Tata Sierra, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Tata AIG, Rapido, Google AI Mode and Wonder Cement emerged as the six brands that benefited the most from their association with IPL 2026, according to Ormax Media’s latest study.

The ‘Ormax Trac20: Ad & Sponsorship Effectiveness Research for IPL 2026’ evaluated the advertising and sponsorship effectiveness of 54 brands associated with the tournament.

The brands recorded the highest Ormax Mpact scores, based on improvements across key brand metrics including top-of-mind awareness, spontaneous awareness, total awareness, consideration, and purchase or usage intent.

The study found that the strongest-performing brands adopted different advertising strategies but shared common traits of clear messaging, contextual relevance and reinforcement across multiple consumer touchpoints during the tournament.

Among the top performers, Tata Sierra combined title sponsorship with extensive visibility through in-stadium branding, commentary mentions, its role as the official trophy car for the IPL final and its ‘Escape Mediocre’ campaign.

Cadbury Dairy Milk built its campaign around the ‘Khaas Seat’ initiative, while Tata AIG integrated its ‘Fan Box’ activation into live match broadcasts.

Rapido strengthened its campaign through its ‘First Ride Free’ communication while serving as an official broadcast sponsor across JioHotstar and Star Sports.

Google AI Mode used contextual cricket integrations and commentator mentions during match coverage, while Wonder Cement combined its Official Umpire Partner association with in-match branding, DRS-linked activations and its ‘Farq Nazar Aayega’ campaign.

Beyond ranking brands, the report compared the effectiveness of different forms of cricket advertising and sponsorship, including title sponsorship, tournament sponsorship, in-stadium branding, commentary integrations, franchise sponsorship and conventional advertising.

It concluded that campaign effectiveness depends not just on visibility but also on how well brands integrate with the viewing experience.

Cricket delivers exceptional scale, but scale by itself does not guarantee brand impact. The report is intended to help brands and media agencies make more informed decisions around cricket advertising, extending well beyond the IPL to international cricket and other major tournament properties.

The research, according to Ormax, was based on 15,000 online interviews conducted in two phases — 7,500 before IPL 2026 and 7,500 after the tournament. Each of the 54 brands was evaluated among 300-500 consumers from its target audience across metros, mini-metros and smaller towns in urban India.