IPL Media Rights Auction Day 1: Know all insane numbers, contenders, current situation, expected result

On expected lines, day 1 of the IPL media rights auction saw the per match value cross the Rs 100 crore mark, total bids reached Rs 43,000 crore and the overall value was up by Rs 10,000 crore against the base price. 

Don’t be surprised if the cumulative valuation reaches the monstrous 50,000 crore mark on day 2 – and if it happens – IPL will be one of the biggest n terms of global rights across any sport

What Happened?

The four major players – Viacom18, Disney, Sony and Zee were involved in a battle that had no result at the end of the day. But yes, the seven-hour slugfest ensured that the TV (Package A) and Digital Rights (Package B) in total reached an amount upwards of Rs 42,000 crore.  

If this keeps on going, don’t expect the results to be till Tuesday morning or late on Monday. 

What’s next?

Once it is over, the winner of package B can challenge for Package C which has 18 non-exclusive digital rights games for Rs 16 crore per game and subsequently Package D (Overseas TV and Digital combined rights at Rs 3 crore per game) will come up for bidding.

“As of now after 5.30 pm, the bid for TV has gone up to Rs 57 crore per game from its base price of Rs 49 crore and India digital rights have seen an unbelievable growth from its Rs 33 crore to Rs 48 crore per game,” a senior BCCI functionary told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

“So from per game combined valuation of Rs 54.5 crore from the last five-year-cycle, it has already surpassed Rs 100 crore mark (Rs 105 crore plus). It is unbelievable. It will again start tomorrow.”

While it is not known which part was the most aggressive amongst the four bidders, it is expected that the Viacom18-Uday Shankar consortium is locked in an intense bidding war with current rights holder Disney (Star).

“We were expecting fantastic digital bids and with the fight for group A and B still on, the magic figure of Rs 50,000 crore could well be touched. For Package C and D, one can have a rough estimate that another Rs 5500 crore would be added if these first two packages stop at 45,000 crore,” another BCCI official, present in Mumbai, said.

Among the company bigwigs, one of the biggest names in the TV industry, who knows IPL media rights bidding like the back of his hand, said: “The BCCI will laugh its way to the bank but if the media rights value goes beyond Rs 50,000 crore, then it will have its own set of consequences for that kind of aggressive bidding.”

Will Zee go hard for Package D?

The market watchers are saying that Zee could come hard for Package D as it has already got an overseas dedicated viewership base with its Zee TV serials and now they also have their ZEE5 app.

“With Rs 3 crore as base price, Zee could up their game in that category,” the source added. 

(Quotes from PTI)