Today, from the adopted land of cricket, comes the greatest annual sporting extravaganza, the Indian Premier League. With more than a 100 associated brands, the tournament is not just a sporting spectacle, but a commercial event masquerading as cricket.
Today, also marks one of the biggest days in internet broadcasting. The organisers of the Indian Premier League have signed a ground breaking deal with Google, to broadcast all the matches live on Youtube. This path breaking deal, a World first, will be closely watched by many quarters, particularly those in the broadcasting business as this could potentially shift the television industry. The service, which will be fully monetised by advertising revenue which is to be shared by Youtube & IPL, is an untested business model.
Rumours are rife that Youtube has acquired a number of advertisers across many geographies, including the UK where Lebara Mobile and Brylcreem are expected to be the first on the board. If this new revenue generating broadcast model works, then Google’s nifty acquisition of Youtube from three former PayPal employees in November 2006 will prove to be a grand success for the company as this means that many other sporting events in the world would soon be available live on YouTube, diminishing the dominating might of paid sports channels.
The Internet surpasses television’s global reach and if an event like the Indian Premier League, which is keenly followed only in a handful of countries, can be offered free to the viewer, it is imminent that it will encourage hundreds of thousands of new followers to log on to the site, who, otherwise would have skipped the tournament rather than paying hefty subscription fees to satelite or cable broadcasters. Now, imagine all the big ticket sporting events such as the English Premier League, Champions League, NBA, NFL etc playing live on YouTube!!!
With the financial power of Google, it seems a distinct possibility that this may be a vision of what lies ahead.
Let’s play!!!
