IPL Media Rights Auction: First day records unprecedented numbers

The e-auction for the TV and digital media rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023-2027 cycle commenced on Sunday, June 12, and as per reports, bids from both television as well as digital platforms have breached the INR 42,000 crore mark. It has also been reported that the ongoing IPL media rights Auction has reached unprecedented numbers on the first day itself.

While the bidding war is getting intense, one of the high-profile live streaming platforms Amazon backed out from the media rights race. It is to be noted that the increase in the base price of the five-year media rights cycle was because of a notification issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which stated that the total number of games in the rights cycle will go up from 370 to 410.

Here’s how the first day of the IPL Media Rights Auction turned out

The bidding started at 11 am IST and ended at 6 pm. According to reports as quoted by Cricket.com, “the day ended with the TV rights standing at INR 57 crore per game and the digital rights reaching INR 48 crore.”

The broadcast rights closed at INR 105 crore per game at the end of day one. If that is multiplied by the total number of games in this five-year cycle, it is estimated that a whopping INR 43,050 has been spent in the auction by the BCCI.

Star Sports currently holds the TV broadcasting rights for IPL. Therefore, a steady jump in the estimated valuation is due to the reason that Star had spent a staggering INR 16347.50 crore for the broadcast rights during the previous cycle (2018-2022).

With the competition only getting stiffer, this all-important auction is set to go on until the bids of all four packages- A.B, C, and D are completely taken. Meanwhile, the media rights auction on day one saw participation from some reputed names in the Indian broadcast market including the likes of Disney Star, Sony, Zee, Viacom, etc.