Disney has lost its bid to acquire streaming rights to what has emerged as one of the world's most coveted live sports packages, the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
Viacom18, a Mumbai-based joint venture between Paramount Global and Reliance Industries' TV18, won the five-year IPL streaming package with a $3 billion bid. Disney, however, will retain broadcast rights, paying a reported $3 billion.
In all, IPL will collect $6.2 billion for TV rights to 410 matches that are played in April and May.
Updated: This story has been updated to include new, higher figures for the IPL rights deals.
Viacom18 and Disney also beat out Amazon and Sony for the rights packages.
Also read: Disney’s Wish For Star India Success Swings on Cricket Deal
The 14-year-old IPL plays a special form of cricket, and has grown to be hugely popular in India. The league added two more teams last year, paying $800 million each to join the bonanza. Disney inherited the cricket rights when it bought Star India as part of its $71 billion acquisition of much of Fox in 2019, and since has incorporated Star into Disney Plus in India.
In terms of profitability, owning streaming for the IPL isn't the same thing as, say, owning NBA rights in the U.S.
Monthly ARPU (average revenue per user) is just 76 cents in India. Compare that to the rest of the planet: those subs fetch an ARPU of $6.35. Disney has acknowledged in multiple earnings reports that the India sector has been a drag on streaming revenue, and it could get a lot worse.
Also read: Netflix Sees Green Shoots in India
But with Star India controlling more than 46 million subscribers in the region, Disney has dominance in a coveted, unsaturated market with 1.38 billion customers. That figure dwarfs the presence of rivals like Netflix, which is investing big money to expand its Asian-Pacific region presence.
