Viacom18 dethrones Disney-Star to become India’s No 1 sports destination

Disney-Star is no longer the favourite sports destination of Indians. Sports18 and JioCinema is the new King of sports broadcasting in India. With Viacom18 bagging BCCI Media Rights for Rs 5963 Cr, it now has all premier sports properties. JioCinema already holds the Indian Premier League (IPL Digital Rights) besides FIFA World Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, NBA, La Liga and Summer Olympics among others.

On Thursday, in the e-auction held in Mumbai, Viacom18 pipped Disney-Star and Sony Sports to bag the BCCI Media Rights. Viacom18 secured TV rights for India’s home matches for Rs 2,862 Cr and digital rights for Rs 3,101 Cr for five years. Disney-Star secured the rights in 2018 for Rs 6138.1 Cr.

Also Reads: Viacom18 seals both TV & digital rights in BCCI media rights auction

With that, Disney-backed Star Sports now have lost momentum in India. Even though it holds IPL TV rights besides ICC Media Rights, the absence of premier sports content throughout the year on its OTT platform makes lose the No 1 spot.

Innovation behind BCCI Media Rights:

What works in Viacom18’s favour is the price which it will pay for BCCI Media rights. Viacom18 will shell out Rs 67.8 Cr per match for 88 games in the next five years. Disney-Star paid Rs 61.38 Cr per game back in 2018. That is only an increase of just Rs 6.32 Cr per game. Viacom18 will begin its journey with India vs Australia ODI series in September.

However, more than financial muscle, it is Viacom18’s innovation that stands out. It became the first platform to offer 4K live streaming of sports matches in India. Furthermore, with multiple camera angles and live commentary in 11 languages, JioCinema managed to woo viewers. The broadcaster also managed to rope in some of the top broadcasters as well as commentators and experts for all disciplines. Despite offering all of that, it still made it free for all, capturing the market.

While JioCinema did suffer server lag and frequent crashes initially during IPL, it rectified those issues later on to offer viewers a smooth experience.

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