Indiatimes renews IPL YouTube partnership
Times Internet Ltd. has announced a renewal of its partnership with YouTube for 2013 and 2014 that will enable it to stream all IPL games for the coming season.
The global internet, mobile and audio rights partner for the IPL will stream all 76 games on www.boxtv.com/ipl and its dedicated YouTube channel www.youtube.com/indiatimes. Cricket fans across the world (except the USA and Canada) will be able to watch complete live-streams, full-length catch-up matches and highlight clips of the entire season.
Satyan Gajwani, CEO, Times Internet, said, ���IPL has been a big driver for us in steadily engaging and growing our young sports savvy users over the last two years. We saw a 43 per cent growth in audience base just last year on IPL online. Our partnership with YouTube is strategic in building supplementary touch points with these audiences and we�۪re happy to renew our association with YouTube.�
John Vamvakitis, Director of Sports Content Partnership, YouTube APAC, said, ���Live streaming of IPL has been a phenomenal success for YouTube. We have seen over 50 per cent growth in viewership year on year. This is the fourth year of our association with IPL and we�۪re delighted to extend our partnership with Times Internet for two more years. This year we will be adding several new features to ensure that our users can enjoy a brand new experience of watching IPL live on YouTube with strong integration of Google+ Hangouts. Users will be able to hang out with their friends and family and enjoy the live feed at the same time on the YouTube channel. We will also host a series of hangouts with top cricket stars and cricket experts through the tournament to add on to the experience.�
As part of the deal, YouTube will have exclusive live-streaming rights for desktop web viewing (with a five-minute delay in India) and non-exclusive rights for mobile viewing through the 2013 and 2014 tournaments.
