Google is claiming big success in its experiment of Web-casting the Indian Premier League on YouTube. But there are no details on who is watching the Net while TV is on.
The Internet giant had set a modest target of 40 million cumulative hits and 10 million unique viewers for the 60-match IPL league. But the inaugural match on March 12 between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders alone garnered 450,000 channel views on debut.
By the next morning, that match alone had got a million hits. On Monday, total channel views had already reached 6.9 million.
“This is the first of its kind initiative so users are excited about experiencing their favorite sport in a brand new environment,” Narasimha Jayakumar-Business Head Google India. “The discussions on Twitter will explain how excited people are about watching clips and highlights of the matches and share their experience with cricket enthusiast across the globe.”
Kumar believes last weekend’s rush was just a tip of the iceberg and weekdays will bring in more global viewers, mostly office goers, and employees working in shifts. “This number will only go up as we progress into the tournament,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Kumar believes last weekend’s rush was just a tip of the iceberg and weekdays will bring in more global viewers, mostly office goers, and employees working in shifts. “This number will only go up as we progress into the tournament,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}At the time of filing the story Google was unable to provide a detailed breakup of location of the viewers.
On the launch day Youtube’s IPL channel experienced some technical problems.
Google India claims most of the glitches were resolved by the next match, same day. Kumar said, “We are now looking into the quality of the stream and working to improve the stream as soon as possible.
The subscription figures saw a jump from 8,000 on March 11, to 37,000 by the second day and recently crossed over 47,000.