IPL Live on YouTube, No Problem Says Sony

Mumbai: In yet another audacious move, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has signed a two-year exclusive deal with Internet giant Google for live streaming of the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches across the world. The matches will be telecast on its popular user-generated content platform, YouTube. This is the first time a sporting event will be telecast live on the Internet.

Besides the live videos, YouTube users will have the option to see the matches the way they want through features such as the ability to choose one's own camera positions, freezing or fast forwarding the stream, access to an archive function that allows the replay of past shots and also, a feature called Fan Feed that will give them access to entertainment around the event.

"The basic structure of the relationship is that we will place IPL live matches in this season and the next on YouTube," said Shailesh Rao, managing director, Google India. "We will also make available on-demand broadcast, clipping, videos and so on. We will do all of this on a global basis so that users from around the world can enjoy cricket," he said in an announcement made in Mumbai today.

In India, IPL has an exclusive 10-year broadcast deal, signed for a whopping $1.26 billion, with Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd, the network that runs channels such as Sony Entertainment and Max. The matches are shown live on its movies and events channel Max.

The deal with Google, though, has not been signed for a pre-determined fee. It is, instead, a revenue-sharing arrangement under which Google will share a certain percentage of the revenue it generates with the BCCI.

Globally, YouTube has 400 million unique viewers and the Indian market comprises only 10 million of this user set. The average global traffic the site gets every day, however, is around 1 billion. In comparison, Max claims to have had 102 million and 125 million unique viewers for IPL's first and second season, respectively. "Our cumulative reach is around 400 million," said Sneha Rajani, executive vice president and business head, Max.