Minutes after Star India was announced as the winner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights for the next five seasons on Monday, employees of the network were already feeling the pressure. To drive sales, with new, revised targets coming very soon. Whatever math Star India must have done to win these rights, across digital and television, for India and rest of the world, the total amount it has paid is eye-popping. At $2.55 billion. Or a massive Rs 16,347.5 crore. Or Rs 54.5 crore per IPL match.
As it turns out, Star India’s bid was approximately Rs 527.99 crore (or 3.3%) higher than the sum of all winning bids in individual categories (Rs 15,819.51 crore).