YouTube becomes a TV Station

YouTube becomes a TV station tomorrow
JULIAN LEE
March 12, 2010 - 12:02PM

YouTube's first major move away from being a video-sharing site and towards an online TV destination begins early tomorrow morning when it begins streaming free live Indian Premier Cricket League matches.

The Google-owned YouTube yesterday unveiled eight sponsors, half of which are global brand names. HSBC, Hewlett Packard, Coca Cola, Samsung, Indian mobile phone company, Airtel, Honda motorcycles, an Indian university, and one of the teams, the Bangalore-based Royal Challenger team were named as sponsors of the initial 56 matches of this season.

YouTube does not disclose the dollar size of the sponsorship packages but interviews with executives have indicated that because this initiative is a new one they are not asking advertisers to pay over the odds.

At least 32, 30-second ads will appear during the play in each match watched live or on demand later.

The cricket deal is part of YouTube's ambition to become a destination for internet users as a place not just to upload content but watch it, in the form of movies, sport and concerts, said Leigh Terry managing partner of media buyers OMD.

"Rather than just going to YouTube and searching for a video they hope to become a destination much like a portal where people can go for a variety of content, not just sports," he said

"I have a feeling that this is just going to be the first [of others] to come."

Mr Terry said that while YouTube's success at attracting audiences was not in doubt - an estimated 36 million videos are watched by Australians each month - it had struggled to gain advertising dollars. "The audience hasn't been the problem, it's the quality and the exclusivity of the content," he said, adding that initiatives such as this addressed that.

Source: smh.com.au