Why Amazon pulled out of IPL media rights auction at the last moment

Amazon has already invested $6.5 billion in India, with that number adding up to over 110,000 employees and 60 warehouses across the country.

Former Unilever executive turned Amazon.com India’s head of business Manish Tiwary was guiding the company’s tilt at buying the digital media rights for the Indian Premier League in his first few months in charge, but in an interview with Bloomberg outlined his intentions to invest in the country’s rapidly burgeoning e-commerce business.

IPL Trophy (IPL)

Originally seen as significant contenders for the IPL’s media rights which went up for auction earlier this month, Amazon pulled out of contention for the digital streaming rights on the eve of the three-day bidding process. It became, according to Tiwary, a matter of comparing cost. Rather than spending $3 billion USD for the rights to stream one of the world’s most affluent and most-watched sporting leagues between 2023 and 2027, the benefits of which would be potentially hundreds of millions of new eyes drawn to Amazon’s streaming service in India, Tiwary views the potential of India’s new online marketeers as more worthwhile.

Amazon has already invested $6.5 billion in India, with that number adding up to over 110,000 employees and 60 warehouses across the country. Tiwary and his predecessors, as well as founder Jeff Bezos and executives based in the company’s headquarters in Seattle, have already demonstrated their perception of India, a country of 1.4 billion, as a treasured opportunity to grow Amazon’s influence.

Tiwary told Bloomberg: “I want Amazon to grow with India. India is forecast to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world.” India’s e-commerce market is projected to grow at a rate of 23% until 2023, making the arena worth a potential $350 billion in this duration. Tiwary views this as an opportunity that cannot be missed: the country’s retail market sits valued at $1 trillion, and with a rising percentage of that number moving online, he views it as a significant battleground for Amazon and its competitors.

One of Amazon’s stiffest rivals in the e-commerce business, the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group, did choose to invest in the IPL’s digital streaming rights, viewing the country’s hottest entertainment property as worth the $3.05 billion (or 238 billion rupees), in a joint venture with Viacom18, required to earn the broadcasting rights in India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Tiwary refers to the surge of first-time mobile phone users across the country, especially outside the major cities and the non-English speaking belt, who provide e-commerce businesses with a ripe opportunity to benefit. Despite a series of challenges that may come up — sturdy competition in the form of Reliance and Walmart-run Flipkart, a price-sensitive customer base, and the tough bureaucracy of the central government — India is still viewed as the most encouraging spot for Amazon’s growth in the long-term.

Tiwary has a strategy mapped out, involving the growth of technology and marketing via the recently-launched Smart Commerce initiative. Amazon have so far succeeded in drawing a million retailers online, but have a magic number in mind. “If the 13 million or more small businesses are digitized, online shopping can reach every corner of India.”

Reaching this vast number of online sellers and markets is highly dependent, Tiwary argues, on making use of the growing digital footprint present on social media, a direct route onto the phones and online circles of the population groups which Amazon looks to target. Tiwary points towards small-market influencers such as Kajal Srivastava from Deoghar and Ahmad Zahid from Kashmir, whom Tiwary views as promising opportunities for marketing and as proponents of “a new playbook for social commerce.”

Tiwary is prioritizing outreach into the heart of India which is only just warming to the endless possibilities and opportunities provided by e-commerce, but also points out the significant need to be able to approach these customers in their own languages and at their own comfort, tearing down the barriers of communication and accessibility. This includes innovations such as Amazon by voice, which they hope to expand to as many of India’s diverse languages as possible, as well as availing the buy-now-pay-later credit system which is gaining traction on the platform.