Google is shaking up the sports world. According to The New York Times, the company recently broadcast a live sporting event on YouTube for the first time. About 50 million fans tuned in from around the world (minus the U.S., where the event was broadcast on delay) to watch the Indian Premier League’s eight-team cricket tournament. It’s not the NBA Playoffs, but the 60 live matches drew about a 25-percent larger audience than Google expected.
Unlike last year’s U2 concert at the Rose Bowl which was streamed on YouTube, Google has convinced seven advertisers to foot part of the bill for the cricket broadcast, a crucial move if the company hopes to broadcast more major sports and other live events. Shailesh Rao, managing director of Google India, told the Times that’s exactly what the company wants, too, saying that Google is having “new conversations with lots of folks.”
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Google Eyes YouTube for Broadcasting Live Sports originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 04 May 2010 06:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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