MUMBAI: The BCCI, looking to sell media rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) on television and the internet over the next five years, concluded a mock auction for potential bidders on Monday. The cricket board carried this out over the period of four days to get the bidding players accustomed to the e-auction process, a relatively new concept for many.
The e-auction is scheduled to begin coming Sunday, June 12, and conclude over the next 24 to 48 hours depending on how aggressive the bidding process gets. Meanwhile, the BCCI is giving itself a pat on the back for taking this decision to avoid calling for a closed bid and go for an e-auction.
“The transparency of the bidding process is most crucial here. In this day and age, given the expected value of rights, approaching an exercise of this magnitude by calling for closed bids just doesn’t work,” BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal, who has been among the leading office-bearers overseeing the tender process, told TOI.
In 2017, when the BCCI had last sold the IPL media rights, the process was completed via a closed bid. Coincidentally though, the preceding months to that auction process saw former member of the Rajya Sabha, Subramanian Swamy, filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court, asking that any rights of such high value cannot be called for via a closed bid.
The apex court, however, had left the matter for the BCCI to decide and five years later, even though the cricket board was under no obligation whatsoever to call for an e-auction, it did so to keep the process as transparent as possible.
“In 2017, we saw an intense bidding process but remember, the difference between what Star (now Disney) bid and a combination of individual bids that came in was absolutely negligible. That was a great eye-opener. Who knows, had there been an e-auction, the other participants would have upped the stakes. Probably, for all you know, the entire package would’ve been sold in excess of Rs 17,000 crore or more, had there been an e-auction,” says Dhumal.
Benefit of hindsight has allowed the BCCI to go ahead with the e-auction this time.
In the fray are a dozen potential participants who have picked up the tender document. While the industry is speculating that this could end up becoming a battle between the ‘Big Five’ – Viacom-led JV, Disney-Hotstar, Sony, Zee, Amazon – there’s no saying about why the process may not see a surprise contender throwing the hat in the ring.
For those who tracked developments in 2017, Facebook’s eye-popping Rs 3900 crore bid did come from out of the blue.
“With the kind of tech advances we’ve seen over the last five years, we do expect the digital space to be keenly contested. It is a constantly evolving space that can throw quite a bit of surprise. And then again, in a country like ours, television is not disappearing anywhere in a hurry. So, the traditional media houses will be itching to bag the linear package given the reach and last-mile connectivity it has,” says Dhumal.
To refresh the minds of those who were tracking these developments, the BCCI is offering to sell the rights through an e-auction across four buckets – A) television in India, B) digital in India, C) a non-exclusive set of 18 matches on digital in India, D) rest of the world. The base price per match for package A is set at Rs 49 cr per match, B at Rs 33 cr per match, C at Rs 16 cr, and D at Rs 3 cr.
Industry executives tracking this space say BCCI’s bucketing of these rights has been “excellent” and does not allow any single party to walk away with the whole set without losing some sweat and top dollar.
“My personal view is any party that goes for Package B will also try and go for Package C if the exclusivity bit is factored in. And that’s where this auction gains impetus. Whichever way, one thing is for certain: The BCCI can expect optimum value from the process given the way it has been designed. The packages ensure that no single party will hold sway over the others,” says Dhumal.
Apropos of the strategies that bidders come up with, the one common and agreeable factor here is nothing sells like cricket in India and therefore, for multi-billion dollar media conglomerates looking to drive their content strategy over the next five years, buying of any or all cricket this year will be among the most clear ways of eyeing engagement.
“The global OTT game is changing fast and there are potential bidders who will look to once again use cricket as the primary catalyst to build their numbers. That’s the changing landscape I was talking about. Five years ago, when Facebook bid close to Rs 4,000 crore for digital rights alone, it came as an eye-opener to the industry. Bidders will have their own perspectives and business models to build on. So, it’s difficult to say who’ll come in with what kind of strategy,” Dhumal adds.
The e-auction is scheduled to begin coming Sunday, June 12, and conclude over the next 24 to 48 hours depending on how aggressive the bidding process gets. Meanwhile, the BCCI is giving itself a pat on the back for taking this decision to avoid calling for a closed bid and go for an e-auction.
“The transparency of the bidding process is most crucial here. In this day and age, given the expected value of rights, approaching an exercise of this magnitude by calling for closed bids just doesn’t work,” BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal, who has been among the leading office-bearers overseeing the tender process, told TOI.
In 2017, when the BCCI had last sold the IPL media rights, the process was completed via a closed bid. Coincidentally though, the preceding months to that auction process saw former member of the Rajya Sabha, Subramanian Swamy, filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court, asking that any rights of such high value cannot be called for via a closed bid.
The apex court, however, had left the matter for the BCCI to decide and five years later, even though the cricket board was under no obligation whatsoever to call for an e-auction, it did so to keep the process as transparent as possible.
“In 2017, we saw an intense bidding process but remember, the difference between what Star (now Disney) bid and a combination of individual bids that came in was absolutely negligible. That was a great eye-opener. Who knows, had there been an e-auction, the other participants would have upped the stakes. Probably, for all you know, the entire package would’ve been sold in excess of Rs 17,000 crore or more, had there been an e-auction,” says Dhumal.
Benefit of hindsight has allowed the BCCI to go ahead with the e-auction this time.
In the fray are a dozen potential participants who have picked up the tender document. While the industry is speculating that this could end up becoming a battle between the ‘Big Five’ – Viacom-led JV, Disney-Hotstar, Sony, Zee, Amazon – there’s no saying about why the process may not see a surprise contender throwing the hat in the ring.
For those who tracked developments in 2017, Facebook’s eye-popping Rs 3900 crore bid did come from out of the blue.
“With the kind of tech advances we’ve seen over the last five years, we do expect the digital space to be keenly contested. It is a constantly evolving space that can throw quite a bit of surprise. And then again, in a country like ours, television is not disappearing anywhere in a hurry. So, the traditional media houses will be itching to bag the linear package given the reach and last-mile connectivity it has,” says Dhumal.
To refresh the minds of those who were tracking these developments, the BCCI is offering to sell the rights through an e-auction across four buckets – A) television in India, B) digital in India, C) a non-exclusive set of 18 matches on digital in India, D) rest of the world. The base price per match for package A is set at Rs 49 cr per match, B at Rs 33 cr per match, C at Rs 16 cr, and D at Rs 3 cr.
Industry executives tracking this space say BCCI’s bucketing of these rights has been “excellent” and does not allow any single party to walk away with the whole set without losing some sweat and top dollar.
“My personal view is any party that goes for Package B will also try and go for Package C if the exclusivity bit is factored in. And that’s where this auction gains impetus. Whichever way, one thing is for certain: The BCCI can expect optimum value from the process given the way it has been designed. The packages ensure that no single party will hold sway over the others,” says Dhumal.
Apropos of the strategies that bidders come up with, the one common and agreeable factor here is nothing sells like cricket in India and therefore, for multi-billion dollar media conglomerates looking to drive their content strategy over the next five years, buying of any or all cricket this year will be among the most clear ways of eyeing engagement.
“The global OTT game is changing fast and there are potential bidders who will look to once again use cricket as the primary catalyst to build their numbers. That’s the changing landscape I was talking about. Five years ago, when Facebook bid close to Rs 4,000 crore for digital rights alone, it came as an eye-opener to the industry. Bidders will have their own perspectives and business models to build on. So, it’s difficult to say who’ll come in with what kind of strategy,” Dhumal adds.
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