The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly engaging global giants Amazon and Google parent Alphabet to bid for the media rights of bilateral series of the Indian cricket team. This comes amid a lackluster response from other companies, prompting the BCCI to seek interest from larger players.
Postponement of Media Rights Auction
The auction process for the media rights of bilateral tournaments for the next five years scheduled to begin, as advised by Ernst & Young, the BCCI’s adviser. However, the process has been postponed by at least two weeks. The BCCI is using this time to reach out to more companies in hopes of generating greater interest, as reported by Bloomberg.
Struggles of Media Companies in Revenue Generation
While the Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen a surge in viewership over the last two years, bilateral matches have not garnered the same level of interest. This highlights the challenges media companies face in generating revenue through advertisements, especially with declining interest in longer formats.
Expected Revenue and Bidding Participants
The BCCI aims to raise at least $750 million through the sale of media rights for 102 matches, which is comparable to the price fetched five years ago. Indian media-firm Viacom 18 anticipates to aggressively bid for the digital media rights, while Star India parent Disney may adopt a more cautious approach amid global cost-cutting measures.
Successful IPL Media Rights and Cricket Viewership Growth
In the previous cycle, BCCI earned INR 48,390 crore from IPL media rights. Viacom18’s JioCinema’s decision to stream IPL matches for free proved to be advantageous, generating higher revenue from digital streaming compared to its rival Disney Star. Despite tepid response for bilateral series media right, cricket viewership on television saw growth, with certain matches ranking among the most-watched test matches since 2018, according to BARC data.
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