JOIN USExplained: The battle for IPL media rights
Disney, Sony and India's Reliance will vie on Sunday for media rights to Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's richest cricket league, expected to fetch up to Rs 48,600 crore.
The much-anticipated duel between Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani for the acquisition of one of the world's costliest sporting properties won't materialise now, however, as Amazon pulled out the bidding on Friday.
Bezos-funded Amazon was expected to be one of the biggest bidders in digital space but pulled out of the race without revealing the reason.
"Yes, Amazon is out of the race. They didn't join the technical bidding process today. As far as Google (YouTube) is concerned, they had picked up the bid document but didn't submit it. As of now, 10 companies (TV and streaming) are in fray," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The IPL, counting top Indian industrialists and Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh Khan among its franchise owners, is often seen as a surefire ticket to high TV ratings and growth in India's booming online streaming space.
Essential details about the auction
There are four specific packages in which e-auction will be conducted for 74 games per season for a five-year period from 2023 to 2027 with a provision of increasing the number of matches to 94 in the final two years.
Package A has Indian sub-continent exclusive TV (broadcast) rights while Package B covers digital rights for Indian sub-continent.
Package C is for 18 selected games in each season for digital space while Package D (all games) will be for combined TV and digital rights for overseas markets.
All bidders will have to make separate bids for each package this time.
What is the base price of the auction?
In the 2017 media rights auction, Star India bought rights for both TV and digital with a composite bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore. but this time the composite base price is more than Rs 32,000 crore and could climb past Rs 45,000 crore.
Who are the contenders for the auction?
With Amazon out of the picture, Reliance Industries Limited-owned Viacom18 is considered to be one of the strongest contenders both in TV and digital space. Apart from Reliance, Sony's India unit and Zee Entertainment, which are in talks for a merger, will bid separately in the auction.
Some of the other contenders for digital rights are Times Internet, FunAsia, Dream11, and FanCode, while Sky Sports (UK) and Supersport (South Africa) will be vying for overseas TV and digital rights.
"Viacom 18 will probably be the most aggressive of the three main players, because this builds into their long-term plans, including upping valuation for a possible Jio IPO in the future," Reuters reported, citing a source with knowledge of the company's plans.
Can one entity make a composite bid like Star did in 2017?
No. Unlike in 2017, every package will be awarded to highest bidder. For example, Facebook had presented highest digital bid for Rs 3,900 crore in 2017 but Star grabbed the rights with a huge composite bid despite lower digital bid.
Any of the entities participating in the bid, however, can acquire multiple packages - and in the case of a tie on any of the packages, a tie-breaker will be held to determine who wins the package in question.
Why is the BCCI confident about this auction?
IPL media rights are among the most valuable sports media rights alongside the National Football League (NFL) at over $100 billion, Major League Baseball (MLB) at over $12 billion and English Premier League (EPL) at $3.9 billion.
Among cricket media rights, the IPL already eclipses the ICC's media rights, which is currently valued at $1.9 billion.
According to a BCCI official, the IPL is "unrivalled", a fact that Chennai Super Kings CEO agreed with. “This year, maybe, was an aberration in the sense that you still didn’t have home and away games. This was a reason for a dip in viewership. But if you look at the competitive cricket that is played in the IPL, everybody knows that this is the best T20 league in the world. And that probably is the reason why its media rights are so much in demand,” Viswanathan told The Indian Express.
But while the digital and television rights for 2023 to 2027 are expected to more than double the Rs 16,348 crore that Star India, now owned by Walt Disney Co, paid in 2017 for the rights through this year, some observers say caution may be setting in.
"There is also a global shift toward saner valuations, where investor expectations have shifted from ‘growth-at-any-cost’ to ‘growth-with-profitability’," said Mihir Shah, vice president of consultants Media Partners Asia.
(With agency inputs)