Q&A: Shailesh Rao, Google India

'We can live-stream some of the contents of cricket World Cup'

Some of the Indian partnerships are driving the key growth of YouTube in Asia. Shailesh Rao, managing director, sale & distribution, Google India, spoke to Varada Bhat on the sidelines of Ficci Frames on the tie-ups with IPL and Bollywood. Edited excerpts:

You had a two-year contract for streaming IPL matches. With BCCI awarding the rights to Times Internet Ltd, what will happen to your contract?
We are still trying to understand the situation. There are different things going on right now, we are studying the new rights process and see how it phases out. You must understand that we never bid for the rights directly. Last year, we had sub-licenced the rights from Global Cricket Ventures.

Would you sub-licence this year as well ?
We were very pleased with what we did last year. We created a lot of value for BCCI-IPL and for cricket enthusiasts online all across the globe. If we can do the same thing this year, we would love to do it.

Are you exploring more tie-ups with BCCI?
Users’ need drives us. For the World Cup, we did a bit in terms of short clips and a few replays. We know what the users look for on YouTube and Google. We could also live-stream some of the contents live as sports is best seen live.

You were also collaborating with Indian production houses for content. How has the response been?
Until last year, we had partners providing us short-form content, to promote their content. But in the last one year, the platform has evolved and we have a lot more long-form content coming in. YouTube currently has around 400 titles in its library and we have partnered with major Indian studios such as UTV Motion Pictures, Eros International, Yashraj Films and Rajshri for content sharing. When Dabangg was launched on YouTube, it  attracted more than one million hits in less than a week. For most movie producers, distribution in non-traditional markets is a problem and then the only choice left for people in those markets is piracy. At least, this way we are legitimising views and monetising it.

How does this model work?
Models can vary. Basically, we get the rights to display the films and television programme on YouTube. We will find an ad-supported model through sponsorship or just traditional advertising to support distribution and share the revenue with content owners.