The Indian Premier League‘s (IPL) super hit media rights auction has made the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) significantly wealthier by helping it earn INR 48,390.5 crore in three days. Disney Star, Viacom18 and Times Internet emerged victorious in acquiring the media rights for the next cycle.
Rights were sold in 4 packages: Package A (TV rights in the Indian subcontinent), Package B (digital rights in the Indian subcontinent), Package C (digital rights in India to a special package of elevated games spanning between 18 and 22 per season) and Package D (global media rights across five separate regions).
Let’s go into detail about each category.
Package A:
Disney Star retained the Indian subcontinental television rights for INR 23,575 crore. Per match, Disney Star will be paying INR 57.5 crore for the next five years.
Package B:
The Reliance-backed Viacom18 paid INR 20,500 crore for the Indian subcontinental digital rights to all matches. Each match will be worth INR 50 crore.
Package C:
Another INR 3257.52 crore was committed by Viacom18 for a non-exclusive package of elevated games (ranging between 18 and 22 matches).
Package D:
Viacom18 and Times Internet split the overseas TV and digital rights for INR 1,057 crore. Viacom18 was awarded the territories of Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, while Times Internet was awarded the sectors of MENA and the United States.
The marquee Indian cricket league is now second only to the National Football League (NFL) in terms of per match value. The total agreement for the 2023-27 cycle is 2.96 times (or 196 per cent) higher than the previous IPL rights deal (2018-22) of INR 16,347.5 crore (approximately US$ 2.55 billion at the time).
The previous five-year cycle included 60 matches per season. The IPL has now classified a differing amount of matches per season for the upcoming cycle, which tends to range from 74 games in the 2023 and 2024 seasons each, 84 matches in the 2025 and 2026 seasons each, and a maximum of 94 matches in the final year of the agreement in 2027.