 "Viacom18")
Viacom 18 has bagged the media rights, both digital and TV, to broadcast India's domestic matches as well as all the domestic tournaments hosted by BCCI for the next five years. They won the auction bid held on August 31, 2023. This has come as a shot in the arm for the Reliance-owned media outlet, which also has the digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Viacom 18, which also has the Fifa World Cup rights for India, was in a three-way fight alongside Sony Sports Network and Star Sports. Since Star already has the TV rights for ICC events and the IPL, Sony has been left to rue its missed chances.
Congratulations @viacom18 for winning the @BCCI Media Rights for both linear and digital for the next 5 years. India Cricket will continue to grow in both spaces as after @IPL, and @wplt20, we extend the partnership @BCCI Media Rights as well. Together we will continue to…
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) August 31, 2023
For the 88 matches to be played in the five-year cycle of 2023-2028, the board had set a base price of Rs 20 crore per match for TV rights and Rs 25 crore per match for digital. The combined base price is Rs 3,960 crore.
"Viacom 18 paid Rs 3101 crore (approximately) for digital and Rs 2862 crore for linear (TV). As has been the trend, digital has fetched more in Rs 5963 crore (approx) deal.
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"With IPL digital rights being bought by Viacom for Rs 26,000 crore plus, they now have almost all the high profile cricket properties save IPL linear (TV) and ICC events," a broadcasting industry source, tracking developments closely, told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The rights will come into effect with India's three-match home series against Australia beginning September 22 and end on March 31, 2028.
"Congratulations @viacom18 for winning the @BCCI Media Rights for both linear and digital for the next 5 years. India Cricket will continue to grow in both spaces as after @IPL and @wplt20, we extend the partnership @BCCI Media Rights as well," BCCI secretary Jay Shah said on 'X', formerly Twitter.
India will be playing 88 international games across three formats including 25 Tests, 27 ODIs and 36 T20Is with per match value of the deal standing around Rs 67.76 crore. This is nearly Rs 7.76 crore more than last cycle's Rs 60 crore per match value.
However, the BCCI is getting Rs 175 crore less than Rs 6138 crore it received during last cycle which had more games, specifically 102.
If one looks at the prevailing market sentiments , it is not a bad price to fetch as the per match valuation has increased. One needs to factor in that only marquee Test matches and series versus England and Australia will fetch a decent advertisement revenue. For matches against other nations, it is only the T20 which is the cash cow.
India will play Australia in 21 games and will be pitted against England in 18 matches across three formats during the next five years.
The BCCI fell way short of the billion dollar mark (at least by Rs 2300 crore) and one of the reasons for that could be the declining popularity of the ODI format and there are 27 of them in the next cycle.
"One day bilateral series save World Cup year should be done away with as it doesn't bring requisite revenues. With so many T20 leagues also happening around the world, the viewers' fatigue should also be taken into account," a broadcasting industry veteran said.
He also provided an interesting take on how the potential bidders do their mathematics and arrive at a particular figure.
"In case of 25 Tests, you have 15 Tests against England and Australia at home. The kind of pitches that is being prepared for Test matches in India, the broadcaster has literally no chance on most of the occasions to commercially exploit the fifth day unless there is a flat deck.
"At times games finish during first session of fourth day. Just calculate how many potential seconds of ad revenue you can lose," he explained.
What do Viacom already have in their roaster?
After winning the BCCI domestic rights bid for both the digital streaming and TV broadcast for the next five years, Viacom 18 has increased its sports roster.
Here are the following sporting events that will be available on Viacom 18 outlets of JioCinema and Sports18.
| Sporting Event | Rights for Digital | Rights for TV |
| Cricket | ||
| India home matches | Yes | Yes |
| Indian Premier League | Yes | No |
| Women's Premier League | Yes | Yes |
| South Africa home games | Yes | Yes |
| Road Safety World Series | Yes | Yes |
| T10 League | Yes | Yes |
| Football | ||
| Serie A | Yes | Yes |
| La Liga | Yes | Yes |
| Ligue 1 | Yes | Yes |
| Other Sports | ||
| NBA | Yes | Yes |
| Olympics 2024 | Yes | Yes |
| Diamond League | Yes | Yes |
India vs Australia during the 2023-28 cycle
2023
Three ODIs in September
Five T20Is in November
2027
Five-match Test series in January-March
Three ODIs in November-December
Five T20Is in November-December
India vs England during the 2023-28 cycle
2024
Five-match Test series January-March
2025
Three ODIs in January-February
Five T20Is in January-February
2028
Five-match Test series in January-February
With PTI inputs
With PTI inputs
