YouTube to live stream IPL cricket
In what marks a major development for YouTube’s content ambitions, the video site is to live stream every Indian Premier League cricket game.
The revolutionary deal will see the games broadcast on the IPL’s YouTube channel. Google (which owns YouTube) and the IPL will share advertising and sponsorship revenues in what will instantly net the cricket competition a vast global audience.
If successful, the move has the potential to revolutionise the sports rights landscape in Australia and around the world.
Live sport is one of TV’s biggest drawcards, and viewers being able to find sport freely available online would mark a major threat, which would see television companies fight hard to block online rights being granted. But sports rights holders will keep a close eye on the revenue that the two year deal generates for the IPL. The announcement said:
I’m on holiday and listened to live audio of the Australian Open tennis last night on my mini laptop. Tennis Australia has a special radio commentary broadcasting from centre court.
My wife remarked it’s a shame I couldn’t watch the game as well.
Streaming video on YouTube is the next step in sports media coverage and should be welcomed.
Will be interesting once the IPL begins to see local figures around viewers and duration on the youtube channel and compare them to the Ten/OneHD broadcast.
Can sports leagues etc start to incorporate on demand online channels like this or will it dilute their much more financially rewarding broadcast deals?
And is a Google/YouTube as equipped as a Ten/Nine/Seven to monetise this content and deliver a return that justifies the effort and cost?
Ben – probably not yet, but I’d bank on it that they would plan to be able to monetize it in the not too distant future…
During the U2 live webcast all I could think was which World Cup will be the first to be live streamed on YouTube.
2014 or 2018.
IPL is a good test. But it’s a step toward content people are conditioned to pay for.
Passions open wallets.
So now Google’s a big media company, will people start calling them “evil”?
…and commercial television’s end-game takes another step closer…
By the end of this decade, all major global sporting events will be sold directly to viewers and not to broadcasters. The IOC, FIFA, Wimbedon, etc will make a ton more money selling their “show” to the global audience of billions – as will movie and television producers.
The next few years in the Australian commercial television landscape will be very interesting indeed…