Alphabet Inc., owner of the ubiquitous search engine Google, has shown interest in bidding for the broadcast rights of the Indian Premier League, or IPL, with cricket buffs joining the ranks of half a dozen media giants vying for coveted assets in India . ,
The US tech company, which also owns video-streaming website YouTube, bought bidding documents from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, or BCCI, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named. The information is not public. According to an acquaintance, SuperSport, a conglomerate of South Africa-based television channels, also bought the documents.
Amazon.com Inc., The Walt Disney Company, billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd., Sony Group Corp., desi Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. and fantasy-sports platform Dream11 have also indicated their interest by buying these information. BCCI, Bloomberg reported earlier.
Google’s interest in global media rights to India’s top cricket league intensifies the fight for a sporting event that has emerged as the world’s third-largest competition in terms of spectators, surpassing only the Premier League and the National Football League Is. According to BCCI estimates, last year’s edition of the IPL drew 600 million spectators, underscoring the media clout the event represents in India’s highly competitive entertainment market.
A YouTube representative in BCCI and India declined to comment.
The BCCI, the sport’s governing body in India that values the IPL at around $7 billion, will auction its broadcast and live streaming rights for the years 2023-2027, starting June 12. Purchasing application documents does not constitute a definitive offer and firms may decide not to bid, the people said.
Acquiring the media rights to the IPL – which some consider to be the Super Bowl of cricket – will allow companies to reach hundreds of millions of people and increase their advertising revenue.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.