Viacom18 has solidified its position as a sports content powerhouse through a strategic blend of approach and quality offerings. Its recent triumph in securing BCCI’s media rights for bilateral matches over the next five years beating Sony Pictures Network India, is testament to its increasing dominance.
Viacom18 Media Private Limited acquired the media rights from September 2023 to March 2028 for a cumulative figure of INR 5,963 crore.
From obtaining crucial sports IPs to revolutionizing digital sports viewing with free streaming of the Indian Premier League, Viacom18 is emerging as a frontrunner in sports content.
With today’s win Viacom18 will now be broadcasting an array of premium sports events including Team India’s home matches, IPL (digital), Women’s IPL, Olympics 2024, and more.
Sports18 will air matches on television, with live streaming on the JioCinema OTT platform, drawing considerable ad investments from brands, according to media experts.
The Viacom18 win was widely anticipated in today’s BCCI auction.
“The strategy was clear, with the penetration of digital on Jio, there was no point of not going all out on cricket. It began with IPL for digital and now the entire spectrum of cricket in India. The advantage is that the U19, U16, Women’s Cricket and Domestic cricket will reach to every part of India, given that in the recent AGM, Reliance announced a 100 percent roll out of 5G by end of the year,” says Rammohan Sundaram, President – Integrated Media, DDB Mudra Group.
“It’s good for the sport, plus there will be one destination on digital which is JioCinema which now has the right mix of entertainment, cricket and international content through HBO,” he added.
According to Sundaram, the future is here at JioCinema. “I am very excited with these developments since the audience will probably be most available at one place and that gives Jio a huge advantage, unlike others,” he said.
Vinay Hegde, chief buying officer, Madison Media agreed with Sundaram.
Today’s win according to Hedge is another step taken in the direction of becoming the biggest aggregator of content and cricket in India.
“We are all aware of JioCinema’s plan which has been put into action. The plan of becoming the largest OTT platform with a huge content library especially originals. Cricket of course is what will attract more and more users. IPL was the first big acquisition and now this. On both platforms (Sports18 and JioCinema),” Hegde added.