IPL Live Broadcasting

Broadcasting for any sporting event might be a financial affair for some but for many i.e the viewers, it is a delight. Broadcasting plays an important role in the success of an event. Broadcasting should be such that it is made assessable to most people. The Indian Premier League is one of the most viewed sporting events in the world and this sole reason makes it very lucrative for broadcasters to bid heavy for the media and broadcasting rights. We saw the importance of broadcasting more than ever in 2020, where no fans were allowed in the stadium and fans could only watch matches from the comfort of their homes. 

Broadcasting Business

The broadcasting business is fairly simple. Media agencies all around the world fight to win the rights, after evaluating factors such as viewership, country of origin, and popularity of the league, bid an amount. The highest bidder wins the rights for a certain number of years. This is the money outflow for the media agencies. Now, the media agencies after winning the rights look for brands who would like to advertise during the tournament hours. The ads which you see in between the overs are some of the example of revenue generated for the broadcasters. Many companies would then fight to win the best time for advertising. Advertising for brands during match hours is of great benefit, as most people would be hooked to televisions during that time and will come across the advertisements. Broadcasters revenue is usually greater than that of their expense of buying the rights. This is what makes the broadcasting business a monetary affair.

IPL Broadcasting History

When the IPL first started in 2008, SONY ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK won the broadcasting rights for the IPL. At that time, it was a gamble for SONY as they had no idea how popular the IPL would get. In 2008, SONY signed a contract for 10 years, from 2008 – 2017, at a staggering amount of 8200 crores, which totals to 820 crores a season. Which at that time was a huge sum of money. 

Current Broadcaster

After a successful tenure of the 2008-2017 IPL broadcasting, SONY failed to retain the rights. STAR NETWORK, which now is one of the biggest broadcasting agencies in India, won the rights for the duration of 5 years, commencing 2018 and ending 2022. The amount at which STAR bought these rights were, 16,374 crore, 3,249 crores, approx. three times of what SONY paid. The reason for such hike was the increase in viewership and popularity of the tournament which lead to higher advertising revenues for the broadcasting companies, and now with things moving digital, STAR network who also owns the Disney+ Hotstar, have started to broadcast on their platform. The revenue from DISNEY+ Hotstar is an icing on the cake as the OTT platform as still has a lot of potential because of the availability of cheap internet in India. DISNEY+ HOTSTAR, apart from its advertising revenue also earns from subscriptions as customers have to subscribe to watch the IPL matches. 

Broadcasting All Over the World

The popularity of IPL is such that the broadcasting is not just limited to India but also to most cricket fanatic nations such as Australia, England, Bangladesh and etc. The IPL is broadcasted in 120 countries, making it one of the most successful sporting events after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics.

  • Fox Sports bought the rights from STAR India to broadcast the IPL in Australia and New Zealand, Kayo Sports app, an OTT platform of FOX sports will also broadcast the league. 
  • Fans in England can watch the IPL on SKY Sports
  • Fans in the USA and Canada can enjoy the IPL in Willow TV
  • Fans in South Africa can enjoy the IPL on SuperSport
  • Fans in the Middle East and North Africa can watch the IPL on BeIN sports
  • YuppTv an OTT platform, won the rights to broadcast the IPL in South East Asia, Europe, and South America.

You can analyze the madness for IPL with this information. 

The IPL 2021, is around the corner and a decision for the venue hasn’t been taken till date. This will make the broadcasting all the more interesting and even if the IPL is to be held in India, crowd wont be expected with full capacity in the grounds. All these leads to higher viewership and that is reason why STAR is demanding higher prices from the broadcasters. 

Disney+ Hotstar has projected that the platform reach for IPL 2021 will be around 260-280 million

– The streaming platform is project 50-60% higher watch time.

– The last edition of the tournament which was played in the United Arab Emirates had a reach of 260 million and a 33% higher watch time per user compared to IPL 2019.

In 2020 alone, over 300 brands advertised on Disney+ Hotstar, collecting just the advertising revenue of 300 crores even thought the tournament was played behind closed doors.