Indiatimes Strikes Google Deal for YouTube IPL Stream

The global internet, mobile and audio rights’ partner for the Indian Premier League (IPL), Indiatimes, announced a deal yesterday, April 12, to partner with Google, enabling it to stream all 74 matches of Season 4 of the inaugural Twenty20 cricket competition on both ipl.indiatimes.com and on its dedicated YouTube channel, youtube.com/indiatimes.

Google has become a non-exclusive partner for IPL content for two years under the terms of the agreement, in which both Google and Indiatimes will seek to capitalize upon individual brand strengths and collaborate on monetization efforts both in India and rest of world markets.

In addition to web video streaming, the agreement will also enable YouTube to offer catch up clips to users on the mobile platform.

Rishi Khiani, CEO, Times Internet, stated: “The DLF Indian Premier League is a key property for Indiatimes and our endeavor is to offer users a world class online IPL experience. Partnering with YouTube is step forward for us in creating supplementary distribution channels for Indiatimes to reach out to cricket fans world over.” 

Commenting on the agreement, Gautam Anand, director Content Partnership JAPAC – Google added: “After the phenomenal response last year, we are delighted to bring back all the action from DLF Indian Premier League Season 4 to our users across the globe. Long form sports content has been a big focus area for us, and we’re excited to partner with Indiatimes to bring live action from IPL Season 4 to cricket fans on YouTube and set a new benchmark in distribution of sports content online.” 

As per the usage terms of the deal with the IPL, the web streams of the matches will have a 5 minutes delay in India, match-length delay in US and live webcast for rest of the world. Match highlights and other catch-up clips will be made available after the matches.

In other news, Times Internet has also signed a deal with Apalya Technologies for mobile distribution, with Khiani telling The Times of India: “We are also launching mobile applications and are tying up with partners in global markets like the UK, the US, Middle East and Australia.”

Khiani said advertisement spots on the portals, both for YouTube and team websites, were being sold by the company. Times Internet has signed advertising deals with Kerala Tourism and Maruti Suzuki.