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Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter are all vying to stream live cricket matches
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Facebook, Amazon and Twitter are bidding for the digital broadcasting rights for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 (IPL), Bloomberg reports.
The announcement is another sign in the shift by large tech platform to build out their media offerings, with a particular focus on sports.
The above-mentioned tech players are among 18 Indian and global media and technology companies, including BT Group and Sky, Star India (owned by 21st Century Fox), Sony Pictures Networks India and ESPN Digital Media (India).
Capitalize on a growing internet population. India is forecasted to reach 730 million internet users by 2020, according to a recent report by India's IT trade association Nasscom and Akamai Technologies, putting it on par with China’s current levels of internet usage.
Tap into the global popularity of cricket. Behind soccer, cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, with an estimated 2.5 billion fans worldwide. More than a billion people tuned in for the IPL tournament last season across five TV channels for the duration of the 60 matches played between April 9 to May 29.
Facebook, Amazon and Twitter are no strangers to live streaming professional sports. Each company has steps into the space recently, which will buttress their bids for IPL content:
Facebook Live’s recent experiments with sports. The company a testimonial match between Manchester United and Everton over the summer, with auxiliary coverage including behind-the-scenes interviews. The size of its the total addressable audience on Facebook, the company's robust advertising business, and the platform's ability to drive engagement – in the forms of likes, comments and reactions – from fans, will be Facebook key selling point.
Amazon wants live sports in Prime programming. Last month, Bloomberg reportedthat Amazon is looking to add a rich spate of live sports to its Prime package, including tennis, golf, soccer and auto-racing content. Amazon has also made real overtures into India recently, signing two content licensing deals with leading Bollywood company Dharma productions and T-Series, a music company that also produces and distributes films.
Twitter’s moves into live sports are well-publicized. The company secured the rights to 10 NFL on Thursday games for the ongoing season, streamed the Wimbledon, distributed video clips for the Copa America, and will to host two exclusive TV shows for the NBA through the 2016-17 season. Twitter’s large audience of more than 300 million logged-in and 500 million logged-out users, the platform’s strength for live conversation, and its knowledge about users’ interest, are the central components of the company’s pitch to media rights owners.
The digital rights for IPL's Twenty20 cricket league will run for five years starting in 2017. The bidding deadline is on October 25, and the winners will be announced shortly thereafter.
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