‘Investors must have a long-term view to unlock India’s sports market potential’: JioStar VC Uday Shankar

Mumbai: India’s sports industry offers significant long-term investment opportunities, but investors need patience and a willingness to innovate to unlock the market’s potential across cricket and other sports, Uday Shankar, vice-chairman of JioStar, said at APOS Sports Edge 2026. “India is going to be a very exciting sports market” over the next 10-15 years, with cricket and other sports expected to grow, Shankar said, urging investors to take a longer-term view.

Citing the Indian Premier League (IPL) as an example of the value created through patient investment, he said investors could not expect to exit within five years. He also credited the Board of Control for Cricket in India with playing an important role in the growth of the sport. “So, investing in sport is a great idea, but your horizon has to be much longer. You can’t look at a five-year horizon and say you will cash out,” Shankar said. Investors must go beyond providing capital and focus on innovation to create lasting value, he added.

Shankar said Indian sports had come a long way from a market dominated by cricket. The IPL alone is watched by about 650 million people, while kabaddi has an audience of around 450 million, he said, highlighting the potential to build other sports.

However, the economics of sports broadcasting remain under pressure. Media-rights costs have risen sharply, but advertising revenues and subscription yields have not kept pace, Shankar said. Although India has a large subscriber base, revenue per subscriber remains low because of consumers’ limited paying capacity. He said media companies needed greater discipline in bidding for premium sports rights and innovative ways to monetise audiences. The challenge is compounded by technology platforms competing with traditional media companies for advertising revenue, he noted.

Shankar also said that while linear television was contracting, connected TV was growing rapidly, an encouraging development for the industry. Beyond the business model, he called for a rethink of cricket’s crowded calendar, arguing that it was often not designed with fans in mind.

While high-profile matches continued to attract audiences, games between top-ranked sides and much lower-ranked teams could struggle to generate excitement. He also advocated simplifying cricket by reducing the number of formats, while acknowledging his personal affection for Test cricket. The growth of the game, he said, had been driven by the pace, excitement and unpredictability of T20 cricket.

“The shorter format is fun. The sports authorities don’t like this word, but at the end of the day, sport has to be fun, particularly in India. It has to excite people, it has to give them joy, it has to give them excitement,” he said.