IPL 2023-27: Star retains TV rights for INR 23,575 cr, Viacom18 grabs digital for INR 23,758 cr

Star India, Viacom18 and Times Internet clinch IPL Media Rights for 2023-27; Total media rights sold for Rs 48,390 crore (US$ 6.2 billion approx.).

Star retains TV rights for INR 23,575 cr, Viacom18 grabs digital for INR 23,758 cr (Image: ©InsideSports)

Three days of exceptional bidding and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally identified the winner of the media rights for Indian Premier League (IPL) for the 2023-2027 cycle on the third day of the auction on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. It just spelled out how broadly the league has spread out all over India and the world.

The IPL media rights will bag approximately INR 48,390 crores (US$ 6.2 billion approx.) in the next five years, placing it in the top echelons of the richest sporting leagues in the world, second only to National Football League (NFL).

TV Rights sold to Star India for INR 23,575 crores, digital rights go to Viacom18 for INR 23,758 crores

On June 13, 2022 the highest bids for the two most lucrative categories - Television and Digital - in the IPL rights e-auction for the next cycle have been identified. It has been learnt through various sources that the biggest bid for the TV rights for the Indian subcontinent, which is being called the Package A, is INR 57.5 crores (US$ 7.37 million approx.) per match.

On the other side, the digital rights for the Indian subcontinent, which is being called as Package B, from the base price of INR 33 crores has gone up to INR 50 crores (US$ 6.15 million approx.).

The combined value has powered to INR 105.5 crores (US$ 13.5 million approx.) has put IPL in the sky-scraping bracket in the sporting world with the likes of the National Football League (NFL) and English Premier League (EPL), in terms of per match value.

Disney Star (Disney+Hotstar), Sony, Zee, Viacom18 and Jio, all had been involved in the fierce bidding.

Comparison with the previous IPL rights

A cursory look at the history of two previous instances of IPL media rights will sum up the growth of the league.

In its first media rights auction, Sony bought the IPL rights for INR 8,200 crores for 10 years from the year 2008 to 2017. In the second auction, Star India snatched it for INR 16,348 crores for five years from the year 2018 to 2022. Now, Star has retained the TV rights for a whopping INR 23,575 crores for the next five years from the year 2023 to 2027.

The discussion of the previous IPL rights deal for the 2018-2022 cycle spells out how long a jump this Indian Premier League has made. The biggest bid for the IPL’s media rights was in the TV category amounting to 17.3 per cent higher than the base price of INR 49 crores per match; whereas the digital rights saw a high jump of 45.4 per cent over the base price of INR 33 crores while the combined figure is also 94.5 per cent higher than the base price of INR 54.23 crores.

For 74 matches in each season, the TV rights package for five years is worth INR 21,275 crores which is approximately US$ 2.72 billion. The combined figure of the digital rights that is INR 17,760 crores (US$ 2.27 billion approx.) and the overall number of INR 39,035 crores (US$ 5 billion approx.) is 2.39 times or 139 per cent higher than the net worth of IPL rights in the previous cycle of INR 16,347.5 crores (US$ 2.55 billion approx.) at the time.

Monday evening saw Package C batting on INR 1,700 crores approx. Till then, the package A and B had fetched around INR 44,075 crores for 410 games.

According to the rules, the IPL will give the Package A winner automatic rights to compete for the Package B by locking horns with the highest bidder in the digital category.

But whether the Package A winner was the same as the winner of the Package B or whether the highest bidder for TV rights wanted to fight for the digital rights at all or not wasn’t disclosed till Monday.

“We are very happy with the day’s proceedings,” IPL chairperson Brijesh Patel expressed to Cricbuzz after Sunday’s bidding.

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Gujarat Titans win their maiden IPL Trophy in 2022 edition (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

The most anticipated Package C will add INR 3,257 crores

Package C was much talked about and created a lot of excitement as the bidders since the start of the third morning on Tuesday put all the weight behind it. Bidding for the Package C finally saw it closing on INR 33.24 crores price. For five years and 98 games, it will add up to INR 3,257 crore.

The odd number, INR 33.24 crores was arrived at as someone placed a higher amount, more than the requirement of a Minimum Bid Increment (MBI) on one occasion which led it to finishing on INR 33.24 crores.

The number is significant as the overall value per match in the digital rights space have crossed the TV price of INR 57.5 crores.

“So digital turned out to be bigger than linear TV this season in IPL media rights auction. I would like to thank all the participants for their interest in the best ‘Made in India’ sports property,” BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal expressed in a social media post.

“In my view, the transparency of the whole process is truly Winner No. 1. Big thanks to fans!” he added.

A Brief Look at the IPL Media Rights for 2023-2027

Package A which is the Indian sub-continent exclusive TV (Broadcast) rights, has been sold to Star India at a price of INR 57.5 crores per match. In five years, the price will total to INR 23,575 crores (US$ 6.2 billion approx.).

Package B, that covers the digital rights for the Indian sub-continent, has been sold to Viacom18 at a rate of INR 48 crores per game. That will amount to INR 23,758 crores over a period of five years.

Package C, which is for 18 selected games in each season for digital space, has been sold to Viacom18 too at a rate of INR 33.24 crores per match. This will end up to a total of INR 3,258 crores for five years.

Package D, which is for all the combined games for the TV and digital space for overseas markets, has been sold to both Viacom18 and Times Internet at a price rate of INR 2.6 crores per game. The amount will rise up to INR 1,057 crores at the end of 2027. Viacom18 is for Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and United Kingdom, while Times Internet will telecast games in the Middle East and North America countries including the United States of America (USA).

A comparison with global numbers will now put IPL just behind NFL in per match value.

BCCI has also confirmed that the benefits accrued from IPL will be utilised for the growth of Indian cricket by helping age group and grassroots cricket to boost the future of cricketing talent in the country. It has also been confirmed by BCCI Secretary Jay Shah that IPL will have a two and a half month window from the next ICC cycle.

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