The BCCI’s response to the outcome of the Indian Premier League’s third media rights — a record revenue of Rs. 48,390.32 crore – in US dollar terms, 6.2 billion — for the 2023-27 period has touched upon augmenting the fan experience at the IPL venues. More money needs to be deployed to improve the facilities in the stadia across the country . The BCCI and IPL officials have noted the primacy of the cricket fan.
Then, the ten franchises will get high returns from the media rights’ revenue, from the Tata IPL-16 season, roughly estimated to be around Rs 400 crore. The BCCI had earmarked a sum of 200 crore in 2008, to be equally disbursed to the members. The IPL share to its members increased with additional media rights income coming in 2018. So the members would look to a quantum increase in their share from the latest media rights revenue.
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What must also happen now with a show of urgency is the introduction of player contract at the State /Member level. The BCCI must impress upon its members to give priority to this particular aspect. The Ranji Trophy players who are the backbone of the BCCI’s domestic cricket structure need this incentive.
These are good times for the BCCI, its members, the IPL and its stakeholders. From a Rs. 93 lakh red in the mid 1990s, the BCCI has looked at the media rights revenue stream to improve its finances.
And the first major breakthrough was achieved when it chose the public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati (Doordarshan) – as against private broadcasters; because it believed that placing the faith on the public broadcaster was a safer option. The sum was Rs.230 crore for the 1999-2003 period.
From the turn of the new millennium, the BCCI’s balance sheet has looked healthy, which enhanced its clout in the world of cricket. The ongoing media rights contract — for the home bilateral series – with Star India is Rs. 6,138.1 crore ($944m in 2018).
IPL Media Rights 2023-27: Viacom18’s Big Digital Play
While it took a decade and more for the BCCI to make its position strong through Test and ODI series — the IPL story has always been about glitz, glamour and megabucks. The Pom waving cheers leaders may be missing these days in the most popular Twenty20 league on the planet, but a tournament that has created quite a few Rockefellers has not lost the magic with money. At the recent e-auction for a number of media rights — related to television, digital and territory wise — the result surpassed all expectations with the digital streaming rights stealing a march over the cable television rights.
The successful bidders were Disney Star (Star India), Viacom18 and Times Internet. The significant outcome of the e-auction is the Reliance Industries owned Viacom18 winning the digital rights (exclusive for India and in the non-exclusive category for UK, South Africa and Australia) at a cost of Rs. 23,758 crore as against a sum of Rs. 23,575 crore for television rights by Star India. The Times Internet will pay the BCCI Rs. 1,057 crore-plus for winning the non-exclusive category digital streaming rights in the USA and Middle East and North Africa countries. These are fantastic numbers that reflect the enthusiasm and confidence of the winning bidders to raise money from the growth story companies and cricket fans (subscribers).
The first IPL media rights winning sum – Rs. 82,00 crore plus for the first ten years (2008 to 2017) — did not evoke any major reaction from the cricket fraternity or media industry; unlike the cost incurred by the eight initial franchises to own teams. The second media rights — for television and digital — for the five-year cycle (2018 to 2022) fetched the BCCI Rs. 16,347.50 crore ($ 2.55 billion). This sum caused excitement, but the then CEO of Star India did not believe it was an outrageous sum for the IPL.
After the popular ball by ball radio commentary era, television was the main medium through which the cricket fan enjoyed India’s bilateral series cricket and IPL. But technology which has advanced by leaps and bounds has brought about a dramatic shift in the way a real fan enjoyed watching cricket — and that was on his smart phone and laptop.
The first indications of cricket consumption through streaming was evident when Facebook, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio bid for Rs. 3,000 crore plus for the digital rights. Facebook actually bid for Rs. 3,900 crore for the 2018-2022 IPL cycle. Five years later Viacom18 won the digital rights for six times over Facebook’s high bid in 2017.
In the most recent media rights auction, Disney Star was keen and eager to get the emotional connect with the IPL through the television screen. Rebecca Campbell, Chairman, International Content and Operations, The Walt Disney Company said: “We made disciplined bids with a focus on long-term value. We chose not to proceed with the digital rights given the price required to secure that package. IPL is an important component of our portfolio of television channels in India, providing an incredible opportunity for us to showcase The Walt Disney Company’s powerful global brands and iconic storytelling, as well as Disney Star’s impressive collection of local original content, to millions of viewers in India.”
The bids were made for 74 matches and each match will cost the bidders, collectively, a little over Rs. 118 crore. There is a possibility of the number of matches increased to 84 in the fourth year and 94 in the fifth of the future five-year cycle.
The Twenty20 form of cricket did not initially find takers in the BCCI, but none other than Sunil Gavaskar cautioned it from ignoring it at its own peril. Subsequently, Lalit Modi took the lead and founded the league that has grown into a proportion of a behemoth that it is today.
The creator of the IPL has been far removed from the scene of action, but he has the right to gloat over its success. “It was recession time and Lalit got together the eight franchises and got Sony and WSG on board for the media rights,” said Prof. Ratnakar Shetty, the CAO of the BCCI when the league was founded and Brendon McCullum gave it a roaring start.
The third round of the IPL media rights in 15 years has given hints of how the ICC and BCCI media rights will pan out and the digital streaming will have its say.
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