Disney Loses Streaming Rights for Indian Premier League Cricket to Rival Viacom18

The league’s governing body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is running a multiday online auction for media rights. Two of the four packages of rights on offer—one for Indian TV rights and the other for streaming rights—have concluded, and the combined final price for both packages was more than $5.5 billion, the BCCI said.

Both packages give the winning bidder the right to air IPL matches for the next five years. The BCCI declined to comment on who has won the auctions. The Times of India earlier reported Viacom18 had won the IPL streaming rights.

The last time IPL rights were auctioned was in 2017, when media conglomerate Star India, then majority-owned by 21st Century Fox, paid about $2.2 billion for both broadcast and streaming rights. As cricket has surged in popularity—especially the IPL, which features shorter, more TV-friendly matches than other competitions—the price of the rights has risen. Disney acquired broadcast and streaming rights in 2019 as part of its $72 billion deal for certain 21st Century Fox entertainment assets, including Star.

Disney bid on the broadcast rights as well, according to people familiar with the matter. As of Monday, it wasn’t known who had emerged as the winner.

Disney has set a goal of signing up between 230 million and 260 million global subscribers to its flagship Disney+ streaming service by the end of fiscal 2024. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Disney said that it has 50.1 million Indian Disney+ subscribers—around 36% of its total user base of 137.7 million—and that half of its quarterly subscriber growth came from India, where viewers signed up to watch the IPL’s two-month long season.

Some analysts say that without IPL matches on the platform, Disney+ could lose tens of millions of Indian subscribers, which could make it harder for the company to reach its subscriptions target. Disney chief executive

Bob Chapek,

however, said on a recent earnings call that the target was still achievable even without IPL, and that cricket wasn’t critical to reaching the goal.

Disney+ subscribers in India produce $0.76 a month on average in revenue, less than one-eighth the level of revenue they produce in North American markets. Disney has reported in financial filings that its Indian subscriptions are a drag on overall revenue for its streaming business.

Bidding for Indian Premier League rights had become highly competitive in recent months, with

Alphabet Inc.’s

YouTube unit,

Amazon.com Inc.,

and Sony Pictures Networks India in the mix at various moments, along with Disney and Viacom18, according to the BCCI. The board’s secretary,

Jay Shah,

had said it would accept a bid for the entire package of rights no less than $4.4 billion, or roughly twice the reserve bid when the rights were last auctioned in 2017.

Viacom18 said in April that it was joining with Bodhi Tree Systems, a joint venture between

Uday Shankar,

a former CEO of Star India who later served as Disney’s head of Asia operations, and Lupa Systems, a holding company controlled by

James Murdoch,

former CEO of 21st Century Fox and son of media baron

Rupert Murdoch

(Mr. Murdoch is executive chairman of

News Corp.

, owner of The Wall Street Journal). Bodhi Tree is backed by a $1.5 billion investment from the Qatar Investment Authority.

Paramount Global plans to launch its Paramount+ service in India next year, the company has said. IPL cricket matches wouldn’t be shown on the service, according to a person familiar with the matter. Instead, Viacom18 plans to stream cricket matches on a separate streaming platform that is bundled with Paramount+ to steer more viewers to Paramount’s library of movies and TV shows.

The BCCI plans to auction off two more packages of rights, including a limited package of fewer matches and some international rights.

The league’s governing body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is running a multiday online auction for media rights. Two of the four packages of rights on offer—one for Indian TV rights and the other for streaming rights—have concluded, and the combined final price for both packages was more than $5.5 billion, the BCCI said.

Both packages give the winning bidder the right to air IPL matches for the next five years. The BCCI declined to comment on who has won the auctions. The Times of India earlier reported Viacom18 had won the IPL streaming rights.

The last time IPL rights were auctioned was in 2017, when media conglomerate Star India, then majority-owned by 21st Century Fox, paid about $2.2 billion for both broadcast and streaming rights. As cricket has surged in popularity—especially the IPL, which features shorter, more TV-friendly matches than other competitions—the price of the rights has risen. Disney acquired broadcast and streaming rights in 2019 as part of its $72 billion deal for certain 21st Century Fox entertainment assets, including Star.

Disney bid on the broadcast rights as well, according to people familiar with the matter. As of Monday, it wasn’t known who had emerged as the winner.

Disney has set a goal of signing up between 230 million and 260 million global subscribers to its flagship Disney+ streaming service by the end of fiscal 2024. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Disney said that it has 50.1 million Indian Disney+ subscribers—around 36% of its total user base of 137.7 million—and that half of its quarterly subscriber growth came from India, where viewers signed up to watch the IPL’s two-month long season.

Some analysts say that without IPL matches on the platform, Disney+ could lose tens of millions of Indian subscribers, which could make it harder for the company to reach its subscriptions target. Disney chief executive

Bob Chapek,

however, said on a recent earnings call that the target was still achievable even without IPL, and that cricket wasn’t critical to reaching the goal.

Disney+ subscribers in India produce $0.76 a month on average in revenue, less than one-eighth the level of revenue they produce in North American markets. Disney has reported in financial filings that its Indian subscriptions are a drag on overall revenue for its streaming business.

Bidding for Indian Premier League rights had become highly competitive in recent months, with

Alphabet Inc.’s

YouTube unit,

Amazon.com Inc.,

and Sony Pictures Networks India in the mix at various moments, along with Disney and Viacom18, according to the BCCI. The board’s secretary,

Jay Shah,

had said it would accept a bid for the entire package of rights no less than $4.4 billion, or roughly twice the reserve bid when the rights were last auctioned in 2017.

Viacom18 said in April that it was joining with Bodhi Tree Systems, a joint venture between

Uday Shankar,

a former CEO of Star India who later served as Disney’s head of Asia operations, and Lupa Systems, a holding company controlled by

James Murdoch,

former CEO of 21st Century Fox and son of media baron

Rupert Murdoch

(Mr. Murdoch is executive chairman of

News Corp.

, owner of The Wall Street Journal). Bodhi Tree is backed by a $1.5 billion investment from the Qatar Investment Authority.

Paramount Global plans to launch its Paramount+ service in India next year, the company has said. IPL cricket matches wouldn’t be shown on the service, according to a person familiar with the matter. Instead, Viacom18 plans to stream cricket matches on a separate streaming platform that is bundled with Paramount+ to steer more viewers to Paramount’s library of movies and TV shows.

The BCCI plans to auction off two more packages of rights, including a limited package of fewer matches and some international rights.