FIFA’s India Streaming Stalemate

by · Inc42

SUMMARY

  • Weeks before FIFA World Cup 2026 begins, India still has no streaming partner as soaring rights costs and weak monetisation make football a risky bet
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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.

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