ICC Media Rights: Broadcasters excited by Women's Champions Trophy, hope to match IPL TRPs

ICC Media Rights: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has unbundled the women’s rights for the first time and the focus remains on popularising the women’s game across the globe. While the men’s game remains a high source of TRPs and sponsors the ICC believes that the women’s game could soon match the ratings of IPL games as they invite broadcast and digital rights bids. While there is excitement surrounding the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy, ICC has warned that the its not the biggest but the best bid that will win the rights. Follow ICC media rights auction live updates on Insidesport.IN

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ICC Media Rights: Broadcasters excited by Women’s Champions Trophy, hope to match IPL TRPs but ICC warns ‘best not biggest wins’

As per a Cricbuzz report, the ICC remains intent on popularising women’s cricket and the unbundled package for the sport is a step in the correct direction. ICC have followed it up with the first-ever Women’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) with 301 games, including seven Tests, 135 ODIs and 159 T20Is will be played in the next four years. The cycle also sees our major global events.

It marks the debut of the Women’s Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, which has excited bidders. With India being one of the biggest draws and responsible for the major chunk of revenue, ICC has assured that the Women in Blue will be playing a minimum of 21 games in the global competitions. The break up is as follows – four in the 2024 T20 World Cup, seven in the Women’s World Cup 2025, five in the 2026 T20 World Cup and five more in the Women’s Champions Trophy in 2027.

The report states that an India women’s World Cup match clocks about 1 in the TRP charts, close to the ratings during a men’s test match. ICC believes that with good marketing, the ratings could soar to 3-4 TRP, like during IPL games. With the growth of the game in question, ICC doubled down on its stance and suggest that the best bid would win the auction and not the biggest.

ICC Media Rights: Broadcasters excited by Women’s Champions Trophy, hope to match IPL TRPs but ICC warns ‘best not biggest wins’

A source told Cricbuzz, “It is not about money. By insisting on the marketing strategy, the ICC would see if a channel or a digital player would make a movie or an OTT series on women’s cricket. The belief is that with the expected women’s IPL adding to the competitions and also Indian players taking part in the BBL and The Hundred, women’s cricket can grow massively in India.”

ICC have already taken measures to shift events to an India-centric time to rake in more viewers. In recent times, the women’s World Cup happened either in Australia or New Zealand, not exactly the India-friendly time zones as the games were played in the early hours of the mornings. The next four events will be held in friendly time zones – India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and England.