According to Brand Republic Google/YouTube have bought the rights to broadcast live Indian Premier League Cricket. This takes YouTube into a different category, putting it head to head in the competition for global sports viewers with Sky, ESPN and the BBC as a live event/sports broadcaster.
This sounds like it will initially be on advertiser-funded model, so could help make YouTube more viable, and could be the start of a real challenge to the subscription channels, unless it presages the start of YouTube moving into paid-for content broadcasting.
Cricket is one of the worlds most popular sports outside North America, so this will take YouTube to some demographics where its penetration may have been more limited, and so build its brand franchise as well as its viewership.
It also could accelerate the market for connecting home TV to the internet, giving people a real reason to link their computer to a more passive viewing environment.
Its not just cricket, it could be the start of the next phase of media convergence
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