Viacom18 on Monday won the media rights of Women’s Indian Premier League (IPL) for the period of 2023-2027 at Rs 951 crore. The amount of 951 crore translates to a per match value of Rs 7.09 crore.
Viacom 18 have bagged the media rights for the inaugural five-year cycle of the upcoming Womens IPL, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah tweeted on Monday (January 16). The winning bid was INR 951 crore which translates to a value of INR 7.09 crore per match for the 2023-27 period. The BCCI confirmed that Viacom18 was the successful bidder for the consolidated bid for the media rights (i.e., Global Televisions Rights and Global Digital Rights).
Jay Shah
@JayShahFollow Congratulations @viacom18 for winning the Women’s @IPL media rights. Thank you for your faith in @BCCI and @BCCIWomen. 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 🙏🇮🇳
“Congratulations @viacom18 for winning the Women’s @IPL media rights. Thank you for your faith in @BCCI and @BCCIWomen. Viacom has committed INR 951 crore which means per match value of INR 7.09 crore for next 5 years (2023-27). This is massive for Women’s Cricket,” tweeted BCCI secretary Jay Shah.
@JayShahFollowAfter 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
“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,” added Shah.
More Bagged For the Viacom18
The Network 18-owned media house has also secured the digital rights to the Men’s IPL for the same cycle, as well as the ongoing SA20 League in South Africa.
Earlier this year, Viacom18 shelled out INR 23,758 crore to claim digital rights (packages B & C) for the Indian subcontinent for IPL media rights 2023-27 and had also bagged the Australia, South Africa and United Kingdom rights for the same period.
They also have broadcast rights of the ongoing SA20 franchise league and Indian broadcast rights of international cricket in South Africa from 2024-31.
“I would like to congratulate Viacom18 for bagging the media rights for Women’s IPL for the period of 5 years,” BCCI president Roger Binny said. “Women’s cricket has been on the up since a few years and the recently concluded bilateral series against Australia is a great testament to how popular women’s cricket has become in India.”
“It was only apt to get our own women’s T20 league and give the fans more of women’s cricket. I would also like to congratulate the BCCI leadership and its workforce for a successful media rights process and wish them the very best for the first edition of the Women’s IPL.”
Women’s League Scheduled for March 2023
The inaugural season of the Women’s league will be a five-team double round-robin tournament, tentatively scheduled for March 2023. The BCCI, as earlier reported by Cricbuzz, will conduct the auction for the WIPL franchises on January 25 and Manchester United group are one of the foreign parties to have confirmed an interest in owning a side. The deadline for the cricketers to register for the player auction – due to be held in February – is January 26.
After holding Women’s T20 Challenge as an exhibition event from 2018 to 2022, the BCCI is all set to launch the inaugural edition of the Women’s IPL; a five-team affair with the inaugural edition set to be played in March 2023. Various reports have suggested that the BCCI will unveil the five WIPL franchises on January 25.
The BCCI had put out a tender document on January 3, asking for “reputed entities” to acquire the right to own and operate a team in Women’s IPL, through a tender process. It asked for interested parties to make a non-refundable payment of INR 5 lakh (USD 6000 approx.) by January 21 to claim the “invitation to tender” for the same.
