IPL Media Rights: Can the Indian Premier League become the world’s most expensive league?
The opening day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) TV and Digital rights auction on Sunday (June 12) saw an unprecedented jump in numbers as bids crossed Rs 43,000 crore on the first day. The per match value of IPL has already crossed Rs 100 crore per match and it is already costlier than English Premier League football.
At present, only America’s National Football League (NFL) is ahead of them. The per match value of an NFL game is $17 million or Rs 133 crore per match. Currently the bid for IPL matches is Rs 105 crore and India’s T20 league needs Rs 28 crore to surpass the NFL on day 2 and become the most expensive league in the world.
Recap of #TATAIPL 2022 in numbers pic.twitter.com/Vk5KFd9hVE
— Indian Premier League (@IPL) June 8, 2022
As per the latest information with ANI news agency, Package A is currently Rs 23,370 crores which is Rs 57 crores per match and Package B of Digital Rights for India is Rs 19,680 crores which is Rs 48 crores per match. Whose bid is yet to come but the price per match for TV, the digital rights value is over Rs 105 crore.
The first day of the e-auction ended and the value of media rights increased by two and a half times so far compared to what was paid by Star India in the year 2017. The process is divided into a total of four packages (A, B, C). and D). Package A is specific to TV (broadcast) for the Indian subcontinent while Package B is for digital grouping only for the same region. The winner will be able to broadcast the Games digitally across the Indian subcontinent.
There are four specific packages in which e-auction is being conducted or 74 games per season for a period of five years with a provision to increase the number of matches to 94 in the last two years. Package C is for 18 selected games in each season for the digital space. In Package D, all games will be for combined TV and digital rights for overseas markets.
All the bidders are bidding separately for each package. The total assets of the bidders for Package A should be Rs 1,000 crore, for the bidders for other packages it is Rs 500 crore. The country’s biggest media houses are struggling to earn the right to broadcast the world’s richest cricket league on their platforms. This year, global giants like Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), Reliance-Viacom18, Disney Star Network and Sony Network are in the fray to grab the rights for the event.
(with ANI inputs)