Lalit Modi

Yeah, exactly. Remember, the broadcasters before this, for all of Lalit's entrepreneurial success and talent, he was getting broadcasters that weren't experienced in sports to come do this. This was Nimbus's first sports entree. This was Sony's first sports entree in India. You have Star, Fox, News Corp, Disney coming in now and taking over.

Yeah, exactly. Remember, the broadcasters before this, for all of Lalit's entrepreneurial success and talent, he was getting broadcasters that weren't experienced in sports to come do this. This was Nimbus's first sports entree. This was Sony's first sports entree in India. You have Star, Fox, News Corp, Disney coming in now and taking over.

There's going to be a whole new level of professionalism coming in. They also start marketing the matches differently. So there's always been the incredible soap opera story to IPL, and that's the appeal to at least half the country.

There's going to be a whole new level of professionalism coming in. They also start marketing the matches differently. So there's always been the incredible soap opera story to IPL, and that's the appeal to at least half the country.

Any NFL football fan who pretends that it's not a soap opera is lying to themselves.

Any NFL football fan who pretends that it's not a soap opera is lying to themselves.

Totally. So Star starts marketing matches differently. They have like rivalry week. They basically take the playbook from all the best practices of Fox and ESPN all throughout the world and bring them here to the IPL. The other thing they do is... The dynamics of language in India are super interesting. So English is the lingua franca of the country. But it is almost everyone's second language.

Totally. So Star starts marketing matches differently. They have like rivalry week. They basically take the playbook from all the best practices of Fox and ESPN all throughout the world and bring them here to the IPL. The other thing they do is... The dynamics of language in India are super interesting. So English is the lingua franca of the country. But it is almost everyone's second language.

There are a whole set of big languages that are primary different languages spoken by different regions in the country. And Hindi is the biggest of those, right? Hindi is the biggest, yeah. So the official languages of India are both Hindi and English. And it can't just be Hindi because then you're leaving out a huge portion of the population that doesn't speak Hindi.

There are a whole set of big languages that are primary different languages spoken by different regions in the country. And Hindi is the biggest of those, right? Hindi is the biggest, yeah. So the official languages of India are both Hindi and English. And it can't just be Hindi because then you're leaving out a huge portion of the population that doesn't speak Hindi.

So this is amazing for all the dynamics here at play and these international companies and foreign direct investment. But not everybody speaks English and it's the second language. So remember, the whole genius of the IPL is that there's only one game going on at a given point in time. So Star takes the feed from whatever the live game is.

So this is amazing for all the dynamics here at play and these international companies and foreign direct investment. But not everybody speaks English and it's the second language. So remember, the whole genius of the IPL is that there's only one game going on at a given point in time. So Star takes the feed from whatever the live game is.

They set up a central studio in Mumbai with eight different floors and eight different anchor desks who have commentators commentating in the eight biggest Indian languages that are then rebroadcast out to those regions in the primary local language.

They set up a central studio in Mumbai with eight different floors and eight different anchor desks who have commentators commentating in the eight biggest Indian languages that are then rebroadcast out to those regions in the primary local language.

Yes. There is definitely some affinity to your, you know, if you live in Mumbai, you probably have affinity for the Mumbai Indians. But you probably have more affinity to Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni or etc. You're not going to miss those games. Yes. And you may not speak that primary language there. In fact, you probably don't. Yep. So all of this works incredibly well.

Yes. There is definitely some affinity to your, you know, if you live in Mumbai, you probably have affinity for the Mumbai Indians. But you probably have more affinity to Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni or etc. You're not going to miss those games. Yes. And you may not speak that primary language there. In fact, you probably don't. Yep. So all of this works incredibly well.

You've got the major tailwind of Reliance Geo. You've got the professionalization. You've got the local languages. The 2019 IPL final match is broadcast on 17 channels across the country in different languages, plus digital over the top. The final viewership numbers, best estimates are in three to 400 million unique viewers that are watching this. The 2019 IPL final.

You've got the major tailwind of Reliance Geo. You've got the professionalization. You've got the local languages. The 2019 IPL final match is broadcast on 17 channels across the country in different languages, plus digital over the top. The final viewership numbers, best estimates are in three to 400 million unique viewers that are watching this. The 2019 IPL final.

And just for context on that, the most recent 2025 Super Bowl was the biggest Super Bowl ever. And I think de facto that makes it the biggest broadcast TV event in U.S. history. Ben, do you remember what the viewership numbers were on this? 2025 Super Bowl comped against the 2019 IPL final.

And just for context on that, the most recent 2025 Super Bowl was the biggest Super Bowl ever. And I think de facto that makes it the biggest broadcast TV event in U.S. history. Ben, do you remember what the viewership numbers were on this? 2025 Super Bowl comped against the 2019 IPL final.