We had blogged about earlier on how Youtube had roped in HSBC as the main sponsor for the IPL. Now it seems the laundry list of sponsors just grew by half a dozen. Leading the line-up of Premium sponsors are Royal Challenger’s IPL team, HSBC India, and HP India. Among other top brands taking the sponsorship slots include Airtel, Coca Cola and Samsung.
Its a known fact that cricket attracts main stream brands but this kind of a live steaming of cricket on a platform as large as youtube is a first for sure and its a great sign to see big advertisers backing the initiative too. IPL is leaving no stone unturned to promote the live stream as well. We reported yesterday with pictures of the billboards which are being used to attract an offline audience.
Ad Formats For Online Stream
The ad formats will be the usual i.e. pre-roll and mid-roll ads, YouTube homepage ads, and banner ads next to the live player and on video watch pages.
Semi Final & Final Spots Sold Separately
IPL spots on youtube have been sold in slots of normal matches and the semi final and final matches. For the final match Royal Challenger’s IPL team will take the spot light and HSBC India and HP India will cover the semi-finals. Ads from sponsors will appear in all countries where YouTube is available except the United Kingdom.
Integration with Orkut
Google has also launched an IPL branded Orkut community page which will also host team and player interviews, contests and match polls to engage fans and audiences. The sponsor ads will also get featured on the pages as well.
expecting a huge hit for youtube’s ipl channel.