The Indian Premier League is no longer just India’s biggest sports property. It now prices like the English Premier League, and it stands alone in Asia Pacific doing so, according to Media Partners Asia’s new APAC sports economy report.
The top of the market is very narrow
MPA estimates the IPL earns about $12.4 million per match. South Korea’s KBO baseball league earns roughly $100,000 per match by comparison. That gap captures why the region’s rights market is so concentrated: 64% of all fees sits in the 12 most valuable rights packages, and India accounted for more than half of the increase in regional rights fees since 2021.
MPA’s tracking covers 14 markets and more than 150 rights contracts. The wider commercial sports economy is worth $16.2 billion in 2026. Media rights are the largest piece at $6.1 billion, followed by sponsorship at $4.7 billion, ticketing and hospitality at $3.9 billion, and merchandise at $1.5 billion.
Streaming now sets the price
Rights fees rose 58% over five years to $5.7 billion, but MPA expects growth to slow to 1%–2% a year through 2030, from about 10% since 2021. Streaming platforms paid 50% of rights fees this year, up from 36% in 2021, and MPA says they determine pricing in most markets.
- Only 3% of lapsed fans returned to a sport because it appeared on a platform they already used.
- 63% of fans who spent money on sport in the past year bought no subscription.
- Independent creators capture 42%–43% of sports viewing hours on YouTube in Korea and Thailand, while league and club channels take 10%–19%.
That gap between platform reach and fan behaviour shapes the outlook. “This is not the end of sport’s boom in Asia Pacific. It is the end of the easy part,” said Vivek Couto, CEO and executive director of MPA.
The next dollar is local, female and data-priced
Couto points to a $4 per person commercial sports revenue figure in APAC, versus more than $200 in North America. The opportunity, he argues, is in seats, sponsors, local stars and the women’s game. MPA estimates sponsorship priced on audience data could grow 6%–7% annually to 2030. If China, India, Korea and Southeast Asia closed half their sponsorship-to-GDP gap, the region would add about $5.4 billion a year.
Women’s sport and homegrown assets are already signalling demand. India’s 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup final drew 185 million digital viewers, and MPA expects contested bidding for women’s properties, starting with the WPL’s 2028 rights cycle. KBO attendance hit a record 12.3 million in 2025, up from 7.3 million in 2019.
For media planners and marketers, the report pushes the conversation beyond raw reach. The data suggests fan identification and local relevance may matter more than platform convenience alone.
Source: Variety
