IPL TV media rights sold for INR 57.5 crore per match, TV-Digital fetch cumulative price of INR 44,075 crore

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) adopted a new bidding process this year for selling the media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the five-year cycle from 2023 to 2027. After intense bidding, the television rights have been sold for a whopping sum of INR 57.5 crore (per match) and the digital rights for a number of INR 50 crore (per match).

The winner for the TV rights (Package A) has been bagged by Disney-Star, while the winner for the digital rights (Package B) is Viacom 18. The second-day overall bidding value is set to reach a stunning INR 50,000 crore mark as the action will now move to Package C and D. As per the new bidding rules, the winner of the TV rights have the right to challenge the highest bid for the digital rights and in the case of different bidders, there could be a rebid.

Among the seven big firms that came to the bidding process, Viacom18, Disney-Star, Sony and Zee were involved in an intense seven-hour bidding session for Package A (India TV Rights) and Package B (India Digital Rights), cumulatively moving up more than INR 44,075 crore.

As per an ESPNcricinfo report, “Based on 74 matches per season, the TV rights package for five years is worth INR 21,275 cr ($2.72 billion approx.). Combined with the digital rights, INR 17,760 crore ($2.27 billion approx.), the overall number of INR 39,035 crore ($5 billion approx.) is 2.39 times or 139% higher than the worth of the IPL rights in the previous cycle for INR 16,347.5 cr ($2.55 billion approx. at the time).”

Meanwhile, the e-auction got underway on June 12 (Sunday) at 11 AM and it took place in four separate buckets (A, B, C, and D). A for Television rights in India, B for Digital rights in India, C for Non-Exclusive set of 18 matches for digital (India) and D for the Rest of the World. The base price for each package started from Package A – Rs. 49 crore per match, Package B – Rs. 33 crore per match, Package C – Rs 16 crore per match and Package D – Rs. 3 crore per match.

With the number of games increased in the IPL, there has been a significant increase in revenue for the BCCI and media rights are among the major sources of income for the board.

TV final bid: INR 57.5 crore per game and total INR 23,575 crore

Digital final bid: INR 50 crore per game and total INR 20,500 crore