BCCI’s new IPL media rights deal to up revenue by 255 pc; how do EPL, NFL compare?
The much-coveted media rights for the next five seasons of the cash-rich Indian Premier League was bagged by Star India for Rs 16,347.50 crore on Monday. Star India is owned by Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
In the process of acquiring the broadcasting rights across regions and platforms (TV and online), Star pipped previous holders Sony Pictures, with a consolidated bid that was higher than the sum of all the individual bids across seven categories.
Summary - @starindia wins @Vivo_India #IPLMediaRights Invitation to Tender for INR 16,347.50 Crore (US $2.55 billion) pic.twitter.com/WSKyYh9xeF
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) September 5, 2017
Other bidders who were part of the auction were social media giants Facebook and Twitter, telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio.
Sony and Facebook were incidentally the highest bidders for TV and online rights respectively. Sony held the rights for the first decade of the Indian sporting extravaganza for Rs 8,200 crore. This means on an average, Rs 820 crore for each season.
While the TV deal was struck in 2008, Star India-owned Hotstar won the digital rights for three seasons at Rs 303 crore in 2015, which means Rs 101 crore for every season.
Given that the first seven seasons of the IPL did not have separate rights for online telecast, here’s a look at how BCCI’s earnings will increase with the new media contract.
In the 2017 season of IPL, the BCCI made Rs 921 crore from media rights, while the next season starting from 2018 will see it making Rs 3,270 crore, which is more than three times the previous figure.
That’s a staggering 255% increase from one season to the next and is astronomical when compared to the lucrative global broadcasting rights for the English Premier League.
In 2016, when the EPL re-negotiated its lucrative broadcasting rights for 2016-19, the increase was only 50% when compared to the 250%+ hike witnessed in the instance of IPL.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the only major sporting event which has seen a spike close to that of IPL in this regard. In 2014, when the NBA re-entered a new TV deal with ESPN and Turner, it sealed a 180% increase in television rights revenue when compared to the previous deal.
The National Football League managed only a 60% increase when their global broadcasting package was renewed for the next 10 seasons in 2011.