When Viacom18 won the digital media rights for Indian Premier League (IPL) in June this year for Rs 23,758 crore, which was marginally higher than TV rights won by Disney-Star India for Rs 23,575, it demonstrated the potential that the industry was seeing in the online medium. 

Digital sports viewership has been increasing significantly year over year, even though TV still has a larger audience than all other media, with 900 million viewers overall compared to 450-500 million monthly active users online. Will the steady rise in sports viewership on digital pose a competition to television in terms of revenues? Not in the near future, say experts. According to industry watchers, digital sports viewership is increasing faster than TV but digital sports revenue is unlikely to catch up with that of TV anytime soon.

Industry experts believe the growth of the digital medium will be fuelled by an organic rise in OTT viewers in India as well as an increase in sports consumption on OTT.

According to the CII-KPMG 2022, ad revenues for sports properties on digital platforms are expected to be driven by strong advertiser interest in sports than for other content genres. Additionally, subscription revenues for sports are expected to grow as OTT subscriptions increase and these platforms make a concerted effort to transition to a SVOD future.

Vibhor Gauba, Associate Partner, Deal Advisory- M&A Consulting, KPMG in India, however believes that a material shift in advertising monies from TV to digital for the sports genre is unlikely in the near to medium term at least. 

“This difference in sports viewership is also reflected in the advertiser interest as many traditional and digital first brands, still look to TV as the platform to reach the largest audience,” he says.

According to the CII-KPMG 2022 report, only 10 million Indians have connected TVs, which is a result of low fixed broadband penetration and relatively high entry costs. This suggests that TV will continue to rule as a media platform when combined with structural barriers to cord cutting.

“TV is the first choice of advertisers due to its large reach and positive impact on brand KPIs. Advertisers across traditional brands like BFSI, beverages, FMCG, paints, auto, handsets and the new-age categories like online shopping, fintech, edtech, health tech, gaming, and fantasy have leveraged the reach of TV to build brands,” shares Gauba.

Sports on TV will remain relevant 

According to GroupM-ESP Sporting Nation's Making 2022 report, overall digital ad spend in 2021 was Rs 965 crore, more than doubling the value in 2020, accounting for 16% of total media expenses by brands. While both TV and digital ad spends on sports exceeded their 2019 levels, digital ad spends increased by more than 100%.

Sports is the most loved genre on TV with over 730 million viewers in 2022, which is a growth of 21% over 2021, said a senior executive of a leading sports broadcaster. According to him, the overall TV universe stands tall at 900 million with enormous headroom to grow. In fact, 400 million TV viewers don’t even have access to digital video, he said.

“TV is growing and has in fact added 100 million premium NCCS AB viewers in the last three years, which is close to the size of the total OTT subscribers in the country,” shares the executive.

According to the data accessed by e4m, viewership of cricket on TV is on the rise, breaking all-time records. For instance, there was 36% increase in TV ratings of Ind-Aus T20 vs 2019 (highest cume. reach for T20 series),  Asia Cup 2022 had 12% higher TV ratings vs Asia Cup 2016, Ind-SA series in Sep '22 recorded 47% higher TV ratings vs June ‘22. 

A report by KPMG-Sports broadcasting on TV - A match made in heaven, predicted that digital revenues for sports are likely to see robust growth, but would still be roughly half of the TV revenues by FY26. The digital revenue for sports is estimated to grow from Rs 1,540 crore in FY21 to Rs 4,360 crore in FY26, at a CAGR of 22 per cent. 

According to Vibhor Gauba, Associate Partner, Deal Advisory- M&A Consulting, KPMG in India, sports broadcasting on television reaches a far higher audience than OTT platforms at present (close to 2x). This is also reflected in the numbers, wherein the TV sports broadcasting market is mature in terms of the revenues, and with a steady growth, is likely to be higher than the OTT/digital sports streaming market in the near to medium future.

Gauba further shared that while it is a fact that viewership on digital platforms, when it comes to sports, is rising faster than TV (also due to the low base effect), it is unlikely that sports viewership on digital will surpass that on TV in the near to medium term. “TV remains one of the most affordable platforms of entertainment in the country. If you add the subscription costs of major platforms that stream sports and broadband cost, the overall value comes to 3.5-4x that of a monthly TV subscription.”

TV still a preferred medium over digital 

Digital sports revenues will take some time to catch up with TV revenues, says a senior industry observer on the condition of anonymity.

“Without a doubt, digital viewership and revenues are rising, but it will take some time before they even approach TV revenues. I don't believe that TV will ever stop being a preferred medium for brands across all genres, including sports,” he adds. 

Karan Taurani, SVP, Elara Capital, too believes that it's a long way for digital sports revenue to touch TV revenues. “IPL today is making close to Rs 3000-4000 crore revenues, including advertising and subscription, whereas Hotstar is making Rs 1500-1600 crore,” he shares.

“So, even if sports on digital grows at close to 30%for the next three years, it would still be lower than TV because television is also growing by 10-12%. TV as a medium has seen a negative impact because of cord cutting, but sports is one genre which is very consumed on TV because of its live content nature,” explains Taurani.

He further adds, “In terms of content cost, TV and digital are close to 50-50%, but in terms of monetisation there is a big gap. Digital viewership is already at par with TV and might cross TV viewership, but for digital to make that kind of ad dollar, is tough. It's a highly competitive segment.”