IPL media rights sold for whopping $2.55B
mumbai — Star India will pay a staggering 163.48 billion rupees ($2.55 billion) for the television and digital rights of the Indian Premier League for the next five years, the country’s cricket board announced on Monday.
Sony, the only other bidder for the television rights of the world’s richest domestic Twenty20 competition, offered Rs110.5 billion but lost out to Star’s consolidated offer for the worldwide rights from 2018 to 2022. Bidders included Supersport, Facebook, Airtel, Bamtech and Jio. Of the 24 firms that bought the tender document, 14 made bids. —Reuters
Star India on Monday completed its virtual monopoly of cricket broadcast by winning the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights for a whopping $2.55 billion for the next five years.
The staggering deal, which will run from 2018 to 2022, has turned out to be a financial windfall for the BCCI despite the administrative crisis it is facing at the moment.
This deal makes IPL one of the richest sporting events in the world after NFL, NBA, MLB, the English Premier League and Champions League football. The testimony to IPL’s growth as the premier sporting property of the country is reflected by the fact that the previous 10-year bid for TV rights only was bought by Sony at $908 million in 2008. Now, the BCCI stands to earn nearly double that amount in half the duration (five years) with earnings of $510 million from IPL media rights per year.
The BCCI will now earn $8.5 million approximately from an IPL match compared to $6.7 million, ironically, for each international match that India play.
“India, cricket and IPL have changed dramatically since its inception (in 2008) and this bid is a reflection of that,” Star CEO Uday Shankar told reporters on Monday. The media rights include broadcast (TV) and digital (mobile and internet) for various segments namely India, Middle East, Africa, Europe and America.
It is expected that Star India’s digital vertical HotStar would be used for live streaming of IPL matches in India.
Shankar admitted that they might not have won the bid had the amount been slightly lesser.
“Even if it was slightly less, we would not have got the rights. In every category, it was so competitive,” Shankar added.
The BCCI has been embroiled in a pool of controversies having not implemented the Lodha Reforms and its current office-bearers are facing the wrath of the country’s apex court. But Shankar said that popularity of the game is such that watching cricket still is the favourite pastime of the Indians.
“Despite the off-field issues of BCCI, watching a cricket match in India remains an amazing experience,” Shankar said.
BCCI CEO Rahul Johri said: “Our main endeavour to the stakeholders was to provide a transparent process where there should not be any iota of doubt.”
In the morning, 14 out of the 24 companies that had bought the ITT (Invitation to Tender) document bid for various rights, turned up for the auction. Out of the 14 companies, BamTech was disqualified as they did not meet the requisite criteria. Sony and Star were the two companies which stood the test of scrutiny for India broadcast rights.
Some of the other companies that were in contention for India digital rights were Times Internet Limited, Jio, Airtel and Facebook.
The franchise-based competition began in 2008 with eight teams with owners including India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani and Bollywood actors.
Rupert Murdoch’s Star group also owns broadcast rights for 18 ICC global events to be held during an eight-year cycle from 2015 and India’s international matches at home.
India’s huge market is a major draw for sponsors and advertisers, who often plan product launches around major cricket tournaments and book advertising slots in advance.
$2.55B
Star India has paid BCCI for IPL media rights for five years
$908M
The previous deal signed by Sony in 2008 for a 10-year period
$6.7B
5-year TV rights deal by Sky for English Premier League
$8.5M
BCCI will earn per IPL match after this new deal
$6.7M
But BCCI makes only that much for every India match