YouTube signs official sponsors for its Live IPL broadcast

Google has announced the line-up of sponsors for DLF IPL 2010 matches on YouTube, the first major sporting event to be live streamed on YouTube.

Leading the line-up, the premium sponsors are Royal Challengers IPL team, HSBC India and HP India.

Other top brands taking sponsorship slots include Airtel, Coca Cola and Samsung.

Sponsors’ ads will appear throughout the 60-match tournament, across several ad formats, including pre-roll and mid-roll ads, YouTube homepage ads and banner ads next to the Live player and on video watch pages.

Royal Challengers' IPL team will take the spotlight during the final match of the tournament 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. Sponsors ads will also get featured on the IPL-branded Orkut community page, which will host team and player interviews, contests and match polls to engage fans and audiences.

Shailesh Rao, managing director of Google India and Media & Platforms, Asia Pacific said, “We are extremely delighted with the response we have received from leading brands in India to be part of this first-of-its-kind initiative on YouTube. The combination of on-demand access and interactive community features on YouTube provides a whole new avenue for advertisers to engage their audience. We are optimistic about the response from users and look forward to working with marquee advertisers who have joined hands with us in this innovative offering.”

Siddhartha V Mallya, representative of IPL franchisee Royal Challengers said, “Royal Challengers Bangalore takes this as an opportunity to look beyond traditional media, in keeping with fast-evolving media trends. Live broadcast of IPL 2010 on YouTube is a unique and brilliant idea for a big IPL brand like RC to engage with its young fans. Today visibility on digital media is an important element to reach out to an increasingly tech savvy youth. YouTube is providing us a whole new avenue to engage with our audiences wherever they are."

Maitri Kumar, head of marketing for HSBC India said, "If cricket is a religion in the sub-continent, then IPL is its fast-growing cult. This association with YouTube is a great way to participate in this IPL hysteria and engage with our key target audience."