Byju's may exit BCCI jersey sponsorship deal

Byju's is seeking to exit its jersey sponsorship deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the edtech company works toward rationalizing its media expenditure, sources close to the development told ET. Byju's has told the BCCI that it wants to call time on the sponsorship deal, said the sources cited above. The company might continue as a sponsor until March 2023. "Byju's wants to walk out of the sponsorship deal with BCCI since it is optimising its media spends in India," a source close to the development said.

Queries sent to Byju's and BCCI remained unanswered.

New-age businesses have been minimizing advertising spends since fresh funding has dried up due to the global economic downturn.

In the last few years, well-funded tech startups have been spending heavily on cricket properties to build their brands and acquire new users.

Byju's had recorded a 17-fold jump in losses at Rs 4,588 crore in FY21. Revenue was up 4% to Rs 2,280 crore. The company's advertising and promotional expenses had jumped 150% to Rs 2,251 crore from Rs 899 crore.

Apart from the BCCI jersey deal, Byju's is also an official sponsor of International Cricket Council (ICC) events.

In line with its global expansion plans, the company became the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

It is believed to have paid $30-$40 million for the FIFA deal.

In June, Byju's extended its deal with the BCCI until 2023-end for $55 million.

Its original deal term with the BCCI expired in March 2022.

As per the fresh deal between the BCCI and Byju's, the edtech major is roughly paying 10% more than what Oppo was paying on a per-match basis. Byju's predecessor Oppo was paying Rs 4.61 crore per bilateral match and Rs 1.56 crore per ICC match.

Byju's replaced Oppo to become the jersey sponsor of the Indian team.