Forty-six days remain until kick-off between Mexico and South Africa, and no Indian broadcaster is publicising that they will show the football World Cup yet. FIFA, which first quoted $100 million for broadcasting rights for two editions (2026 and 2030), have now been forced to drag down the asking price to $35 million. Those in the know of developments in Indian sports broadcasting, delved into the different reasons why they are shying away from the quadrennial showpiece, one of the most-watched sporting events in the world. “There was a huge mismatch between the seller’s (FIFA) asking price, and the advertising revenue that a buyer could generate. FIFA quoted too high a figure,” an industry insider said. This time around, the major factor of huge concern is the fact that of the 104 FIFA WC matches this June-July, only 10% will not take place between midnight and 6am IST. It’s a bad hour anyway, and given India doesn’t feature, 90% of matches are not really attractive for a broadcaster. The World Cup also clashes with the Cricket Women’s T20 World Cup and Commonwealth Games, both in England, taking a few eyeballs away from the 48-team football jamboree, to be played across Mexico, USA and Canada. The broadcast rights for the 2022 edition in Qatar, where Lionel Messi’s Argentina were triumphant, were reportedly bought for Rs 480 crore ($60 million). A giant launch party for their OTT back then, the broadcasters – Jio – couldn’t recover nearly half the costs incurred through advertising revenues. This time, when FIFA came asking for $100 million, it clearly made no business sense to the likes of Sony or Star Sports. Now with a scaled-down 35 million price, the only player left is Jio. Times have changed rapidly since 2022. Even the dollar rate has since jumped from 75 to 91, and the broadcasting market is a near monopoly, which means nearly no competition, and as a result, no desperation to give in to what’s demanded. With the IPL broadcast rights up for renewal in 2027 again, the World Cup is lower down the pecking order. One could contend that the 2014 World Cup in Brazil had similar late-night timings, but the fanfare for the biggest stars was arguably greater then. The popular perception that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are now washed-up stars, with one World Cup outing too many, and the likes of Kylian Mbappe or Lamine Yamal not quite enjoying the same pull (yet) as the football stars of yesteryears – in India at least – may influence the vaning demand. With 48 teams on show, not many matches will feature Messi or Ronaldo, at any rate.Story continues below this ad It might be an underestimation, but the broadcaster’s figures are quite different from the chatter on social media. Still, the fact that FIFA has been forced to drag down their cursor to $35 million from 100 million is instructive of how the reality of the Indian audience might be dawning on them. JioHotstar has paid through their nose for cricket as they picked up IPL rights in 2023, at breathtaking amounts, and 2027 looms. They might yet pick up FIFA in the end. But for the likes of Sony, the non-cricket numbers are just not adding up. Experts also reckon that India is not very warmed up to subscription-dependent sport, and remains an advertisement-driven entity. A single UFC fight for $50, on pay-per-view, then makes more sense to pick than what broadcasters call ‘absurd rates’ quoted by other sports. The recent Badminton Asia Championships, where Ayush Shetty made the final, was not shown on TV (similar to India’s first Asia final in 1965!) because Badminton Asia quoted a figure that didn’t sound viable to any Indian broadcaster. FIFA too has been forced to come down a peg or many, as the greatest show on earth remains snubbed by Indian broadcasters.
Midnight matches, money parked in cricket: Why Indian broadcasters are shying away from FIFA World Cup
