BIG! Viacom 18 bags Women's IPL media rights for $116 million over a five-year period

In what comes as a gigantic step for women's cricket and especially Women's IPL (WIPL), broadcasting giant Viacom 18 on Monday acquired the media rights for the tournament.

Viacom 18 won media rights for WIPL for a period of five years (2023-2027) for $116.7 million with per match value coming down to approximately $857,000. The tournament will be starting in March 2023 and is likely to be completed in a one-month window.

BCCI Secretary Jay Shah took to Twitter to inform about the landmark deal and said it was a historic mandate for the women's game.

"After pay equity, today's bidding for media rights for Women's IPL marks another historic mandate. It's a big and decisive step for empowerment of women's cricket in India, which will ensure participation of women from all ages. A new dawn indeed!"

Congratulations @viacom18 for winning the Women’s @IPL media rights. Thank you for your faith in @BCCI and @BCCIWomen. Viacom has committed INR 951 crores which means per match value of INR 7.09 crores for next 5 years (2023-27). This is massive for Women’s Cricket 🙏🇮🇳 — Jay Shah (@JayShah) January 16, 2023

A closed-bid auction method was used to decide the winner. Eight bidders had bought the tender document for the media rights which was put on sale last month.

Unlike IPL media rights, which were divided into different categories and awarded to different broadcasters, Viacom 18 will have access tolinear (TV), digital and combined (TV and digital).

It was in October last year that the BCCI, after years of dillydallying finally decided to greenlight the women's version of the IPL.

The inaugural edition is expected to be a five-team affair.According to various media reports, owners of men's IPL teams such as Delhi Capitals, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans ad Punjab Kings are among those who have submitted bids.

BCCI has set January 23 as the deadline for technical bids for the same to be submitted. Meanwhile, the maiden players'auction is expected to take place next month.

WIPL will replace the Women’s T20 Challenge, which was a two-team tournament that started off in 2018 with just one match. It then grew to a three-team exhibition tournament in the following year, and then took place in 2020 and 2022 as well.

Read more: BCCI approves women's IPL, first edition to be staged in 2023

Women's cricket has been on the precipice of a major turnaround for quite some time now. WIPL is expected torevolutionise the women's game, just the way IPL did for the men's game.

(With inputs from agencies)

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