MUMBAI: Sports fans have much to cheer about as Deloitte in a report have predicted that the value of premium sports broadcast rights worldwide will increase by 14 per cent and reach $24.2 billion (as on 30 June 2013). This is $2.9 billion higher than last year.
India’s Indian Premier League and Indian national team cricket are included as premium sports across the globe along with the National Basketball Association (NBA), top tier domestic football leagues, F1 etc. “The premium sports in each market represent a small proportion of all professional sports activity. However, they represent the vast majority of viewer interest and the bulk of all television revenues,” reads the report.
The Indian Premiere League was bought by Sony and World Sport Group (WSG) in 2008 for $918 million for a period of 10 years. The broadcast rights for domestic games of the national cricket team is with Star Sports while for international games is with Ten Sports.
About three quarters of the whole amount will be contributed by the top ten sports in the world that includes: the top-tier domestic football leagues in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, the UEFA Champions League, and the four major North American professional leagues. The substantial revenue growth in 2014 will be largely driven by new broadcast deals for England’s Premier League, Germany’s Bundesliga and Major League Baseball.
“Television and premium sports are well matched for each other: at the highest level, sport is great unscripted live drama for television. Constant advances in technology are leading to ever more sophisticated, compelling ways in which sports can be portrayed. The development of pay TV in particular has transformed the broadcasting of premium sports leagues. Live content is a key subscription driver for those leagues and underpins pay TV business models. As the pay TV subscriber base rises and revenue per user grows, operators are investing increasing sums to secure this key content,” said Deloitte Sports Business Group senior consultant Austin Houlihan.
He added, “New market entrants looking for attractive differentiating sports content have intensified competition driving substantial uplifts in rights fees. For example, BT’s entry into the UK sports rights market, acquiring sports content to help retain and build its telephony, broadband, and pay TV services, has resulted in substantial revenue uplifts. The Premier League enjoyed a 71% increase in the value of its domestic live rights from 2013/14, while the amount paid for UK rights to UEFA’s top club competitions will double in value from 2015/16.”
In India, the IPL and the matches played by the Indian national team are set to rake in more money this year through sponsorships and associations through merchandises.
