What if the IPL cricket match gets telecast free-to-air?

Till now, Disney Star, which had consolidated IPL media rights for the last five years, had made the property available for paying TV customers only. But the dwindling pay TV universe could pose a new problem for the company, which is facing a drop in cricket tournament viewership earlier this year.

Additionally, it will have to compete with Reliance Industries-backed Viacom18, which won the digital streaming rights, which, media experts say, will lead the IPL to the Jio app.

In fact, the competition nearly devastated Disney Star when Viacom18’s release, a day after the IPL media rights auction ended in mid-June, said, “With these IPL rights, Viacom18 will be able to win India’s biggest sporting event every year.” Will be able to take to nook and corner of the country. It will make IPL available to every Indian in every part of India, including the 60 million Freedish homes that are not able to access this popular content today.”

Since DD Freedish houses are basically TV houses, Viacom18 representatives immediately clarified that the company wants to take IPL to every household through streaming.

To be sure, DD Freedish, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati’s free-to-air direct-to-home platform, which offers close to 200 TV channels free of cost to consumers, has become a force to be reckoned with.

Earlier this year, top broadcasters pulled their Hindi entertainment channels off the platform as the popularity of Freedish was affecting their pay TV revenues and irked the paid DTH and cable TV companies that distribute their channels. Was.

Still, IPL on Freedish could be an idea that the Disney star could explore. The importance of DD Freedish is evident from the discussion that Disney Star, Sony, Viacom and Zee may bring their TV channels back on the platform as they saw a major chunk of their advertising revenue disappear overnight. Collectively, broadcasters made up 1,200 crore in advertising from Freedish, although a major broadcaster claimed that it had advertising revenue from a single channel on the platform 900 crore annually.

Freedish’s potential has prompted Goldmine Telefilms to launch four entertainment channels, while Shemaroo Entertainment has launched two channels from 2020.

While the figure of 60 million Freedish households may be exaggerated, according to a FICCI-EY report released in March this year, the platform is expected to reach 50 million homes by 2025.

Will Freedish be a viable alternative to the precious cricket asset? Well, it can reach a large audience and ad base by staying on the platform. Still, it can connect pay TV platforms – both cable and DTH – and their customers together.

Manish Shah, director, Goldmine Telefilms, does not think the IPL will be free-to-air as it will impact its subscription revenue. But he praises Freedish’s reach, which attracts advertisers tracking consumption growth in these markets.

“TV penetration is still low at 52% in places like UP and Bihar. There is room for growth which, in my view, will come from Freedish and not pay TV,” Shah said. The Disney star can also take comfort from the fact that TV ad spend is expected to grow in healthy double digits, a According to Dentsu advertising forecast report.

Still others warn that Freedish subscriber has nothing to do with IPL as it has been the prerogative of pay TV subscriber all these years.

IPL will need to be marketed and built for this audience which will require investment. “There is a strategic call to have IPL on Freedish which the broadcaster will need to take based on various permutations and combinations,” said an expert in the broadcasting sector. Obviously, the downside of this move should be reversed.

Suchi Bansal is the Media, Marketing and Advertising Editor of Mint. The Ordinary Post will look into the important issues related to the three. Or just fun stuff.

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