Amazon, Facebook and Twitter have placed bids for the right to stream Indian Premier League cricket matches, Bloomberg reported. Indian Premier League received responses from 18 Indian and global media and technology companies, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said. Other bidders include BT and Sky, as well as 21st-Century-Fox-owned Star India, Sony Pictures Networks India and ESPN Digital Media (India). Digital media rights for IPL’s Twenty20 cricket league are up for bids for five years starting in 2017. The tender deadline is 24 October; winners will be announced shortly after.
Twitter saw a 56 percent jump in tweets related to the IPL this year, compared to the year before, a spokesman for Twitter in India wrote in an e-mail, adding that 90 percent of users were fans of the game. Meanwhile, Facebook said it is experimenting with a variety of sports content, including behind-the-scenes interviews with athletes and live games. “We have seen great results when we’ve streamed games live -- and continue to be interested in testing the viability of this content,” Facebook said in an e-mail. Amazon recently announced two content licensing deals in India, with Bollywood production houses Dharma Productions and T-Series, looking for ways to bring more users to its Amazon Prime subscription service.
