India’s largest channel conglomerate Star India owned by the 21st Century Fox has bagged the license for the digital distribution rights for IPL 2014 from Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times of India Group. By this deal Star India will exclusively offer streaming and video on demand on its online sports destination StartSports.com (starsports.com) along with Star Sports mobile app and on mobile operator services powered by Star Sports.
Till last year Google owned YouTube was the digital distributing partner for Time Group, which has taken India’s biggest sporting event to a new heights. In 2013, IPL videos on YouTube alone generated 200 million video views and witnessed a 56% growth in unique visitors. The new deal will be a setback for YouTube as the video distribution through their platform will come to a stop and StartSports.com will be the exclusive online distributor of IPL 2014.
Times Internet will distribute IPL streaming and video on demand on its cricket destination on web and mobile, powered by a starsports.com video player, where Star India will be solely responsible for monetization, including advertising sales.
Star India already has the broadcast and digital rights for all cricket played in India until 2018 through a deal with BCCI. But that deal doesn’t include the IPL matches, for which the exclusive rights are held by Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd (MSM). Star India’s today deal with Time Internet group will further capture and strengthens it dominance over India’s sports market.
Launched in June 2013, StarSports.com has become the go-to destination for following the best of international sports. It has innovated in the online space bring the revolutionary video timeline taking the sports experience to a new level. It also got in-house advanced technology infrastructure that enables effortless HD quality streaming across multiple platforms.