IPL Cricket Media Rights Set to Plateau at $5.4 Billion in Next Cycle

Two decades of compounding growth in Indian Premier League cricket media rights are coming to an end, according to a new report from Media Partners Asia.

MPA published “The IPL: Teams, Rights & Valuations” on March 24, projecting that the 2028–32 rights cycle will hold flat at $5.4 billion in total – matching the current 2023–27 period but representing a 13% decline on a per-match basis, dropping from $13.2 million to $11.5 million. The firm attributes the per-match erosion to the expanded 94-match format, which adds volume without a corresponding increase in value.

The current cycle itself marked a dramatic leap from the 2018–22 period, when Star India held consolidated rights for $2.55 billion. In the 2022 auction, the rights were split across packages for the first time – Viacom18, backed by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, paying around $3 billion to secure digital rights, while Disney paid $3.01 billion to retain television. That head-to-head rivalry between the two giants was the engine of the near-threefold increase. It will not be repeated: the subsequent merger of Viacom18 and Disney’s Indian operations, which created JioHotstar and unified all IPL rights under one platform, has removed the primary source of competitive tension from the market.

Rights holders in the current cycle are facing cumulative losses of $1.8–2 billion, MPA finds. Advertising revenue growth slowed to a 7% CAGR over the last three seasons, compared with 18% CAGR in the prior cycle. Policy-driven exits by ed-tech and real-money gaming companies, alongside a BCCI ban on crypto advertising, have significantly narrowed the advertiser base. MPA notes that new global macro pressures could further weigh on demand, even as emerging sectors such as AI offer some offset.

At the franchise level, media rights now account for 75% of total revenues, up from 48% in 2017. EBITDA margins have expanded from an average of 10% in the league’s first cycle to 34% currently – but MPA warns that this operating leverage amplifies downside risk when rights values correct. Non-media revenues have been growing at a 22% CAGR since the pandemic, though from a low base. With limited upside expected from 2028, the report says franchise stake sales are accelerating as owners advance liquidity plans.

Mihir Shah, vice president of India at MPA, said the rights reset in 2028 “marks the beginning of a period in which franchise value creation depends on building the non-media revenue base, focusing on sponsorship, international presence and digital monetisation.” Shah added that owners and investors pricing franchises on current EBITDA multiples need to account for both the rights cycle headwind and the concentration risk it implies, cautioning that “the window at current multiples may be shorter than the market assumes.”

MPA’s composite franchise scorecard, which rates all 10 IPL teams across championship wins, playoff appearances, social media following and international presence, places Mumbai Indians first with 360 out of 400 points, and Chennai Super Kings second at 320. Royal Challengers Bengaluru ranks fourth at 230: despite a substantial social media following built around Virat Kohli‘s 274 million fans, the club’s score is dragged down by just one title in 18 seasons, the absence of an international franchise, and heavy dependence on a single star. Punjab Kings (90) and Lucknow Super Giants (100) rank at the foot of the table.

On the digital side, MPA notes that JioHotstar recently surpassed 70 million concurrent users during the ICC T20 World Cup finals, with further viewership records expected in the 2026 IPL season. However, the report cautions that audience scale has yet to generate the monetization needed to support current rights pricing, with the gap between what streaming platforms earn and what they spend on rights remaining the dominant factor constraining 2028 valuations.

The report covers IPL media rights history from the 2008 auction through the current cycle, with forward projections based on MPA’s proprietary financial model. Franchise economics analysis draws on aggregated financials for seven clubs: Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings.

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