IPL Media Rights 2023-27: STAR wins TV Rights for INR 23,575 Cr; Viacom wins Digital Rights for INR 20,500 Cr

The blockbuster e-auction for the IPL media rights went on for hours on Sunday, June 12, and carried through on Monday, with the highest bids for TV and digital being determined.

By CX Staff Writer Updated: Jun 13, 2022, 19:50 IST

Image Courtesy: IPL Twitter?width=963&height=541&resizemode=4

Disney Star, Sony, Viacom-Reliance, Zee, Fun Asia, Super Sport and Times Internet had stood as the final seven bidders.

The IPL Media rights for the 2023-27 cycle were sold on Monday, with Viacom winning the digital rights for INR 20,500 crores and Star winning the TV rights for INR 23, 575 crores for a set of 370 matches during the cycle. That means there are going to be two different partners for TV and Digital in the Indian market, with the total value per game going up to a whopping INR 107.5 Crores per match.

The system comprised four pack offerings - packages A, B, C and D. Package A stood for the TV rights for the Indian subcontinent, while Package B deals with the digital rights in the same region.

The Package C, which was initially for the 18 non-exclusive games of an IPL edition between 2023 and 27 for the Indian subcontinent, was later announced to be limited to the India region.

Package D contains the world rights for TV and digital.

So at close of play on day 1, the #IPLMediaRights stand at about 5.7 billion dollars (43k crores). This is for 5 years but only for the Indian market. The fact that digital rights have contributed approx 46% to this tells you where sports watching is headed.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) June 12, 2022

The highest bid in Package A stood at INR 57.5 Crore per game on Monday, and the company with this bid challenged the one bidding INR 48 Crore per game for Package B (digital).

The combined value for the two packages stands at INR 44,075 Crore, with the final counts for A and B ending at INR 23,575 Crore and INR 20,500 Crore respectively.

SONY stood in contention to bag the Television rights alongside Star, while Viacom-Reliance pipped Hotstar among others on the digital front.

Disney Star, Sony, Viacom-Reliance, Zee, Fun Asia, Super Sport and Times Internet had stood as the final seven bidders on Sunday, with Amazon, the global e-commerce giant, having already pulled out of the race the day earlier.

Viacom-Reliance have also secured the rest of the world rights, which includes the Australia and Europe territories.

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Unsurprisingly, the media rights for the leading Global T20 League generated soaring numbers, having crossed the INR 100 Crores per match mark on Day 1 itself.

Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI President, remarked how the tournament has evolved and gained popularity over the years, making it one of the top competitions in world sport.

"I've seen the game evolve, where players like me earned a few hundreds and now have the potential of earning crores. This game is run by the fans, by the people of this country, and by the BCCI, which was formed by cricket fans. This sport is strong and will continue to evolve. The IPL generates more revenue than the English Premier League. It makes me feel happy and proud that the sport I love has evolved to become so strong," Ganguly had said during his interaction at the India Leadership Council Event.