WIPL Media Rights: Viacom 18 acquired the global media rights for the inaugural edition of women’s IPL under a five-year contract for a whopping amount of INR 951 crore.
Viacom18 Bags WIPL Media Rights
The first edition of the Women’s Indian Premier League will be played between 5 teams and will be played in March 2023 in India. BCCI will schedule the tournament without being disturbed by the men’s IPL.
The WIPL 2023 will be played in Round robin and playoffs format and a total of 23 matches will be played in the 2023 season. As per the WIPL Media Rights deal, the value of each match in the WIPL 2023-27 will be INR 7.09 Crore. The secretary of the apex board, Jay Shah also made an announcement via his social media account.
“Congratulations Viacom18 for winning the Women’s IPL media rights. Thank you for your faith in BCCI and BCCI Women. Viacom has committed INR 951 crores which means per match value of INR 7.09 crores for next 5 years (2023-27). This is massive for Women’s Cricket,” Shah tweeted.
After pay equity, today’s bidding for media rights for Women’s IPL marks another historic mandate. It’s a big and decisive step for empowerment of women’s cricket in India, which will ensure participation of women from all ages. A new dawn indeed! #WIPL @ICC @BCCIWomen
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) January 16, 2023
Only Viacom18 and Disney Star bid for media rights of Women’s IPL. Where Viacom’s INR 951 crore bid defeats Star’s bid of INR 98 crore (only digital).
Viacom 18 had also secured the digital rights of the men’s IPL for the subcontinent region (for INR 23,757.5 crore or USD 3.04 billion) and both the TV and digital rights across three global regions – Australia + New Zealand, the UK and South Africa – (for INR 1058 crore or USD 135.49 million) last June.
Chairman of IPL Governing Council, Mr Arun Singh Dhumal said: “It gives me immense pleasure to welcome Viacom18 as our official digital and television broadcaster for women’s IPL. Viacom18 has committed INR 951 crores, which is a per-match value of INR 7.09 crores for the next 5 years (2023-27).
The faith of all our bidders for this process also testifies that they see value in investing in this property which will only be growing with each passing year.
Women’s cricket has shown immense growth in the past few years and our own T20 league, it only solidifies our approach towards women’s cricket and the potential it has for growth in India. I would once again like to congratulate Viacom18 and would also like to thank all our bidders for supporting and showing faith in our prospects.”
As per reports, the board has listed 10 cities in the bid document. So far, at least eight of the 10 men’s IPL franchises have confirmed that they would be bidding for a franchise in the Women’s Indian Premier League.
BCCI set January 26 as the deadline for the players to register for the WIPL 2023 Auction expected to be held in February.
