Facebook’s interest in sports can be evident by the amount of money it is willing to offer. The social media giant offered $610 million for IPL streaming rights. If successful, it would have given the company exclusive IPL streaming rights for the next five years. Cricket is the most watched game in the country and would have given the company a definite edge.
Facebook Did Not Get IPL Streaming Rights
Well $610 million may sound a lot of money. However, it seems it was not enough for Facebook to win the rights. Instead, IPL streaming rights for the next five years have been won by 21st Century Fox’s subsidiary Star India. The company gave an eye watering bid of $2.55 billion for the IPL streaming rights.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Early Indication for Sports Streaming
At the start of this year, Facebook’s CEO stated that he wants the company to license sports games. He believes that by licensing sporting games, Facebook will be able to create anchor content. Furthermore, he added that this approach would change the perception about Facebook as the go-to-place for premium video content.
Facebook’s ultimate aim is to move all its content and shows to a model where it shares its ad revenues. However, the company feels it is still far away from that stage. Therefore, for now, it is spending the money upfront to get rights to air such interest arousing events. It is also willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for securing streaming rights in games that people love to watch.
The company is not new to streaming sporting events. Earlier in 2017, the company has streamed the All-Star game for NBA. It has also inked deals with 20 different leagues of soccer and baseball.
The leading social media website believes that India is unarguably its biggest market of users. Therefore, it would want to dominate this market to increase its viewership and possibly compete with other video streaming services. The first three matches of IPL alone have had over 88.3 million impressions. It means the rights to stream Indian Premier League would have a massive impact on the website.
Winner of the IPL Streaming Rights for the Next Five Years
On the contrary, Star India will have exclusive rights of airing Indian Premier League for the next five years. The bid won at $2.5 billion will mean Star India is paying around 3,270 crore Indian Rupees each season. The new deal, which is worth 16,347.5 crores in India Rupees, is many times more than the original contract in 2008 signed at a meager 820 crores per season. It amounts to around 55 crore rupees paid for each match by Star India in a season of 59 games.
