Last Updated on 2 years by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: Who won the 2023-27 IPL media rights & how much is it worth? | IPL media rights value for 2023-27 in excess of US$5 billion

The 2023-27 Indian Premier League (IPL) TV and digital media rights have been sold for a whopping US$6.2 billion, a huge jump from the US$2.55 billion forked out by Star India in the 2018-22 cycle.

There were four packages in total for the new cycle:

• Package A: TV rights for India subcontinent
• Package B: Digital rights for India subcontinent
• Package C: Digital rights for India subcontinent for a special bouquet of matches
• Package D: Rest of the world

There will be two separate broadcasters in the 2023-27 cycle for the subcontinent, while there will be a third for the rest of the world coverage. Disney-Star won the TV rights (Package A) for US$2.7 billion over the five years, and Viacom18 won the digital (Package B) for US$2.37 billion over the same period. Viacom18 also picked up Package C and Times Internet landed Package D.

Andy Kaplan, a former head of Sony’s India media business and US-based media expert said that while the BCCI has maximised value, it will have to work hard to manage two broadcasters.

“Splitting the rights clearly helped the BCCI maximize value. However, the trend around the world is for one broadcaster to control all rights to give the consumer the most flexibility and user experience. It’s ultimately not good for the consumer which has to take on two subscriptions to maximize utility,” he said.

IPL media rights cross US$6 billion for the 2023-27 cycle

IPL 2022 represented a shift towards a bigger IPL, with ten teams competing across 70 league matches plus four finals matches. The 2023-27 cycle now has a total of 370 matches (74 per season), with a whopping US$15.11 million per match in broadcasting fees, making the IPL the second-most valuable sporting competition in the world after the National Football League (NFL).

Package A went for US$7.36 million per match, which was 17.3% higher than the base price of INR 49 crore ($6.3 million approx.) set by the IPL. However, it was in the digital space, i.e. Package B, where the big jump was, with the US$6.41 million per match figure a massive 51.5% higher than the base price of INR 33 crore ($4.2 million approx.).

It was all guns blazing on day one of the media rights E-Auction on Sunday, 12 June. The combined TV and digital rights touched US$13.44 million per match, with Packages A and B confirmed the following day.

In total, the four packages went for a whopping INR 48,390 crore (approx. US$6.2 billion).

IPL now second only to the NFL in broadcasting value

In a clear picture of the IPL’s exponential growth, the league is now second only to the NFL in terms of per match broadcasting fees. According to Forbes, each NFL match is worth approximately US$17 million based on the 10-year rights deal signed in 2022. The IPL is next on US$15.11 million, ahead of the English Premier League and Major Baseball League (both approx. US$11 million).

Sandeep Goyal, chief of advertising firm Rediffusion, predicted that there would be big competition for the IPL rights.

“For media companies, sports rights are always considered to be the engine while everything else is like bogies of the train,” said Goyal before the e-Auction. “The ascendancy of the media companies and groups is in many ways dictated by whether they have the IPL rights. For instance, for the years that Star India had the rights, they outdistanced all competitors by many more miles. Similar was the case with Sony.”

“For media companies, sports rights are always considered to be the engine while everything else is like bogies of the train”

Sandeep Goyal

The IPL’s growth in numbers since its inception

Ahead of the first season of IPL in 2008, the BCCI sold all eight franchises for a total of approximately Rs 2900 crore (approx. US$387 million). Also, the first media rights deal was ten years in length totalling US$1.1 billion. This then more-than-doubled to US$2.55 billion for a five-year cycle between 2018 and 2022 as the value and popularity of the IPL skyrocketed.

Now, it’s doubled again to US$5.1 billion and who knows where the competition will be by the time the next cycle comes around. One thing is for certain, the media companies will be hoping for great return on such a big but potentially very worthwhile investment.