IPL Media Rights Auction Live: Per-Match Valuation Surpasses The Rs 100-Crore Mark

The Indian Premier League’s (IPL) media rights auction saw fierce competition for the Indian subcontinent’s TV and digital rights, with the cash-rich league’s pre-match value exceeding Rs 100 crore.

With the auction already on its second day, the total value of the IPL media rights might easily surpass Rs 50,000 crore, making it one of the most valuable in terms of worldwide rights for any sport.

Package A And Package B Of IPL Media Rights Garner Upwards Of 42k Crores

Viacom18, Disney-Star, Sony, and Zee, four of the seven parties in the contest, were embroiled in a near seven-hour slugfest that ended in a tie, with Package A (India TV Rights) and Package B (India Digital Rights) garnering upwards of 42,000 crores (5.37 billion USD) and still no winner.

Because the battle for Packages A and B will continue on Monday, the final result may not be available until late Monday or Tuesday.

After that, the winner of Package B can compete for Package C, which has 18 non-exclusive digital rights games for Rs 16 crore per game, and then Package D (Overseas TV and Digital combined rights for Rs 3 crore per game) would be available for bidding.

“As of now after 5.30 pm, the bid for TV has gone up to Rs 57 crore per game from its base price of Rs 49 crore and India digital rights have seen an unbelievable growth from its Rs 33 crore to Rs 48 crore per game,” a senior BCCI functionary told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

“So from per game combined valuation of Rs 54.5 crore from the last five-year-cycle, it has already surpassed Rs 100 crore mark (Rs 105 crore plus). It is unbelievable. It will again start tomorrow.”

IPL Media Rights Expected To Go Past 50k Crore Mark

While it is unknown who of the four bidders was the most aggressive, the Viacom18-Uday Shankar combination is believed to be embroiled in a bidding war with existing rights holder Disney (Star).

“We were expecting fantastic digital bids and with the fight for group A and B still on, the magic figure of Rs 50,000 crore could well be touched.

For Package C and D, one can have a rough estimate that another Rs 5500 crore would be added if these first two packages stop at 45,000 crores,” another BCCI official, present in Mumbai, said.

Among the organization’s fat cats, probably the greatest name in the TV business, who knows IPL media rights bidding inside and out, said: “The BCCI will laugh its way to the bank but if the media rights value goes beyond Rs 50,000 crore, then it will have its own set of consequences for that kind of aggressive bidding.”

Market experts believe Zee would go all out for Package D because it already has a loyal foreign watching base thanks to its Zee TV serials and now its ZEE5 app.

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