The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set for a jackpot day as the broadcast rights of its cash cow, Indian Premier League (IPL) for the 2018-2022 cycle will be auctioned in Mumbai on Monday, September 4.
Also read: How BCCI is making the bidding process transparent
A total of 24 companies, including big names from the television and digital space, will be bidding for the rights. The IPL media rights auction is reportedly expected to yield to the BCCI an estimated earning of over Rs 20,000 crore.
Notably, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri had opined that the revenue generated from the media rights auction later today "could be historic", considering the interest shown the prospective bidders.
The growth of brand IPL
The IPL has become one of the most profitable ventures for all stakeholders in global sport. While an unprecedented number of 24 companies have purchased the bid document this year, in 2008 -- ahead of the inaugural edition -- only six companies were in the fray for 10-year rights cycle. Only television rights were considered then.
In 2009, Sony Pictures Network, which was formerly known as Multi Screen Media, bagged the television rights for Rs 8,200 crore. Star India's Hotstar entered the digital space only in 2015 as it bagged the online rights for Rs 302.2 crore for a three-year period between 2015 and 2017.
Live streaming and updates [Process starts from 9:30am IST]
The IPL media rights tender process will be live streamed on BCCI's official website.
Live updates will be available on the official Twitter handle of BCCI.
As many as seven rights will be open for bidding. For the Indian market, bids are divided into television and digital; then there will be separate bids for the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the rest of the world.
Race for television rights
While Sony Pictures Networks India and Star India are the frontrunners for the television rights, Discovery's D Sports, which recently bagged the rights for Pakistan vs World XI, will look to snatch the deal.
Notably, television broadcasting rights are going to receive the highest bid, according to reports. The TV rights for the upcoming cycle are reportedly expected to be sold for a whopping amount of $1.8bn.
Race for digital rights
While television rights will see the highest bid on Monday, there will be fierce competition for the digital rights as online sports coverage is considered as the next big thing.
Big names including Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Airtel Amazon Seller Service and India's Reliance Jio Digital are in the fray.
Hotstar, which streamed all the IPL matches live during the said three-year-period, saw its revenue doubled in 2017. It had earned Rs 120 crore for IPL 9 in 2016, according to Livemint.
The Star India-led digital platform will once again start as favourite as it offers coverage in multiple languages as well. With sports coverage in regional languages getting more traction, the BCCI would stress on the need for multilingual production.
