The stature of the Indian Premier League (IPL) continues to grow by every passing year. While it is going to be beneficial for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and in turn Indian Cricket, even broadcasters are ready to leverage every possible opportunity which comes with the tournament getting bigger and better every passing year.
In a bid to achieve just that, an Inside Sport report suggests that Viacom 18, who have the current live streaming rights of the tournament, will introduce a feed of the competition in the Bhojpuri language. Notably, this will be the first year that IPL will go ahead with a separate digital streaming and broadcast media partner. While Star Sports Network will continue to have the broadcast rights, Viacom 18 outbid Star for the digital streaming rights and it is the latter who now plan to offer feed in 11 languages.
“They (Viacom 18) are playing on reach and mass. They claim to reach 500+ million subscribers and no match is behind any paywall. They want to connect with newer advertisers who have always aspired to be associated with IPL but did not have the means. Also, the legacy brands will nevertheless continue their association,” a senior media planner told e4M as quoted by Inside Sport.
IPL 2023 Digital Streaming Rights Bought For 20,500 Crore
It is pertinent to note that that the IPL digital rights for the 2023-27 cycle for the Indian subcontinent were bought for a massive sum of Rs 20,500 crore which implies their cost per match comes to around 50 crore. This suggest that it would be difficult for the media giants to recover their cost, if they do not plan to increase their reach.
IPL 2023 is set to be live streamed on the Jio Cinema App and Website for free. The tournament will commence either in late March or early April and culminate in May.