Viacom18 Bags Media Rights For Women's IPL For Rs 951 Crore

The BCCI on Monday announced that Viacom18 have grabbed the media rights for the upcoming Women's IPL for a whopping Rs 951 crore for five years, pipping other bidders, including Disney Star and Sony, in the auction.

The auction for the T20 League was conducted by the cricket board in Mumbai on Monday.

The global rights comprise three categories—linear (TV), digital and combined (TV and digital). In the men's IPL, separate rights are sold across regions.

According to BCCI secretary Jay Shah, the fee per match will come to Rs 7.09 crore for the next five years.

"Congratulations @viacom18 for winning the Women's @IPL media rights. Thank you for your faith in @BCCI and @BCCIWomen. Viacom has committed Rs 951 crore, which means per match value of Rs 7.09 crore for next 5 years (2023-27). This is massive for Women's Cricket," Shah tweeted.

"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! #WIPL @ICC @BCCIWomen," read his another tweet.

The inaugural Women's IPL is likely to begin in the first week of March. Five teams will compete and all the matches will be held in Mumbai.

Viacom18 had won the IPL digital rights for Rs 23,758 crore while Disney Star had retained the TV rights for Rs 23,575 crore for a five-year period starting 2023 during a three-day auction held in June, 2022.

IPL governing council chairman Arun Singh Dhumal said: "The faith of all our bidders for this process also testifies that they see value in investing in this property which will only be growing with each passing year."

"Women's cricket has shown immense growth in the past few years and our own T20 league, it only solidifies our approach towards women's cricket and the potential it has for growth in India."