IPL was India’s first unicorn with a $1.1 billion valuation: D&P

The Indian Premier League (IPL), which became a decacorn recently with a $10.9 billion valuation, was the country's first unicorn in 2008 at $1.1 billion in valuation at inception.

D & P India Advisory, a providers of consulting, advisory and valuation services, has released a publication which analysed the underlying drivers of the Indian Premier League (IPL) ecosystem.

The analysis used recent year's IPL ecosystem values (including those reported by third party valuation firms) and benchmarked the various key metrics for various years to predict the ecosystem's value every year from inception.

The analysis found that IPL was a unicorn (billion-dollar in value) at its inception in 2008 itself, a significant achievement for the Indian sports industry.

The analysis, titled "IPL-The Pioneer of Indian Unicorns,"  takes into account the media rights, title sponsorship, and associate sponsorship values of the IPL ecosystem to predict its total value over the years prior to 2014. The analysis revealed that IPL's total value in 2008 was over a billion dollars, making it the first unicorn  from India, even before companies like Inmobi and Flipkart.

"It should also be noted that this unicorn is the most profitable of all the startups out there. The IPL has been a game-changer for the Indian sports industry, and our analysis highlights its incredible success from the very beginning" said Santosh N, managing partner of D & P Advisory. "The findings of our report demonstrate the tremendous potential of the Indian market, and we believe that it will encourage further investment in the Indian sports industry."

Another important point being highlighted is whether we can compare the current expected value of WPL with the current value of IPL.

According to Santosh N, it would be unreasonable to compare the expected current value of WPL with the current value of IPL. Comparing the WPL current valuation with the value of the IPL in 2007-08 would make more sense. But it should be noted that the WPL is currently played with only five teams, whereas the IPL had eight teams initially. Also, the media rights and title rights for WPL are lower than the equivalent numbers for IPL at inception. This makes it difficult for the WPL to command a valuation similar to that of the IPL in 2008. However, the WPL is expected to show steady growth in terms of viewership and fan engagement, and with the right strategies and investments, it could become a significantly more valuable property in the future.