Online Food Delivery Platforms’ Profitability Focus Evident during IPL 2023, with modest 7% spike in business: Redseer Strategy Consultants

Bengaluru: The Indian Premier League (IPL) stands as one of India's mainstream cricket tournaments, captivating millions of viewers. This extensive viewership has transformed the IPL into a highly sought-after advertising opportunity for businesses, particularly online food delivery (OFD) platforms.

However, in their continued stride towards profitability, prominent Online Food Delivery Platforms (hereof referred as OFD) adopted a different marketing approach during IPL-2023, opting for muted campaigns. Rather than relying on extravagant and attention-grabbing advertisements, they implemented subtle and low-key strategies. This decision resulted in a modest 7% spike in OFD business during the IPL season.

“During the IPL seasons from 2017 to 2020, OFD giants made a significant presence on Prime-time television through their advertisements. They enticed viewers with attractive discounts ranging from 50% to 60% at a wide array of restaurants. Additionally, they integrated their offerings with OTT platforms and created customized advertisements for maximum impact. These efforts even led to a spike of more than 50% in the IPL –2020 season. However, in the 2023 IPL season, there was a noticeable change in approach”, said Kushal Bhatnagar, Associate Partner, Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Despite the limited action by OFD platforms, IPL-2023 generated online food ordering use-cases among tier 2+ consumers, wherein the spike was almost 2.5x of mature consumers in the metro/tier 1 markets. This hints towards the ability of spike events to drive habit formation among not-so-mature-users in India.

Targeting these users via effective spike event campaigns, could accelerate the adoption of OFD platforms in deeper pockets in the country.