Lhe origins of cricket are lost in the mists of time, somewhere between France and 16th-century Flanders.e century. Very quickly, the English were seduced by this complex sport, where the spirit counts as much as the rules. But when, in 1789, the English team was preparing to come and play its first international match on French soil, the Revolution dissuaded them from crossing the Channel. Since then, cricket has remained an almost exclusive specialty of the Commonwealth, with spectacular success in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and, above all, India. In this country generally little versed in sport, cricket is more than that, a spectacle in its own right which captivates more than 600 million television viewers, ten times the French population.
It is therefore understandable that the auction of the broadcasting rights of the Indian Premier League breaks records. They were awarded, Tuesday, June 14, for the staggering sum of 6.2 billion dollars (6 billion euros) over five years, twice as much as during the previous sale. This makes it, per game, the most expensive sport in the world, behind American football, but far ahead of the British Premier League football. And if the amounts have risen to the sky, it is largely thanks to the irruption of video specialists on the Internet. The Viacom 18 platform, backed by the Murdoch clan and India’s most famous billionaire, Mukesh Ambani, has put in $3 billion.
The growth objective is receding
Faced with the amount, Disney, which keeps broadcasting on classic television, has not outbid, but remains with a big dilemma. In its offensive on the Internet, the American has made India its priority. Its 60 million domestic subscribers to its Hotstar service account for a third of Disney+’s total global customers. Only downside, the monthly subscription is 79 cents against 8 dollars in the United States, so not profitable. But the loss of cricket could cause it to suddenly lose 20 million subscribers, taking it away from its goal of global growth of 240 million followers in 2024. An equation as complex as the forty-two laws and four appendices of the “Laws of cricket”.
Because sport has become the new field of conquest for the leaders of online television, such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple or Disney, which are quite simply replacing traditional television, but are still looking for a solid economic model. Apple did not hesitate, Wednesday June 15, to disburse 2.5 billion dollars for the broadcasting rights of American “soccer”, this European football yet confidential in the United States. Amazon has, for its part, won the rights to the French Ligue 1 under the nose and beard of Canal+.
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