The Indian Premier League’s media rights auction saw strong bidding for the Indian subcontinent’s TV and digital rights, with the cash-rich league valuing over Rs 100 crore per match.
With the bidding on the second day, the cumulative valuation of media rights could well approach Rs 50,000 crore, which would be the biggest in terms of global rights in any sport.
Four of the seven players in the fray, Viacom18, Disney-Star, Sony and Zee, were involved in an almost seven-hour slugfest, marking the cumulative upward move of Package A (India TV Rights) and Package B (India Digital Rights). was inconclusive. 42,000 crore (about USD 5.37 billion) and still counting.
The final result may not come late on Monday or Tuesday as the battle for packages A and B will continue on Monday as well.
Once this is over, the winner of Package B can challenge for Package C, which has 18 non-exclusive digital rights games for Rs 16 crore per game and later Package D (foreign TV and digital combined rights). 3 crore per game). to bid.
“Till now after 5.30 pm, the bidding for TV has gone up from its base price of Rs 49 crores to Rs 57 crores per game and India The digital rights have seen an incredible growth from its Rs 33 crore to Rs 48 crore per game,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
“So from a combined valuation of Rs 54.5 crore per game from the last five-year cycle, it has already crossed Rs 100 crore (over Rs 105 crore). this is incredible. Will start again tomorrow.”
While it is not known which of the four bidders was the most aggressive, it is expected that the Viacom18-Uday Shankar consortium is locked in an intense bidding war with the current rights holder Disney (Star).
“We were expecting great digital bids and the battle for Group A and B is still on, the magic figure of Rs 50,000 crore may well be touched. For packages C and D, one can estimate that if these first two packages stop at Rs 45,000 crore, then another Rs 5500 crore will be added,” said another BCCI official present in Mumbai.
One of the biggest names in the TV industry among the bigwigs of the company, who knows? IPL Media Rights bidding like the back of its hand said: “BCCI will make the bank laugh, but if the Media Rights value exceeds Rs 50,000 crore, it will have its own consequences for that kind of aggressive bidding.”
Market watchers are saying that Zee may be working hard for Package D as it already has an overseas dedicated audience base with its Zee TV serials and now has its own ZEE5 app as well.
“With Rs 3 crore as base price, Zee can raise its game in that category,” said the source.
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