Before being outbid by Star India, American social media giant Facebook had bid $600 million for the digital media rights. Had they been successful, Facebook would have had the rights to stream all the matches live. Many were surprised that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was willing to spend money on the digital rights to the IPL “is a big, bold declaration that the company will write real cheques in order to get its hands on must-see sports”
via Imago
The Facebook Logo
Facebook has been on the hunt for livestreaming various sporting events ever since micro-blogging site Twitter began to livestream an assortment of sporting events starting from the 2016 Wimbledon season. Twitter had paid the NFL $10 million for the streaming rights of the games. Facebook soon caught on by livestreaming FIA Formula E events on Facebook as well as other sports. In November 2016, Twitter even launched an Android TV app, which allowed users to stream live events, particularly sports.
Unfortunately for the social media giant, Star India’s massive bid put paid to any of Facebook’s hopes of acquiring the rights to one of the world’s most popular sporting leagues.
