YouTube Wants NHL, NBA Live Broadcasts

(NewsCore) - SEOUL -- YouTube is holding discussions with the NBA and NHL on showing live game broadcasts, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The partnership would reportedly seek to build on the success of Indian Premier League cricket matches, which YouTube streamed live last year, generating 55 million visits from more than 250 countries.

"It's fair to say that there will be a lot more appealing sports content you'll see on YouTube," Gautam Anand, Google's director of content partnerships for Asia Pacific, said in an interview in Seoul Monday.

"We have ongoing conversations with pretty much everyone," he added, but declined to give details on talks with the NBA or NHL. Anand said the Google-owned video website will look to increase its sports content in the second half of 2011.

Brian Suh, head of YouTube Partnership at Google's Korean unit, told Bloomberg on Monday that Google is negotiating with "most pro sports leagues," as well as European soccer leagues.

Neither the NBA nor the NHL would comment on the reported negotiations.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006.

According to the report, YouTube views sports broadcasts as a way to keep viewers on its site longer, which makes the site more attractive to advertisers.

The average YouTube visitor spends about 15 minutes on the site, but viewers of Indian cricket were on the site for an average of 40 minutes for each match.

Read more: Bloomberg