Google: Live online

Indian Premier League, a property of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has expanded beyond the television screen in its third season. Until now, the $2 billion IPL brand has drawn revenues from TV rights, promotions and franchisees. This time, however, it is using live streaming on Google’s video sharing website YouTube to webcast the matches. Further, multiplexes will also showcase the matches. Live streaming on YouTube uses a technology similar to TV broadcast. The Compaq Cup in September 2009 was the first cricket event to be webcast live on Ten Sports’ website, followed by the India-South Africa series last month on Neo’s cricket website.

Says Google India Managing Director Shailesh Rao, “It’s a first-of-its-kind broadcast for us. We have got the best deals from Indian as well as global sponsors who have strong brand recognition. The premium sponsors for the live online streaming of IPL matches on www.youtube. com/ipl are Royal Challengers, HSBC Bank and Hewlett-Packard. Airtel, Coca-Cola and Samsung are also participating.”

The deal involves only sponsors and no advertisers. “We have kept the numbers less. Each of these companies will sponsor six matches. While HSBC and HP will sponsor one semi-final match in their kit of six matches, Royal Challengers will sponsor the final match. The sponsor will have its brand presence felt on the home page of YouTube, the live-player page during live broadcast. Mid-roll advertisements of the same sponsor will be run too,” explains Rao.

Besides, sponsors will get visibility on a replay basis and when a user logs on to YouTube to check out match highlights.

HSBC India marketing head Maitri Kumar says the company has associated with IPL for the first time since it is becoming one of the hottest sporting properties across the world. “With the brand as well as specific product advertisements, HSBC aims to reach its target customers on YouTube. We have created some new ads around the theme of cricket especially for the internet as this medium requires an approach different from a 30-second traditional creative on TV,” she says.

Google will have exclusive online rights for IPL content for two years, and will jointly share revenues from sponsorship and advertising. Describing ‘YouTube View’, Rao says it would be fun to have an alternative view of the match which is not available on TV or any other medium. “Users can read about the matches, post comments, tweet their experiences, customise their screens by altering camera angles, and share the highlights of a particular match with a friend,” explains Rao.

While this is not the first live streaming event on YouTube, it is the first time a major sports tournament comprising 60 matches over 43 days is being streamed live.