Star India has pipped Sony Pictures Network to acquire the IPL media rights; including both TV and digital rights for a period of five years (2018-2022); with a whopping global bid of INR 16,347.50 crores (USD 2.55 billion).
A total of 24 companies had bought the tender document but only 14 eventually bid at the event in Mumbai. The bids were for seven categories: television in India, digital in India, and rights for the USA, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the rest of the world. For the five international markets, the bids included both television and digital rights. Star won them all by making one consolidated global bid (INR 16,347.5 crore) – the only bidder to do so – that was larger than the sum of all the highest bids for each category (INR 15,819.51 crore).
The Breakdown of the bid by Star Sports
Here are the final figures for IPL Media Rights for the period from 2018-2022. #IPLMediaRights pic.twitter.com/2y1m0X4701
a IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) 4 September 2017
Star’s winning bid is a 158% increase in the media rights value for IPL broadcasting from the previous cycle. In 2009, Sony had bought television rights for $1.63 billion for nine years from World Sports Group; which had bagged the rights for $918 million from the BCCI for a ten-year period. That cycle came to an end in 2017. Star were the previous holders of digital rights in India as well, having paid INR 303 crore for a three-year digital rights deal (2015-17).
Star and Sony Pictures Network India were the only two eligible bidders for IPL rights to the Indian television market; after the bids were technically evaluated on Monday.
“We believe that the IPL is a very powerful property, and we believe there is lots more value that can be created for fans of cricket and viewers through IPL on digital as well as on TV,” Uday Shankar, chairman of Star India, said. “And we would remain very committed to make sure that the growth of sports in this country continues to be driven by the power of cricket.”
The difference between Star’s global bid and the total of the highest bid in each category was only INR 528.5 crore (3.34 % more).
“Finally, whoever puts in that money, they put in that money because they believe in the fans of the sport. The universe of cricket fans, it tells you, continues to very healthy, continues to grow. What was paid in 2008, that was 2008. India and cricket and IPL – all three have changed dramatically in the last 10 years. It is a reflection of that.”
Earlier Vivo also renewed their deal to be title sponsors, as they increased their bid by almost 500% to be part of IPL for the coming years.
