FIFA’s India Streaming Stalemate

The FIFA World Cup 2026 begins on June 11. But barely days before the tournament kicks off, Indian fans still do not know where to watch football’s biggest event. The problem statement is the delay in closing the broadcast deal due to a wide gap between the high prices FIFA wants and what Indian broadcasters are willing to pay. 

This means a whole swathe of India that consumes live sports on digital media and OTT platforms could be left in the dark when the first match kicks off. 

Imperative to mention that FIFA initially sought bids for a combined 2026 and 2030 package, but later rationalised its expectations due to a dearth of bidders. JioHotstar, SonyLIV and Fancode are the three primary live sports platforms in India.

Amid this, it rejected JioHotstar’s bid for being too low. On the other hand, Sony, which operates SonyLIV,  evaluated the rights but chose not to bid, while state-run Prasar Bharati decided not to acquire the rights at all. As far as the public is aware, Fancode never presented a bid for the World Cup. Meanwhile, Zee is emerging as a new contender for the FIFA World Cup broadcasting rights.

However, FIFA’s exorbitant price for broadcasting rights is just one part of the story. 

What’s not adding up for OTT platforms is the unit economics. Even if they end up spending a fortune on acquiring the broadcasting rights of the world’s premier international football tournament, the viewership could pose a challenge due to late-night broadcasts in India. Most FIFA matches are scheduled after 10 PM IST because of the nearly 10-plus-hour time difference between India and North America, where the tournament is taking place. 

Then, there is the ghost of real money gaming that is still haunting OTT live sports revenue generation. The ban on real-money gaming has wiped out a significant portion of India’s annual sports advertising spend.

As per some reports, FIFA officials are currently in India to speed up discussions with broadcasters. However, with the tournament now just weeks away, even if a deal is signed soon, broadcasters may struggle to secure enough advertisers and sponsorship commitments before the World Cup begins — creating a classic Catch-22 situation.

A Price Tag Broadcasters Don’t Like

FIFA’s exorbitant pricing seems to be sticking out like a sore thumb and won’t bode well for broadcasters.

The football governing body initially wanted nearly $100 Mn for the India rights package for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups. This was around 40% more than what Viacom18 had paid for the 2022 World Cup rights.

A similar pricing pressure has played out in other markets as well. In China, FIFA reportedly sought close to $200 Mn for the rights this year. In the 2022 cycle, it sold the rights for $140 Mn.

Here, the question to ponder is: why is FIFA charging such a large amount from India, which does not even have a team participating in the World Cup. The answer to this is India’s football fandom, which makes India a premium monetisation market for FIFA.  

Data from the 2022 World Cup shows that India was among the top 10 television markets worldwide, with nearly 83.5 Mn viewers tuning in during the tournament. A total of 745.7 Mn fans followed the 40-day-long tournament, while JioCinema alone had clocked 32 Mn viewers. But it’s also pertinent to note that that edition of the World Cup was played in Qatar, which allowed for a more suitable broadcasting time for Indian audiences, unlike 2026. 

Even so, the issue is not that India does not have the football audience. The bigger concern is whether OTT platforms can generate additional revenue from the tournament at a time when they are already burdened with extremely expensive cricket rights.

More importantly, for platforms, getting rights to the FIFA World Cup may not add much value because the potential for getting new subscribers is limited. Most football fans are already subscribers of these platforms.

Struggles On Indian Grounds

The business of sports broadcasting in India has changed sharply over the last few years. The 2024 merger between Reliance Industries and The Walt Disney Co’s India business reshaped the sports media market. 

Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema merged to become JioHotstar, leaving only a few serious buyers for premium sports rights.

“There is no competition left. Either SonyLIV or JioHotstar, the negotiating power now largely rests with these two companies,” a media industry executive said.

Fancode has acquired rights to smaller tournaments, but the FIFA World Cup price might be too big for parent company Dream Sports to pay. 

Inc42 has learnt that SonyLIV did not aggressively pursue the acquisition of the rights this time, effectively leaving JioHotstar as the only serious contender, which has weakened FIFA’s bargaining power in India. 

Even after reportedly reducing its asking price to around $35 Mn, FIFA is struggling to close the India deal. 

According to Reuters, JioHotstar offered $20 Mn for the FIFA package, which was turned down by the governing body. 

At a time when broadcasters and OTT platforms are already under pressure after spending heavily on cricket rights, industry experts are of the view that Indian broadcasters are no longer chasing every premium sports property just for scale and subscriber growth. The focus has now shifted towards monetisation and profitability.

JioHotstar already holds ICC media rights for the 2024-2027 cycle in a deal estimated at around ₹25,000 Cr ($3 Bn). Separately, IPL media rights for the ongoing cycle were sold for ₹48,390 Cr, making it one of the most expensive sports rights deals in the world.

FIFA’s India Ad Dilemma

The broadcast timing and the schedule of the tournament has also added to the concerns of Indian platforms. The FIFA World Cup comes almost immediately after the IPL season. Consumer brands have already spent a large part of their annual advertising budgets. 

For advertisers, spending heavily on another sporting event a few days later could get difficult. 

Plus, the FIFA World Cup’s late night matches in India significantly dampens advertising appeal. Brands are unlikely to fork out a premium to engage an audience that’s fighting off sleep to watch matches. 

Then, there is also the issue of audience concentration. Unlike cricket, which attracts viewers fairly evenly across India, football viewership remains concentrated in markets such as West Bengal, Kerala, Goa, Karnataka and the Northeast states. While that audience is valuable for many brands, advertisers looking for a broad nationwide reach often see football as a more limited proposition.

It also reduces the salability of ad slots for OTT platforms and ad networks. 

The nature of football also makes monetisation harder. While cricket gives broadcasters multiple opportunities to show advertisements through overs, wickets, innings breaks and strategic timeouts, football has continuous gameplay, leaving broadcasters with only halftime and short stoppages to run ads. This limits advertising inventory despite strong viewer engagement.

The revenue gap between live cricket and football for OTT platforms and broadcasters is significant. The T20 World Cup 2024 reportedly generated around ₹1,500 Cr in advertising revenue in India. IPL 2025 is estimated to have generated ₹5,000 Cr across television, digital, sponsorships and the wider ecosystem. 

In comparison, Viacom18 reportedly targeted around ₹300 Cr in advertising revenue from the FIFA World Cup 2022 across TV and digital. The FIFA World Cup already seems a day late and a dollar short in India.

Meanwhile, amid the currently deteriorating economic environment, thanks to the ongoing West Asia conflict, brands have become more conservative with discretionary marketing spends.

While India remains too large a market to ignore for FIFA, it does not look like a lucrative bet to Indian broadcasters, who are concerned about unit economics, soaring rights costs, weak monetisation visibility and a cricket-first ad market.  

Something may yet happen in the last few days before the first match between Mexico and South Africa. But if the current stalemate doesn’t change, Indian fans may well have to get more familiar with VPNs and illegal sports streaming this summer. And that’s another can of worms.

Edited By Shishir Parasher
Creatives: Abhyam Gusai

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