Uday Shankar observes, “Cricket is at a crossroads.”
As the vice-chair of JioStar, a massive Indian platform with over 500 million viewers spending approximately $3.9 billion annually on content, Shankar speaks from a position deeply tied to cricket rights. The 2022 auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) saw rights values skyrocket to $6.2 billion, with a per-match valuation of $15 million, second only to the NFL globally. Shankar points out, however, that the pool of buyers has significantly contracted, leading those remaining to reassess their investments. He questions the expectation that JioStar should pay equal amounts for matches against teams like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka as it does for matches against England or Australia. He believes they shouldn’t, and warns that unless cricket’s global administrators address this imbalance, the sport risks alienating its main financial supporters.
Shankar metaphorically describes JioStar as “the goose that lays golden eggs,” questioning whether the company should continue its heavy investment in cricket. He mentions an internal review at JioStar concerning the extent of its future commitment to the sport. He criticizes the Future Tours Program, likening its outdated structure to something from the era of the East India Company.
While not foreseeing an immediate exit, Shankar issues a cautionary note grounded in business logic. He acknowledges the presence of reasonable individuals in cricket administration but insists on the need for a collective effort from global administrators, highlighting India’s pivotal role and the influence of a few media companies within the country.
His perspective seems to be gaining traction in the marketplace. With the current rights cycle ending in 2027 and a new auction anticipated before the 2028 season, Media Partners Asia analysts predict the next cycle will stabilize around $5.4 billion. This would match the current headline value at existing exchange rates from 2022, but reflect a 13% drop in per-match value due to an expanded schedule reducing individual game worth. The merger between Viacom18 and Disney’s Indian operations has eliminated a key competitive factor from the prior auction, making a repeat of 2022’s price surge unlikely.
Shankar is not your typical media executive; he began as a journalist dedicated to exploring areas others avoided, asking probing questions, and observing an India that many in his field chose to overlook.
In the early 1980s, Shankar was a student at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, actively engaged in campus politics with a leftist inclination, believing politics could transform the nation. However, he soon realized, as he shared with Variety, that politics changes the individual, not vice versa. Subsequently, he pursued journalism, opting to work in Patna amidst Bihar’s turbulent times, rather than joining peers in the larger cities of Mumbai or Delhi.
His passion for television ignited in 1991 upon witnessing Gulf War coverage on CNN at a friend’s home, where access required a large satellite dish. In a country with limited literacy and newspaper reach, he recognized television’s potential as a powerful communication tool in India. Departing from the Centre for Science and Environment, where he contributed to the launch of “Down to Earth” and edited a report on India’s environmental state, he ventured into television.
Despite years of challenges, including freelancing on small news packages and working as an executive producer for programs hosted by Karan Thapar, Shankar persevered. He faced rejections during job interviews at now-defunct news channels, with one interviewer suggesting he return to print journalism. Undeterred, this only strengthened his resolve.
A significant opportunity arose when Aroon Purie launched the news channel Aaj Tak, taking a chance on Shankar despite his limited live news experience. Shankar credits Purie for giving him this break, which proved highly successful.
He later joined the Murdochs’ Star India, where the network was successful but had plateaued, focusing primarily on Hindi-language entertainment for the urban middle class. Conversations with Rupert and James Murdoch reinforced his belief in India’s potential. Rupert Murdoch remarked on the strength of a billion people in a democracy, prompting Shankar to expand regionally into Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, and Telugu languages, transforming Indian television. He also launched a Kabaddi League when few believed it would succeed; today, the sport attracts 450–500 million viewers.
“The desire for a better life is universal,” Shankar asserts, emphasizing that it extends beyond the middle class.
Beyond cricket, Shankar co-founded Bodhi Tree with James Murdoch in 2022. Supported partly by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the platform invests significantly in media and education, notably through Allen Career Institute. This company prepares roughly 400,000 students annually for India’s competitive engineering and medical exams. Shankar highlights the transformative impact of Allen in enabling students from villages with inadequate educational resources to succeed in these fields. Bodhi Tree aims to digitize and broaden this access.
In discussing Bollywood, Shankar critiques the industry’s insularity. He attributes the success of “Dhurandhar,” a spy thriller produced by Jio Studios, not to Bollywood’s systemic improvements but to its creators being outside the traditional circle. The inclusivity seen in cricket, unlike in Hindi-language cinema, has helped cricket thrive. Shankar cites Akash Deep, who rose from a rural village without basic infrastructure to play for India, as an example. He warns that unless Bollywood diversifies beyond its usual circle, it risks losing audiences to the more inclusive Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada industries. “The viewers of cinema have moved far ahead of the makers of cinema,” he remarks, identifying this as a significant crisis.
On the topic of distribution, Shankar notes a shift, with active connected TV sets in India now surpassing pay TV households. He remains unconcerned by this transition, emphasizing that the quality of intellectual property (IP) is more crucial than the delivery method. Still, he points out a gap in monetization, where media companies have yet to innovate beyond the traditional advertising and subscription models. Shankar sees AI as a tool to lower production costs and generate data for new revenue streams.
Shankar dismisses the term “media company” for JioStar, preferring to describe it as a fusion of technology and creativity. Despite his current role, he remains a journalist at heart, having never abandoned his roots in reporting from challenging environments. “The value I bring is in asking questions,” he explains, stressing the importance of inquiry over providing answers. Ultimately, journalism saved him from politics.
