After Viacom’s successful $3.2bn bid for the streaming rights for the Indian Premier League, the most watched sports event in India, current digital rights holder Disney+ Hotstar was left facing potential subscriber losses when the new IPL deal kicks in from 2023. 

As a general subscription video on demand (SVoD) service, Disney+ Hotstar offers a wide range of content, including Disney’s global franchises and original Indian content, but has, crucially, been the historical streaming home of IPL games in India; indeed, having the IPL has contributed greatly to it becoming the most popular SVoD service in India. Ampere’s consumer survey suggests that 24% of Disney+ Hotstar’s current 55m subscribers are willing to pay to watch IPL content. Given this, as many as 12.5m might be at risk of churn when the new IPL broadcasting cycle begins in 2023. 

So though Disney Star retained the linear broadcasting rights to the IPL, it has also had to increase its investment in other digital sports rights to maintain Disney+ Hotstar’s growth momentum. It has responded by reportedly paying over $3bn for a four-year deal with the International Cricket Council (ICC) from 2023 to 2027, almost double the price the series fetched for the eight-year cycle from 2015 to 2023. By securing rights to the global cricketing body’s major events through to 2027 (including the cricket World Cup), Disney+ Hotstar hopes to counter the potential damage caused by the loss of its IPL rights. 

While sports rights are increasingly important for driving SVoD growth in India, their rising cost is a concern for the broadcasters and major bidders alike. However, after securing the ICC deal, Disney then sub-licensed the TV rights to Zee Entertainment, an Indian media conglomerate owning production studios, Zee-branded TV channels and streaming platform Zee5. Zee is reportedly paying around 30% to 40% of the total rights value to Disney Star (between $900m and $1.2bn) for its linear channel broadcasting rights. Therefore, Disney+ Hotstar will be the exclusive home of the ICC streaming rights. With such a move - acquiring the TV rights for IPL and digital rights for ICC - Disney Star is exploring a way to balance costs, content distribution and growth across its Indian platforms.