IPL TV and digital Media rights sold for INR 44,075 crore

The two primary packages of the Indian Premier League e-auction for 2023-27 have stopped at a combined price of Rs 44,075 crore with Package A generating INR 57.5 crore for TV rights and a humungous Rs 48 cr for Digital rights alone. However, given the confidential nature of the e-auction, the names of the bidding parties are won the rights.

It is understood that there are two different winners for the Home TV and Home digital rights. The winner of Package A further challenged for Package B but eventually, the bid stopped at the original winners. Counting for 74 matches per season, the TV rights package for five years has come up to Rs 23,575 crore whereas the value for digital rights stands at Rs 20,500 crore. The hike in prices has put the IPL alongside NFL and English Premier League as far as per match value is concerned.

The much-anticipated e-auction had kick-started in Mumbai on June 12. Some of the broadcasting giants in the Indian market - Disney Star, Sony, Zee, and Viacom to name a few - contested Package A and B which cater to the TV rights and digital rights only and exclusively for the Indian subcontinent respectively. 

Two more packages with an exclusive round of games and global rights are yet to be sold. 

The jump in the valuation can be estimated by the fact that Star paid a sum of 16347.5 crore for the broadcasting rights in the 2018-22 cycle. It was the biggest broadcasting deal in cricket and it has multiplied by over 2.63 times. 

The result for these two packages will be followed by bids for Package C and D. Package C consists of digital rights for a special pool of matches, including the playoffs, for the Indian subcontinent only. Package D is further divided into two categories - combined Rest of the World or five individual regions - for both TV and digital rights.

Combining the four packages, what height the per-match broadcasting cost can reach is currently a test of our imagination. The auction will carry on until the bids for all four packages are exhausted. 

(The story is updated after the fresh round of updates from e-auction)