Reliance Industries' subsidiary Indiawin Sports, which owns Mumbai Indians, had reported revenue of Rs 336.25 crore in FY21 Mukesh Ambani-owned Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians have achieved a double-digit growth in sponsorship revenue from the current season of the cash-rich tournament. Reliance Industries' subsidiary Indiawin Sports, which owns Mumbai Indians, had reported revenue of Rs 336.25 crore in FY21 compared to Rs 397.8 crore in the previous fiscal. "This season, we have had significant double-digit growth in our brand valuation and sponsorship revenue as well, from last year, and we continue to lead the chart in total sponsorship revenue and quality of brands," a Mumbai Indians spokesperson said.   Mumbai Indians has roped in 23 partners across categories for IPL 2022. Slice and DHL are Principal Partners while Marriott Bonvoy, JIO, and Astral Pipes are Associate Partners. The franchise also has 18 official partners: Meesho, Kingfisher, Usha, Dream11, Cadbury, Acko, Bombay Shaving Company, McDowell's, TeamViewer, BKT, Amul Kool, Strata, Performax, ESA (Reliance Foundation), DNA Network, Radio City, Fever 104 FM, and My FM.   "Our sponsorship pool has a strong combination of established Indian brands, start-ups, and global brands that we have built long-term partnerships with. We are a preferred franchise for global brands, with TeamViewer joining us this year, and we have had long-term associations with DHL, Marriott Bonvoy, and Cadbury Dairy Milk. Slice has joined us as Principal Sponsor for three years and brands continue to extend their partnerships with us, year on year. Our brand partner portfolio evolves, and we bring in like-minded partners with whom we can work long term and build value for both brands," the spokesperson added. The franchise believes that good performance on the field coupled with factors like team values, strong brand appeal, and fan affinity & engagement are important factors in growing the revenue. "We have a strong pool of brands both Indian and global, due to the consistent performance on and off the field. A lot of our partners have partnerships with iconic global sports brands like Manchester United and Mercedes F1 team amongst many others, which speaks volumes of the commercial program we have built over the years at MI," the spokesperson averred. Speaking about the growing trend of digital advertising deals between IPL franchises and brands, the spokesperson explained that digital engagement has always been on the rise, as brands were looking for models that will help drive stronger fan activations. "The past two years have fast-tracked that, and brands had to rethink their approach to engagement. We have also seen a lot of brands, who are digital-first, so their approach from the beginning has been to invest heavily in the digital medium to stay active and reach their customers and fans." Due to Covid-19 related restrictions, the franchise has launched initiatives like Virtual Wankhede & MI Live to connect with its fans. It is also increasing its focus on alternative revenue streams as gate revenue has got severely impacted due to the pandemic. "We as a franchise have always believed in unlocking more commercial value via non-kit partnerships. We are fully invested in growing merchandise year on year. We continue to unlock more revenue via content partnerships, and this year, we have just launched “MI SHOP”, bringing all our official MI merchandise under one platform on mumbaiindians.com/shop. New age spaces which are based on Web 3.0 such as NFT, Fan token continue to be monitored by us, and we will move forward once we identify the right strategy for us, as we see this as a long-term commitment to our fans and has to be built in the correct way," the spokesperson stated. Mumbai Indians, the spokesperson said, engages its estimated 30 million fans throughout the year through various content-related initiatives on digital. "During the season, we have about 30 to 40 individual pieces of content going out daily across MI’s presence on various social media platforms. MI Live, the team’s fan-led digital show available across popular social media platforms attempts to give our Paltan an opportunity to air their views, showcase their passion in a casual and fun setting. Our off-season endeavour revolves around reinforcing the bond between the squad and the fans through content, digital and on-ground activations."