The IPL media rights for the cycle between 2023-2027 is expected to grow in 3-4X range (25 pc growth due to more matches) to Rs 500-600bn, led by the sharpest growth in digital media, states a report by Elara Capital.
The report further states that Digital/TV will witness premiums of 100pc/40 pc over the current base. Based on these premiums, the share of digital might rise to 50 pc in IPL media rights.
“We anticipate 6 pc /35 pc revenue CAGR in FY23E-28E for TV/digital, respectively. This in turn should massively bolster India’s sports media rights market. And IPL’s share may grow to 74% from 54% currently, evincing its importance,” the report read.
A large-ticket property such as IPL is very important for any broadcaster so as to drive its digital strategy.To illustrate, one-third of Star’s revenue is IPL-led (TV+Digital), which reaffirms its importance.
“If Star wins IPL rights, this revenue contribution will increase to 40% as digital growth will accelerate. As per our estimates, 70% of Star India’s AVOD revenue is IPL-led, with SVOD revenue largely following suit too,” the report read.
The Indian sports industry surged in 2021 after a challenging period led by pandemic. Cricket was the frontrunner and overshot 2019 performance, even as emerging sports continued to struggle due to cancellations of franchise league.
In 2021, the Indian sports industry recorded a value of Rs 95.3bn, posting a 62% YoY growth. Numbers had dwindled due to the pandemic even when compared with 2019, with a growth of a mere 4.6%. The momentum revived in 2021 when brands started to increase their advertising expenses. Cricket was the frontrunner and Indian athletes’ success in Olympics 2020 scripted an emerging sports revival.
The Indian sports industry has been on an uptick since the launch of IPL as it opened a new commercialization innings. And Cricket emerged as the prime mover with most elbow grease for the industry, over the years.
2021 sports sponsorship spending (ground, team and franchise) rose by Rs 12.13 bn versus that last year, indicating that the lost momentum from 2020 has now been regained.
Cricket’s share in total sponsorship spends, pre-Covid in 2019, was 60 pc , which rose to 64 pc in 2020. In 2021, this rose to a significant 77 pc , a huge rise in just a year.
Football’s share was 13 pc – The sport has bolstered the sector recently, enabling brands to leverage this opportunity. The most popular team sport is seeing rising fandom levels in India, with many youngsters identifying with iconic clubs such as the Manchester Rivals, Liverpool, Barcelona et al., with global appeal.
