After Amazon and Disney, now the search engine Google has also joined the race to get the media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL). This has been claimed in a Bloomberg report. According to the report, Google-owned company Alphabet Inc. has purchased bidding documents from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Alphabet Inc. also owns the video-streaming website YouTube. However, representatives of the BCCI and YouTube in India declined to comment on the matter. The purchase of application documents does not imply that the company will definitely bid for the media rights. The company or companies may also decide not to bid.
Bloomberg, in its earlier report, had claimed that Amazon.com Inc., The Walt Disney Company, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd., Sony Group Corp., Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. and fantasy-sports platform Dream11 have also auctioned off BCCI. Relevant documents have been purchased. According to a person familiar with the development, SuperSport has also procured the bidding documents from the BCCI. Supersport is a group of television channels based in South Africa.
Let us tell you that the broadcast rights are to be auctioned after this season of IPL. Altogether half a dozen companies have received bid documents from BCCI so far. IPL is the third most watched sporting event in the world. BCCI will auction the broadcasting rights of IPL from 2023 to 2027 this year. Presently, the broadcast rights of IPL are with Star Sports Network.
Google’s interest in the global media rights of India’s top cricket league has intensified the fight over IPL media rights. The IPL is the third largest sporting event in the world in terms of spectators, behind only the Premier League and the National Football League. According to the BCCI, 600 million spectators took part in the last season of IPL. This figure underscores the dominance of this sporting event.