Viacom18 winners as BCCI's bilateral rights grow at 13%

After acquiring IPL's digital rights, Viacom puts in a winning bid of ₹5,963 crore for bilateral cricket for the next five years

- Rasesh Mandani

GLASS HALF FULL?

No one wanted to break the bank for bilateral cricket. It is worth noting that the current value falls well short of the ₹78.9 crore Disney Star paid for bilateral cricket in 2023 (the final of the year of the deal) – it was a back-heavy five-year deal – reiterating, that the space isn’t growing.

While the escalation in value may be modest – BCCI received a premium of 40 % in the last cycle – Indian board officials would want to look at the developments with a glass half-full perspective.

The IPL, packaged in a dedicated two-month window featuring world’s best cricketers in the popular T20 format, has well and truly established itself as the premier revenue-generating competition for the game’s richest board. The market response to Indian bilateral cricket, in fact suggests they remain relevant.