IPL, ICC, BCCI rights renewal: Will sports broadcasting see a shake-up in 2022?

2022 shall be a decisive 12 months for the sports activities broadcasting business as media rights for marquee properties just like the Indian Premier League (IPL), Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC), and presumably the Board of Management for Cricket in India (BCCI) will come up for renewal.

The IPL media rights would be the first to come back up for grabs adopted by ICC and BCCI rights. The present five-year rights cycle for IPL will culminate with the 2022 season of the match which is slated to be held within the April-Could window. The present eight-year ICC and six-year BCCI media rights cycle will conclude in 2023.

The sports activities broadcasting sector, which turned a Star-Sony duopoly in the previous few years, has additionally seen a slew of key developments in the previous few months. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Restricted (RIL)-promoted Viacom18 has ventured into sports activities broadcasting. The community has roped in veteran advert gross sales govt Anil Jayaraj because the CEO of its sports activities enterprise.

The opposite massive improvement within the business has been the merger deal between Zee Leisure and Sony Footage. By the way, Zee had exited the sports activities enterprise by promoting Ten Sports activities to Sony for $385 million. Nevertheless, Zee has now re-entered the sports activities broadcasting enterprise with the acquisition of media rights for the UAE T20 League.

As issues stand, Viacom18 backed by Reliance and the Zee-Sony mix will lock horns with Disney-owned sports activities broadcasting large Star Sports activities for the upcoming cricket rights. In 2022, the stakes are notably excessive for Disney because it owns the rights to all three properties. E-commerce large Amazon has additionally proven curiosity in sports activities with the acquisition of New Zealand Cricket rights. Amazon Prime Video may additionally make an aggressive bid for IPL, ICC, and BCCI rights.

Specialists consider that these properties is not going to simply resolve the way forward for sports activities broadcasting in India but additionally the media business as a complete. Disney-owned Star and Sony-Zee mix are the most important media and broadcasting firms within the nation. Other than broadcasting, the possession of IPL, ICC, and BCCI rights will even resolve the pecking order within the streaming business. Being the proprietor of all three properties, Disney+ Hotstar is the most important streaming platform within the nation when it comes to subscribers in addition to income.

Media veteran and Triplecom Media Founder-CEO Kunal Dasgupta believes that the sports activities broadcast business will revolve round IPL rights. He feels that the BCCI can rake in no less than Rs 40,000 crore from the sale of IPL media rights for the following five-year cycle from 2023-27. He famous that the file income generated by BCCI from the public sale of two new IPL groups has set the tone for the upcoming sale of media rights.

“All the pieces in sports activities broadcast will revolve round IPL rights. How a lot cash IPL takes up will resolve the place the remainder will go. Final time, IPL obtained Rs 16,000 crore for 5 years, and now that the variety of groups has elevated and the variety of matches goes up 1.5 instances, that Rs 16,000 crore now equals Rs 21,000 crore on the usual value. The bid for 2 new IPL groups, notably from the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, has gone past our expectations. The IPL media rights bid will cross Rs 40,000 crore which shall be nearly double of Rs 21,000 crore factoring within the enhance in matches,” Dasgupta elaborated.

He, nonetheless, pointed that whoever places in such an enormous bid will be unable to digest ICC and BCCI rights. In line with him, the IPL media rights will see aggressive bidding from all the important thing gamers whereas the ICC and BCCI rights will see fierce bidding from the gamers who lose out on IPL rights.

“Proper now, Star has the higher hand because it has IPL, BCCI, and ICC rights. That’s going to undergo a shake-up. Even when Disney wins IPL at Rs 40,000 crore, that’s greater than all of the rights collectively that they’ve. Disney might not have sufficient firepower to take different rights in the event that they get IPL. The IPL rights will set up a brand new benchmark. The way forward for sports activities broadcasting shall be determined within the subsequent couple of months. As soon as the IPL bid is determined, all the things else will double in worth as a result of others who’ve misplaced out on IPL will go hammer and tongs after BCCI and ICC rights. Disney can not double all three rights. For IPL, all the massive gamers will go all out which is able to result in a massacre,” he added.

