IPL 2023: The broadcast wars
The biggest factor to watch out for is how much growth in viewership will have an impact on the value of bilateral rights of the BCCI which will be out in the market soon enough
Something outlandish is often said about data - you torture it and it will confess to murder. Since the IPL started late last month there has been bombardment of data all-round from the key players of the league - Viacom 18 and Disney Star - on the digital and television viewership. One would be wondering what these numbers actually are -- 2.5 crore downloads in a day, 550 crore unique video views, 6230 crore minutes of television viewing, 30.7 crore viewers, 31 per cent growth, peak concurrency etc.
It's evident that the two players are engaged in a battle for the broadcast hegemony of the IPL - the most watched cricketing event in the country with viewership higher than the ICC and World Cup games. And no one is complaining. Not the common public and certainly not the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the regulator of the IPL.
