Facebook's $600M losing bid to buy the streaming rights to the "hugely popular" Indian Premier League shows the social network is "willing to spend big bucks for high-profile sporting events to keep users glued to its platform" and take advertising dollars away from TV, according to Venugopal & Vengattil of REUTERS. Facebook on Monday "emerged as the highest bidder" for the rights to stream the IPL for the next five years, but lost out to 21st Century Fox's Star India, which bid $2.55B for the TV and streaming rights combined. The IPL is watched by "more than a billion people worldwide, pulling huge crowds in India where cricket is the most popular sport." The bid by Facebook "highlights the company's efforts to accelerate its push into video as it tries to boost its ad revenue and increase the time people spend on its platform." Facebook currently offers live video "from a number of news publishers as well as its users." Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser said, "(Facebook's bid) is still significant because it's such a large amount of money in a market that's still nascent. It clarifies that they intend to be a real player in traditional premium video content." With a "cash pile" of $6.25B, Facebook will have "even more shots at bidding for live sporting events as it seeks to keep people glued to its expanding media network" (REUTERS, 9/6).
