cover it highlights how India has become a crucial arena for AI.
A 2024 survey published by Deloitte suggested that India ranked first among countries in the Asia-Pacific region for generative Ai technology adoption, particularly among younger demographics such as students and young professionals, which will no doubt be markets targeted by the IPL and WPL also.
Another effect of the deal is that it shows the growing diversification of the sponsorship portfolio of the country’s BCCI governing body.
The body was hit hard in mid 2025 when India instituted a ban on real money gaming (RMG), effectively eliminating revenues from that sponsorship category.
Indeed, the BCCI unexpectedly lost its lucrative Indian national team shirt sponsor Dream11, which had reportedly been paying the equivalent of $14.5 million annually, after it had to exit the RMG market immediately following the ban.
