Women’s IPL media rights: A good start but a lot of ground to cover

New Delhi: Even as BCCI secretary Jay Shah is being hailed for his relentless efforts to bring pay parity between women and men cricketers, there is still a huge gap to cover considering the outcome of the women’s IPL media rights.

After Viacom18 won the women’s IPL media rights for Rs 951 crore for next 5 years (2023-27), which is Rs 7.09 crore per match, Shah wrote: “After pay equity, today's bidding for media rights for Women's IPL marks another historic mandate. It's a big and decisive step for the empowerment of women's cricket in India, which will ensure the participation of women from all ages. A new dawn indeed!”

Launched in 2008, men’s IPL today is India’s hottest-selling property and the media rights for 2023-27 fetched Rs 107.5 crore per match for BCCI.

Disney Star India had bagged television rights for Rs 23,575 crore, at the rate of Rs 57.5 crore per game. On the other hand, Reliance-backed broadcast network led by top media executive Uday Shankar had in June 2022 bagged the digital rights for Rs 20,500 crore at the rate of Rs 50 crore per game.

Given that men’s IPL has built its value over the last 15 seasons, one can certainly not compare the winning bid amounts of men’s and women’s IPL as they stand today.

However, a parallel can be drawn between the launch of two tournaments – men’s IPL in 2008 and women’s IPL in 2023.

When Sony acquired the inaugural men’s IPL in 2008, it paid about Rs 15 crore per game, which increased to Rs 55 crore between 2018-22 and Rs 107.5 crore between 2023-27.

15 years later when the broadcast and digital landscape has immensely evolved, Rs 7 crore per game for women’s IPL has a lot to cover compared with Rs 15 crore per game for men’s IPL in 2008.

From the bidder's point of view, the bid amount is directly proportional to the potential any tournament brings to the broadcasters.

From an advertiser’s perspective, the interest and response from the audience and the buzz created around the tournament would decide the ad rates.

A top media agency head told NewsDrum.in that the advertising rate for women’s IPL on television is expected to be in the range of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000 per 10 seconds for the first season.

“The day the advertising rates touch Rs 2 lakh per 10 seconds, Viacom18 will break even. It is too early to estimate the reach and audience interest,” the agency head added.

While Viacom18 will not leave any stone unturned in making the women’s IPL big, the broadcaster will have a tough task at hand considering the smaller window of the tournament.

For women’s IPL, initially, there will be five teams (franchise) and there will be 22 matches per season across the first three years. The number of games will increase to 34 matches beginning in 2026 when BCCI will look at adding a sixth franchise basis the tournament’s performance.

The women’s IPL is expected to take place from March 5 to 23 in Mumbai. The five franchises will be announced on January 25.

Women’s IPL will also get just one-third of men’s IPL window of 60 days, giving very little time to build it up.

Not being a multi-city tournament may impact its growth rate in comparison to the men’s IPL.

After winning digital rights for men’s IPL, this is the second big sports property acquired by Viacom18 - which is bullish on making its sports offerings big.

Disney Star India recently won the ICC media rights. It kept digital rights to itself and gave away the television rights to Zee Entertainment.

Disney Star India is the current rights holder of BCCI media rights which it bagged for Rs 6138.1 crore, 62% above the last deal which was Rs 3851 crore.

BCCI media rights for 2024-28 will come up for grabs later this year which will be crucial for all three big players. It is expected that the bidding for BCCI rights will be as intense as it was for men’s IPL.