Mukesh Ambani, Disney Star are paying 11x more than Sony did during the first ten years of IPL

• IPL’s per-match value stands at $13.5 million (approx. ₹105 crore), making it the world’s $4 most valuable sporting property after the National Football League, which is valued at $17 million.
• With IPL’s value jumping considerably, it’s the broadcasters who will have to shell out more money than ever before.
• Here’s how much Disney-Star and Sony have paid for IPL over the years, and what Mukesh Ambani's Viacom18 will shell out for the next cycle.

Mukesh Ambani and Disney Star have made the Board Control of Cricket India (BCCI) richer by ₹44,075 crore, but that is only a part of the story. The IPL, with an average streaming viewership of 600 million people, has exploded in value, making it the second most valuable sports league in the world.

The ongoing auction has also made IPL one of the $4 in the sporting world as its value has tripled over the previous five-year cycle. BCCI will earn a whopping ₹107.5 crore per match only from Indian TV and digital rights over the next five years.

The base price for TV and Digital rights for 410 games was ₹33,620 crore. After the first round of auction for two bundles, the TV and digital rights have grown by 31% or ₹10,455 crore on the base price. It saw media giants like Disney-Star, Mukesh Ambani's Viacom18 and Sony Corp vying for these media rights.

But how much has the IPL grown in value since its inception? More than five times!

2018 vs 2022: How much broadcasters paid for IPL

IPL was launched in 2008, a year after the Indian cricket team won the first-ever T20I world cup in 2007. Over the next decade, the IPL would go on to revolutionise cricket, and further cement BCCI’s position as the leader of world cricket.

Nothing shows how much IPL has grown than this – BCCI is now making the same amount of money every year from IPL rights as it did in the first ten years.


Essentially, the value of IPL jumped four times in the 2018-23 cycle when Disney Star acquired the broadcasting rights, when compared to the first ten years when Sony held the rights.

Now, Mukesh Ambani and Disney Star have together paid nearly 11 times more money than Sony paid per year to broadcast IPL.

IPL auction has now entered into the third day of intense bidding war. After winning digital rights, Viacom is putting its best foot forward to grab package C as well, which includes non-exclusive digital rights.

If Ambani’s Viacom lets go of package C, its rivals will be allowed to air 18 matches for free.