Three of the country’s top media companies – Disney-Star, Sony Pictures Networks India and Viacom18 – have qualified to participate in the e-auction for bilateral cricket media rights scheduled for Thursday (August 31), sources told FE. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) invited tenders for these rights for the 2023-27 media cycle in the first week of August.
At a base price of Rs 45 crore for each match, the media rights are valued at close to Rs 4,000 crore. This includes the base price for television rights at Rs 20 crore per match and the base price for digital rights at Rs 25 crore per match. Participants will bid for a total of 88 matches which includes 25 Test, 27 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 36 T20 international matches.
Google and Amazon, who were previously contacted by the BCCI, appear to have not expressed interest in the e-auction. While Zee Entertainment is in the process of merging with Sony for which it recently received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal, informed sources said.
BCCI expects to get at least Rs 60 crore per match from the e-auction on Thursday, which is 33% higher than the overall base price set by the cricket body. If achieved, this would be equal to the per-match value of the winning bidder (Star) in the previous cycle (2018-23), when the broadcaster forked out Rs 6,138.10 crore for the bilateral cricket rights. However, some experts see a correction in value, in part because of waning interest in bilateral cricket.
“The consolidation in the media market has led to a lower number of bidders for the bilateral cricket rights for the 2023-27 media cycle. That is one part. The second aspect is that advertisers in general are conserving their resources for the upcoming ODI Cricket World Cup, which will attract significant viewer interest. It will also coincide with the festive season,” says Sajal Gupta, chief executive officer at Gurugram-based Kiaos Marketing, a media and marketing consultancy.
While the IPL auction last year saw the BCCI cumulatively earning nearly three times that of what it had in the previous cycle (Rs 48,390 crore for 2023-27 versus Rs 16,348 crore in 2018-22), this was done in anticipation of viewer and advertiser interest in the T20 tournament. Bilateral cricket, say experts, may not attract that kind of attention at all, say experts, despite BCCI pitching more T20 matches versus ODIs and test matches in the 88-match package.
There are also fewer matches in the 2023-27 cycle (88) than in the previous cycle of 2018-23 (102), pointing to the changing times as far as bilateral cricket goes, say experts. Disney Star had paid Rs 6,138.10 crore at the rate of Rs 60.1 crore per match in 2018-23. This was one-and-a-half times the value of the previous cycle (2012-18), when it had paid Rs 3,851 crore to secure the rights.
Reliance-backed Viacom18 is tipped to be the favourite in the race this time round, since it is looking to consolidate most of the cricket media rights under its fold, according to sector experts, after picking up the digital media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year for Rs 23,758 crore.
Disney-Star and Sony, on the other hand, are likely to bid cautiously, according to industry sources. While Disney is weighing strategic options for its India business, Sony is said to be a conservative bidder. The three companies were not immediately available for comment.