Viacom18 bags IPL digital rights, Disney-Star winner of TV rights: Sources

The 2023-27 media cycle of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will have two broadcasters for digital and television. On Monday, the Day Two of the e-auction of the media rights for the high-profile T20 tournament saw bidding for the TV and digital mandates (package A and B) being completed, taking the total value to Rs 44,075 crore for 410 matches. The e-auction will continue on Tuesday for package C (18 non-exclusive digital matches) and package D (rest-of-world), for which bidding was underway on Monday.

Viacom18, it is reliably learnt, has picked up the digital rights for the 2023-27 IPL cycle, though the name of the TV rights winner is still unclear at the time of going to press. The names of Sony and Disney-Star were doing the rounds as final winners of the TV rights, though officials at the two firms declined comment when contacted.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet to make an official announcement in the matter.

The fight between Disney-Star, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) and the Reliance-backed Viacom 18 for the television rights was fierce on Sunday, said sources, taking the value of the TV rights to Rs 23,370 crore or Rs 57 crore per match.

On Monday, the auction for the TV rights wound up in an hour after bidding began in the morning, with an incremental bid put in at Rs 50 lakh only. This took the total value of the TV rights to Rs 23,575 crore or Rs 57.5 crore per match.

The digital rights, meanwhile, saw a re-bid exercise on Monday, after closing Sunday at Rs 48 crore per match or Rs 19,680 crore in terms of total value. At the end of the re-bid, the digital rights value had moved up to Rs 20,500 crore or Rs 50 crore per match.

Thanks to all the action on Monday, the per-match value at the IPL now stands at $13.78 million (Rs 107.5 crore), just behind America’s National Football League, which costs $17 million (Rs 132.6 crore) per match. The Premier League (English football league) has a per-match value of $11 million (Rs 85.8 crore).

The rights value of package C, said experts, is likely to touch Rs 1,900 crore, after bidding begins on Tuesday. On Monday. bidding for package C closed at Rs 1,700 crore, it is reliably learnt, implying that it was 18 per cent higher than the reserve price of Rs 1,440 crore set by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

For package D, which is the rights for the rest of the world, bidding may go up to Rs 1,600 crore, said experts, which will be around 44 per cent higher than the base price of Rs 1,110 crore.

In total, these remaining two packages, said analysts, would add around Rs 3,500 crore, taking the total media rights value to over Rs 47,000 crore.

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