IPL brand value nearly doubles to $8.4 bn in a year, auction begins today

The brand value of the Indian Premier League (IPL) almost doubled in 2022, a new report by Brand Finance released on Thursday said. The IPL brand value, according to the international brand valuation firm, touched $8.4 billion in 2022 versus $4.7 billion reported in 2021.

This was led by the addition of two new teams and the auction of media rights for the 2023-27 media cycle in June, Ajimon Francis, managing director, Brand Finance India, said.

Friday will see the IPL player auctions for the 2023 edition kick off in Kochi. A total of 405 players, including 273 from the country, will be in contention. The total purse available for the auctions on Friday among 10 teams is Rs 206.5 crore.

“The media rights in June sold for a whopping $6.2 billion (Rs 48,390 crore). Second, the auction of two new franchise teams (Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants) raised close to Rs 12,500 crore ($1.5 billion), which further raised the profile, contributing to the brand value growth in 2022,” Francis said.

A sense of how the IPL has evolved since the launch in 2008 can be gauged from this: The brand value of the sporting property touched $2 billion in a year (2009). And from 2009 to 2022, the IPL brand value has jumped 318 per cent, according to Brand Finance. 

What is interesting to note is that the combined television and digital rights for the 2023-27 cycle surpassed the previous rights value (of Rs 16,347.50 crore for the 2018-22 cycle) by two-and-a-half times. The new media rights auction also helped the IPL emerge as the second-most valued sporting league after the National Football League in terms of per-match value, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had said.

While the addition of two new franchises has added a new dimension to the IPL’s competitiveness, Ajimon said Mumbai Indians continued to be the most-valuable team at $83 million, followed by Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings at $76.8 million and $73.6 million, respectively, in terms of brand value.

In terms of brand strength, Royal Challengers Bangalore was the strongest in 2022, growing 34 per cent year-on-year to touch $68 million in terms of brand value. Mumbai Indians, while growing modestly at 4 per cent over last year, retained its position among IPL’s strongest brands in terms of brand value. And Gujarat Titans, which debuted in the 2022 edition, also made a mark in terms of brand value at $47.4 million, thanks to its on-field performance during the 2022 edition, which saw it walking home with the winner’s trophy.