The Indian Premiere League (IPL) is one of the most popular sports leagues around the world, ranking fourth in the top 10 richest sports leagues in the world. Started in 2008, the league has grown from a sports tournament to a brand itself, thanks to the multiple revenue streams it has created during this period.
Television/broadcasting rights is one of the most important revenue streams that have contributed immensely to the league’s growth. The validity of IPL broadcasting rights, currently held by Star Network India, is set to expire this year. With the next season around the corner and two new teams participating in the league, the media rights auction is expected to be more competitive than ever.
But before diving deeper into the IPL 2022 media right auction, let us see how the broadcasting rights have influenced IPL over its 13-year history.
Broadcasting Rights Prices: A Soaring Graph
The broadcasting rights of the first IPL held in 2008 were owned by Sony Pictures Networks and World Sports Group under a 10-year contract. Initially, around 80 % of the revenue from the media rights was set to go to the franchisees, 8% to the prize money, and the remaining to the league’s other benefits.
However, the revenue share changed as IPL decided not to go public and list its shares in 2010. Sony’s broadcasting rights expired in 2017 and Star India acquired the global media rights under a five-year contract starting in 2018. Interestingly, the bidding amount was a whopping 158% more than that of the previous year. As Star’s deal expires this year, the bidding amount is expected to rise by multiple folds this time as well.
Who will grab the deal this time?
Amid a lot of speculations revolving around the media rights auction this year in 2022, Reliance Industries, Disney, and Amazon are being hailed as the frontrunners—while the earlier winners in Sony is also set to participate in the bidding war. Considering the increasing popularity of the league in the recent years and the addition of two new teams this time around, there is little to no doubt that we will see another record-breaking media rights auction this year as well!
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