Joseph Eapen, Head of India & Subcontinent at GSIQ, on what 3,800 interviews across ten IPL markets say about the commercial value of one teenager.

Fan & Sponsor Impact Study, July 2026:
n = 3,800 across ten IPL franchise markets

If you were to take a look at the Indian polling on the IPL’s most familiar players right now, you would find the usual names – but one that is new. Fourth on the list sits a player just two IPL seasons into his career: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He has an aided recognition rate of 70% among the Indian public.

Sooryavanshi is no longer being measured against the players coming through. He is being measured against India’s established order.

In July we ran 3,800 interviews across all ten IPL franchise markets — 380 in each, ages 15 to 55, NCCS A, B and C — to test what that recognition is actually doing. Four in ten of the sample (41%) qualify as exposed: they watched five or more Rajasthan Royals matches this season, or they follow him. The remaining 59% form a lighter-exposure control, and that is the comparison base for everything below.

Built on broadcast, scaled by social

Where did the market meet him? Three-quarters (75%) cite live match broadcasts, ahead of sports news on 59.2% and social clips and reels on 54.8%. Friends and family account for 39.4%, advertising 31.7% and newspapers 23.3%.

That order is important, because the standing assumption about a young player who trends is that social media made him. We’ve all seen the claims. But in this case it didn’t. Broadcast made him and social media multiplied him.

One in three watched more and half of them can name him.

35.9% report watching more of his team – Rajasthan Royals – in 2026 than in 2025. Of that group, 47.6% volunteered his name as the reason – unprompted, before we had mentioned him. And 41.8% of the total sample say they would watch a dead rubber purely to see him bat. That’s quite some pulling power.

These are self-reported measures, so treat them as evidence of intent rather than a ratings guarantee. But appointment viewing built around one batter, at 15, is not a normal position for a franchise to be in.

Reach is the easy part

In the three months before fieldwork, 40.9% of respondents followed Rajasthan Royals handles, 35.4% followed him directly, 34.7% watched interviews or behind-the-scenes content, 33.1% liked or shared something about him and 31.7% went looking for his statistics. Deeper in, 23.3% commented or argued about him online and 16.9% made or shared memes and edits.

Note the top of that list. More people are following the franchise’s handles than the player’s own. Whatever Rajasthan Royals are doing to convert interest in a player into owned audience is working – and owned audience is the part that stays when a player doesn’t.

What does this mean for sponsors?

Sponsor recall tracks exposure across the Royals’ portfolio. Here is aided recall among the engaged group against the lighter-exposure control:

Every one of the top five partners sits 15 to 20 points higher among the audience most engaged with Sooryavanshi and the franchise. Exposure isn’t randomised, so this is association rather than proof that he delivered those points. But if you are a brand inside that portfolio, the segment that has formed around one player is measurably better ground for you than the segment that hasn’t. Sooryavanshi drives engagement.

Would they actually pick the brand he endorses?

Offered two identical products at the same price, 35.1% would take the one our young hero endorses. Among 15-to-24-year-olds that rises to 41.9%, against 32.5% among 35 to 55s. Stated preference is not conversion and we wouldn’t sell it as such. But a nine-point premium with the youngest cohort is precisely the profile a brand buys a young endorser for.

Every one of the top five partners sits 15 to 20 points higher among the audience most engaged with Sooryavanshi and the franchise. Exposure isn’t randomised, so this is association rather than proof that he delivered those points. But if you are a brand inside that portfolio, the segment that has formed around one player is measurably better ground for you than the segment that hasn’t. Sooryavanshi drives engagement.

The market is more careful than the noise around it

That is where the commercial read ends and something more interesting starts. We asked about the Tendulkar comparison directly, because everyone else has. Only 9.7% say he is already at that level. 45.8% say he has the potential but needs time, 28.6% say it is simply too early to ask, and 12.3% think the comparison is unfair pressure on a teenager. Just 3.7% say he won’t get there.

Read that distribution as a whole and the Indian cricket public is considerably more disciplined than the discourse. It is optimistic, and it is asking to be allowed to wait.

Three years out

Over a three-year horizon, 33.4% expect him to be a regular in India’s T20 side and 22.3% expect him across all formats. 18.9% see a leading IPL player who doesn’t quite make the national side, and 18.1% won’t call it either way. Only 7.2% – one in fourteen – think the hype fades.

He is early in his innings, and his audience appears to know it.

The wider point isn’t about one player. It is that “he moves the needle” is now a claim you can put a number against – in viewership, in fandom conversion, in advocacy and in what your viewers recall. If you want to know what a single name is contributing to your audience and your sponsors’ outcomes, we can measure it. Get in touch.