Apple, based in Cupertino, is apparently interested in purchasing IPL media rights for the years 2023-2027. According to the Times of India, Apple is scheduled to choose the ITT (invitation-to-tender) next week. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the world’s most popular cricket tournaments. The BCCI had issued invitations to sell the IPL’s media rights for the five-year period 2023-2027.
According to the report, major companies such as TV18-Viacom, Disney, Sony, Zee, and Amazon have expressed interest in bidding for the IPL media rights. With the IPL season 16 aiming for a 500 million viewership, it’s understandable that huge businesses will see it as a great opportunity to promote themselves. But here’s why Apple’s participation in the IPL bid shouldn’t excite you.
The fact that Apple is apparently interested in the media rights to the IPL 2023-27 season is a huge deal. Apple, the Cupertino-based computer behemoth, is one of the most premium smartphone brands, and its market share in India is growing. It may be able to reach out to more potential clients in the country as a result of the IPL campaign.
It’s encouraging that Apple is reportedly interested, but it may be too soon to get too excited.
According to a rumor, Apple has expressed interest in purchasing IPL media rights and may submit a bid, however it is unclear whether Apple will obtain all of the rights for IPL media rights. We’ve seen large brands come in and compete for IPL media rights in the past, but many of them didn’t obtain the ultimate rights.
Many large multinational businesses, including Facebook (now Meta), Amazon, and others, expressed interest in purchasing the IPL media rights in the past but were unsuccessful. Apple could face a similar situation. The basic value of the IPL media rights is estimated to be over Rs 33,000 crores, which is double the last auction’s price.
Apple is known for its premium experience and it is possible that the company might mix this with IPL. Apple produces many shows which are streamed on the company’s Apple TV+ platform for which a user has to buy a subscription. The company might add the IPL highlight clips to its platform for which the viewer will have to buy a subscription.
Indian users on-boarding the Apple TV+ would give the company a huge revenue and skyrocket the average viewership. The company might not want to miss this golden opportunity. As expected, there’s no comment from Apple on this yet.
