The much anticipated IPL media rights auction is underway. TV and digital in the Indian subcontinent for the cycle 2023-2027 were sold for Rs 107.5 crore (per game) to Viacom 18 during a two-day e-auction. The company has shelled out Rs 23,575 crore (Rs 57.5 crore/match) for the five year window, stretching from 2023 to 2027.
According to reports, Package A has been sold for Rs 23,575 crore (Rs 57.5 crore per game) while Package B has gone for Rs 20,500 crore (Rs 50 crore per game), but after a second round of bidding.
A total of seven companies were involved in the bidding in the online auction for the IPL media rights with Viacom18, Disney-Star, Sony, and Zee understood to be among the top bidders. This is the first time the rights are being e-auctioned since the inaugural IPL season in 2008.
“At present, a National Football League game costs a broadcaster about $17 million, which is the highest for any sports league. That’s followed by the English Premier League, at $11 million, and the Major League Baseball figure, too, is roughly the same. In the last five-year cycle, we got $9 million from one IPL game. This time, going by the present minimum base price that we have set, BCCI will get paid $12 million per IPL match. That’s a giant leap for Indian cricket on the world stage. We will be just behind NFL,” BCCI Secretary Jay Shah was quoted as saying in a pressing.
It is worth recollecting that Star India were the current holders of the IPL rights for 2017-22 cycle, with a winning bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore for both TV and digital in September 2017. Previously, Sony Pictures Network won the IPL TV media rights for a period of 10 years during the inception of the tournament with a bid of Rs 8,200 crore. It is for the first time in the league’s history, the digital and TV rights in the Indian subcontinent have been sold to two different companies.