YouTube May Be Streaming Live Sports By Second Half of 2011

  • Share
  • Read Later

If Google has its way, YouTube won’t just be the destination for clips about honey badgers and viral videos in the future; it’ll also be where you go to watch live sports. The online video giant is in talks with both the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League to stream live games online.

The talks follow the success of streams of cricket’s Indian Premier League games last year, where viewers spent an average of 40 minutes on the site watching matches. YouTube hopes to repeat that success in the second half of the year with live coverage of games from the NBA and NHL, as well as multiple soccer leagues from Europe. Talking to reporters in Seoul, Google’s director of content partnerships for Asia Pacific, Gautam Anand, said “It’s fair to say that there will be a lot more appealing sports content you’ll see on YouTube. We have ongoing conversations with pretty much everyone.”

Also under consideration, according to Anand, is the livestreaming of concerts and other music events, although no specific names were dropped in connection with the mention.

More on Techland:

YouTube Looks To Star Power For New Celebrity Channels?

YouTube’s Future Improves With Cloudy Outlook

Nielsen Analyzes Netflix’s Online Video Dominance