Mumbai: The sports media market will continue to attract more global investments due to the high potential growth, says a report.
It can be noted that there has already been lots of foreign capital flowing into the sector which also brought in a wave of consolidation in the sports broadcasting space.
The best examples are Sony Pictures Networks India acquiring Ten Sports from Zee Entertainment Enterprises for $385 million, and Star India's bagging the global media rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) for 2018-22 for a whopping Rs 1,634.75 crore after a bidding that saw as many as 24 players in the fray.
"The sports media landscape is evolving rapidly, especially in terms of who creates the content and who has the right to distribute them," says a Deloitte report.
The report further said "these entities who have made the bids are not primarily in the sports broadcast business but put value on the table to acquire digital broadcasting rights of IPL. This proves the global appeal of Indian sports which is now identified as a potential growth area by global sports giants."
With the huge popularity of the IPL, there is a significant place for domestic sporting leagues in other sports and some like football and kabaddi have already generated interest, it said.
These leagues have become very popular not only in large cities but also in small towns and even in rural areas, the report added.
In rural India, sports like kabaddi and wrestling are getting popular, with 64 per cent of ratings for both Pro- Kabaddi League season 3 and Pro-Wrestling League season 1 came from such markets. Television viewership for IPL was nearly 46 per cent from villages.
The viewership of domestic leagues is increasing consistently and in many cases exponentially, it noted.
"The ever-increasing popularity of these leagues among the viewers drives the advertising space on television and digital platforms and makes them all the more attractive. We predict an increase in advertisement rates to the tune of 5-15 per cent, as the relevant sports and sports leagues mature," the report said.
State cricket leagues like Karnataka Premier League and the Tamil Nadu Premier Cricket League, have also started which will help promote teams and players in these states.
"These have become popular across these states, creating a distinctive new market for broadcasters, advertisers and team-owners. Their viewership and stadium attendance are also quite high," it said.
Due to the success of the existing domestic sports leagues, other sporting bodies will be inspired to come up with similar leagues, the report said.
These leagues are owned by corporates or celebrities and Deloitte expects that with the frenzy of buying sports team settling, there is a possibility that some of the initial investors may be looking for exits.
"With moderation of the vanity value in owning a sports league team, we could also see some of the old investors exit, thanks to the realistic valuation of teams and realisation of ground-level challenges of running a sports team," the report concluded.