JioStar flags cricket rights inflation as it seeks new premium-video revenue models

JioStar vice chairman Uday Shankar said cricket remains a powerful audience and investment driver, but escalating media-rights costs are straining economics. With 600 million monthly active digital users, the company is looking beyond advertising and subscriptions for premium-video revenue.

— Source publishedMon, 24 Aug, 2026, 11:01 IST·First seen Tue, 25 Aug, 2026, 10:30 IST·Source ET BrandEquity

What happened

JioStar vice chairman Uday Shankar said escalating cricket media-rights costs are pressuring economics despite sports driving digital audience scale. The

Key facts

  • 600 million monthly active digital users
  • INR 951 crore
  • five-year Women's Premier League media-rights deal
  • billions of dollars committed to cricket properties

Why this matters

JioStar’s search for nontraditional premium-video revenue could create partnership and acquisition opportunities in commerce, gaming, data, payments, and ad-tech monetisation.

What to watch

  • The price, term length and exclusivity structure of the next major Indian cricket-rights auction.
  • Growth in paid or bundled premium-video users, ARPU and churn after major cricket tournaments.
  • Whether JioStar places marquee cricket matches behind a paywall, premium feature gate or telecom-bundle requirement.
  • Advertiser willingness to pay for cross-platform cricket packages versus conventional TV and free-streaming inventory.
  • New rights-sharing, sublicensing or strategic partnerships involving JioStar, telecom operators, global streamers or rival broadcasters.
  • Management disclosure of sports-rights amortisation, content costs as a share of revenue, and profitability targets for digital video.
  • Expand premium-video bundles with Jio mobile, broadband and partner distribution plans rather than relying on standalone subscriptions.
  • Introduce differentiated cricket access: ad-light premium tiers, paid multi-screen or 4K features, exclusive analysis, second-screen products and limited transactional packages.
  • Sell integrated TV-plus-digital cricket sponsorships using audience targeting, commerce attribution and category exclusivity to lift effective CPMs.
  • Build non-cricket premium inventory, especially regional entertainment, sports adjacent programming and live events, to reduce dependence on a small number of costly rights cycles.
  • Pursue sublicensing, co-investment and distribution partnerships that spread rights risk while preserving JioStar's direct customer relationship.

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