Dasgupta additionally believes that the IPL would possibly develop into a loss-leader for the winner. It’s pertinent to notice that each Sony and Star have made cash on their investments in IPL. “Sony made an enormous revenue from IPL as a result of they obtained it at an inexpensive value. Star has nearly damaged even on IPL rights at the same time as they paid double of what Sony paid. IPL will develop into a loss for the following 5 years as recovering Rs 40,000 crore shall be a frightening activity. Over 5 years, the IPL winner must be able to lose no less than Rs 10,000 crore except somebody monetises it well notably on digital. There are such a lot of methods to monetise IPL on digital like NFT, cryptocurrency, and so on,” he acknowledged.

In line with a high official from a number one media firm, the extent of competitors will stay the identical regardless of the Zee-Sony merger and the entry of Viacom18. He feels that IPL would be the one property that can see most curiosity from all severe contenders. The official additionally mentioned that the acquisition of IPL rights at an enormous value is not going to be a deterrent for the winner to pursue different rights.

“For those who take a look at Star, they obtained BCCI rights after buying the IPL rights. Every property must earn a living by itself. I do not assume the acquisition of IPL rights at an enormous price shall be a restriction for any participant. Even when we settle for Rs 40,000 crore because the IPL rights worth, the winner must pay Rs 8,000 crore per 12 months. In that Rs 8,000 crore, you’ll make some income as nicely. All people, together with Amazon, could have cash to bid for all three rights,” he added.

The official additionally averred that the ICC and BCCI rights will see an enormous enhance in worth. “Take ICC rights as an example, the way in which they’re developing their occasions calendar, it isn’t very India- pleasant as a result of although you should have extra variety of video games, the proportion of India video games will go down. They’re going to maintain matches in locations just like the USA which isn’t an excellent factor from a time zone perspective. Even BCCI could have quite a lot of video games with weaker groups like Afghanistan and so on,” he mentioned.

In line with a number one sports activities media govt, the sports activities broadcasting market has historically been a three-player market barring a four-year interval when Zee walked out of sports activities by parcelling Ten Sports activities to Sony. The market will once more develop into a three-horse race because of Viacom18’s entry. The manager believes that heightened competitors in sports activities will solely profit the top-tier occasions like IPL, ICC, and BCCI.

“We’re used to a three-player market. It obtained transformed to a two-player market as a result of acquisition of Ten Sports activities by Sony. Now we’re once more taking a look at going again to a three-player market. That can result in escalation of rights worth. All three networks are giant and well-funded firms. There’s sufficient content material amongst IPL, ICC, BCCI, Cricket Australia, and England Cricket Board (ECB) rights to maintain three networks. In the end, it is also going to be a query of how a lot innovation goes to occur. Reliance-owned RISE Worldwide has Indian Tremendous League (ISL) whereas Star has Professional Kabaddi. With the worldwide sports activities properties, there is not sufficient strain on broadcasters to work on further provide,” he acknowledged.

The manager additionally identified that each different sports activities property besides IPL, ICC, and BCCI has seen a correction in media rights worth in the previous few years. Even England, Australia, and South Africa cricket boards have seen a pointy correction of their media rights worth. “Whereas the fee will go up for the first set of rights, it does not essentially imply that out of the blue all the things will see a value escalation. The strain is then on the creation of further provide which may very well be within the type of ISL and PKL type of issues. Lack of dependence on non-India cricket rights would possibly power broadcasters to put money into native Indian leagues. On the finish of the day, if any individual overpays for New Zealand or Eire rights, it isn’t going to result in a rise in viewership for these occasions. Viewership relies on fan demand and fan demand is there for the principle set of rights. The battle amongst key gamers shall be for marquee rights as a result of that is the place the distribution income will come from,” the manager contended.

The manager does not consider within the speculation that IPL shall be a loss-leader. He famous that the IPL advert income, simply from TV, was roughly Rs 3000 crore in 2021. That addition of extra matches from 2022 onwards will imply extra advert stock to promote. He feels that the IPL rights proprietor can earn Rs 19,000 crore over 5 years simply on the rise within the variety of matches with out factoring in any advert charge enhance. “At present, Star is making Rs 3000 crore on TV in advert gross sales. From this 12 months, the variety of matches will go up, so the stock will enhance by 25%. So Rs 3000 crore ought to mechanically go as much as Rs 3750 crore for TV. For 5 years, simply the TV advert income shall be Rs 19,000 crore with none value enhance. If the speed goes up 5-10%, the TV advert income shall be Rs 21,000 crore. Then you may have distribution income, and OTT income,” he acknowledged. Odisha Expo