SUMMARY
Reliance-owned Viacom18 won the consolidated media rights for women’s version of the cricket tournament for 2023-27 seasons for INR 951 Cr
This would provide a boost to Reliance’s OTT plans as Viacom18 last year won the digital media rights for men’s IPL, while Disney Star managed to hold on to TV rights only
Viacom18 and Disney Star were the only two parties who participated in the auction for the media rights for women’s IPL
After bagging the digital media rights for men’s version of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a record-breaking INR 20,500 Cr, Reliance-owned Viacom18 has also won the consolidated media rights for women’s version of the cricket tournament for the 2023-27 season for INR 951 Cr.
In a statement about the media rights for the women’s IPL, the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), the apex body for all cricketing activities in India, said, “Pursuant to the bidding process, the BCCI is pleased to announce that Viacom18 Media Private Limited is the successful bidder for the consolidated bid for the media rights (i.e., Global Televisions Rights and Global Digital Rights).”
The Voot owner’s bid priced the women’s IPL at INR 7.09 Cr per match. For comparison, the men’s IPL saw a consolidated bid of INR 48,390 Cr for both digital and TV rights combined for the period xxx, which comes to per match cost of INR 114 Cr, 16X higher than the women’s version.
The per match value of INR 7.09 Cr was calculated based on assumption of 22 matches per season for the first three years, followed by 34 matches in each of the remaining two seasons, ESPNcricinfo reported.
The first three seasons are likely to have five teams, with BCCI likely to look at adding a sixth franchise in 2026.
In a tweet, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said, “After pay equity, today’s bidding for media rights for Women’s IPL marks another historic mandate. It’s a big and decisive step for empowerment of women’s cricket in India, which will ensure participation of women from all ages. A new dawn indeed!”
Argus Partners was BCCI’s legal counsel for the bidding process.
Notably, last year’s media rights auctions for men’s IPL saw the dominance of Disney Star come to end in the marquee tournament as it managed to win only the TV rights.
As per reports, Viacom18 and Disney Star were the only two parties who participated in the auction for the media rights for women’s IPL.
With the merger of JioCinema with Viacom18, speculation is rife that the upcoming IPL will be streamed on JioCinema, rather than Viacom18’s Voot. JioCinema’s streaming of the FIFA World Cup 2022 was largely seen as a test run of sorts before the start of the IPL season.
On the OTT front, Reliance has managed to secure multiple lucrative IPs, with the winning bid of IPL proving to be a decisive one in terms of medium-term growth in the conglomerate’s OTT business.
