IPL Media Rights: Star India retained the TV rights while Viacom18 won the digital rights for the Indian Premier League 2023-27 cycle.
In a first of its kind e-auction conducted by the BCCI, Star’s winning bid was worth INR 23,575 crore whereas Viacom18 shelled out INR 23,758 crore to claim Packages B & C for digital rights exclusively.
The auction also underlined India’s growing digital economy and the potential of its markets, with Viacom18’s bid fetching the IPL a higher sum than the winning bid for the TV rights.
“India has seen a digital revolution & the sector has endless potential,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote in a tweet. “The digital landscape has changed the way cricket is watched. It has been a big factor in the growth of the game & the Digital India vision.”
Media rights for Middle East and the USA have gone to Times Internet.
The total sum of INR 48390 crores (digital+TV) is for 410 IPL games scheduled across five years, earning the BCCI roughly INR 118 crore per match. In terms of cost per match, the IPL finds itself in an elite global club and among the richest leagues in the world.
Broken down further, Disney Star will pay INR 57.5 crore (US$ 7.36 million approx.) per match, while Viacom 18, who won the subcontinental digital rights for all matches at Rs 50 crore (US$ 6.40 million approx.) a match, and then committed another INR 33.24 crore (US$ 4.26 million approx.) per match for a non-exclusive package of high-profile games (ranging between 18 and 22 matches), will effectively end up paying just over INR 58 crore (US$ 7.43 million approx.) per match.
Throw in the global numbers, and the IPL is now behind only the NFL in per-match value.
Apart from the obvious windfall for the BCCI, the blockbuster deal will provide a huge cash bonanza to the IPL franchises, whose share of central revenue is set to rise to nearly INR 500 crore each.
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Bigger IPL?
While a new cycle (2023-27) is set to begin in the IPL from the next season onwards, a report in Cricbuzz states that the plan is to take the number of games in the next cycle to 410 with a progressive increase after every two seasons in the coming cycle.
The BCCI is planning to have 74 games the next season (2023) and the one after that (2024).
The two years after that will have 84 games. The final season, on the other hand, could also reportedly have 94 games in a single campaign.
The said plan has been charted out and shared with potential bidders for the IPL media rights. For the entire duration, IPL is likely to have 410 games and not 370.