IPL valuation drops for consecutive straight year: What is behind the decline?

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a sporting behemoth which is the envy of not just the other cricketing boards but also of many other international sports leagues. In fact, it is the second-most valuable league in the world after the NFL in terms of media rights valuation per game. While the overall valuation has risen steadily over the years, it has not been the case in the recent past. 

According to D & P Advisory's "Beyond 22 Yards - IPL and WPL Valuation 2025" report, the league's valuation has witnessed a decline from INR 92,500 crore in 2023 to INR 82,700 crore in 2024 (-10.6%). It further dropped to INR 76,100 crore in 2025 (-8.0%). Though the league and the franchises are seeing continued growth in fan numbers the market scenario has changed in the last couple of years leading to a valuation slump.

What has driven the IPL valuations down?

The D & P Advisory listed out two major reasons for the fall in valuations - consolidation of media rights in 2024 and the Indian government's ban on Real Money Gaming (RMG) in 2025. In other words, the causes are driven by market forces and regulatory changes. There are no possible issues with the league itself.

1. Consolidation of Media Rights

In 2024, Disney Star (TV rights) and Viacom18 (digital rights) merged creating JioStar. As a result, both the media rights came under the same roof with one entity itself. This killed the competition for bidding, thus lowering the scope for escalation of valuations in future rights auction cycles. Despite the viewership numbers breaking records the monopolised media rights market leaves little scope for inflation of rights values in the future.

2. RMG Ban 

The RMG companies were the most active advertisers in the league's properties,  contributing INR 1500 crore to INR 2000 crore annually. In August 2025, the central government banned all online games that accepted money from users in exchange for a chance to win a return. The ban was effected through the Promotion & Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 which also prohibited advertisements and promotions of the same. Thus, the RMG companies went out of business overnight, cutting off sponsorships to the IPL properties - league, franchises, and the broadcasters.

What is the future outlook?

The advisory believes the fundamentals of the IPL are still strong despite the aforementioned headwinds. What brings them to that conclusion, among other things, is the fact that the viewership numbers are growing with 2025 witnessing one billion eyeballs. Digital viewership has started to surpass TV viewership. And the engagement levels are going strong as well due to the availability of regional language streams.

According to them the growth model is changing and the future valuations will depend on diversified sponsor bases, new monetisation models (subscription bundles, regional packages), and the entry of global technology companies (Amazon, Netflix, Apple) which can provide the much-needed competition for media rights.