IPL Is Back On The Block

IPL’s fast-paced format is not only very popular and entertaining, it also means big bucks for all stakeholders. As its telecast rights come up for renewal, no wonder there is such a scramble

- Noor Fathima Warsia

AS THE CURTAINS fall over the Indian Premier League (IPL) season and the reverberating cheers for Virat Kohli’s scintillating 40-ball centuries die away, another cricket match with much higher stakes is about to begin.

The IPL has changed the way cricket is enjoyed in the country. With each season, the hailstorm of sixes has increased. As people across the country have whooped and got hooked to this strange form of T20 cricket, brands like Vodafone, DLF and Flipkart have blared out their jingles from TV sets deriving a marketing penetration they could otherwise not be dreamt of. Over the last nine years of its existence, the IPL has become one big circus — entertainment for the masses; a chance for players from home and abroad to earn glory and money; a platform par excellence for advertisers, and a great source of revenue and eyeballs for broadcaster Sony Pictures Network that beams the action into homes and on-street corners.

It is therefore no surprise that the most powerful media CEOs are now putting together their best and brightest to win the broadcast rights for this super property — an opportunity that comes along only once in a decade. As much as 10 per cent of the media and entertainment’s industry’s Rs 55,000 crore of ad revenue is raised from sports programming, of which IPL comprises a huge share. And with the telecast rights of the IPL back on the block, the battle is expected to be the media war of the decade.

IPL, the sixth largest valued sports league globally, generated an estimated Rs 2,650 crore in economic output in 2015, according to KPMG. For media businesses, the stakes are far higher. Mainline channels have shied away from launching shows, filmmakers have avoided big ticket releases, and as much of television scheduling and sports content as possible, has been done to work with IPL schedules.