YouTube to broadcast Sri Lanka Premier League globally

The Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) announced yesterday that it would broadcast its upcoming T20 cricket series to a global audience on the world’s largest online video site YouTube.

From 11 to 31 August, cricket fans around the globe will be able to enjoy the league’s seven teams play 24 games on SLPL’s YouTube channel http://youtube.com/slpltwenty20.

Each match will broadcast to a global audience in real time with a slight delay. Viewers who miss the match will be able to catch-up on the action through highlight clips from each game, uploaded soon after the game ends.

The live-streamed games and highlights will be available on desktop computers as well as devices like mobile phones, tablets, and other YouTube-enabled devices like connected TVs and game consoles.

The Sri Lanka Premier League will be held from 11 August and ends on 31 August, featuring the most popular Sri Lankan cricketing icons such as Mahela Jayawardene, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Angelo Matthews, and T.M. Dilshan. They join 42 international players including Misbah-Ul Haq, Shahid Afridi, Herschelle Gibbs, Scott Styris, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brendan Taylor, Brad Hodge, and Dirk Nannes.

Sports leagues and associations have increasingly worked with YouTube to live-stream events to fans across the world. Beyond the 2012 London Olympics being currently streamed to 64 countries in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, YouTube has broadcasted the Indian Premier League, Roland Garros 2012 tennis tournament, Badminton World Super Series, and World Series Hockey in recent years.

Secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket Nishantha Ranatunga said: “We are delighted to be able to work with YouTube to give global cricket fans the chance to keep up with the T20 in real time. This complements our broadcast partners in Sri Lanka.”

YouTube Asia-Pacific Head of Sport Content Partnerships John Vamvakitis said: “YouTube has become an online hub for sports coverage — from huge international events like the Olympics Games to sports with smaller passionate communities like badminton or martial arts. Starting with the IPL in 2010, however, YouTube has worked especially hard to offer great cricket coverage, and so we could not be more happy to work with Sri Lanka Premier League. SLPL are making the most of our platform, letting cricket fans around the world keep up with the T20 in real time or at their own convenience.”

YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community allowing millions of people to discover, watch, and share original videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small. YouTube, LLC is based in San Bruno, Calif., and is a subsidiary of Google Inc.