SweetIFL Teams up with YouTube; Grand Prix Videos Debut This Week
Someone was bound to do it, and the International Fight League was the first to the punch.
The two-year-old IFL today announced it has signed a deal with the video-sharing site YouTube to deliver IFL content, including full-length fight videos, to web users around the world.
Similar partnerships have been formed between YouTube and the NBA, NHL and other sports entities. However, the IFL is the first mixed-martial-arts organization to ink a deal with the web’s largest video-sharing site.
The partnership will allow the IFL to deliver content on YouTube, as well as to the thousands of websites that use YouTube players and Google AdSense. By delivering Google advertisements in conjunction with fights videos, the IFL will have an additional revenue stream, according to IFL executives.
“We are very excited to be able to add YouTube and Google Ads as our partners,” IFL co-founder and CEO Gareb Shamus said in a statement. “Compelling content is key to success, and this partnership gives us the opportunity to expose our athletes, coaches and events to a much larger audience than ever before with compelling content we know this demo loves to view.“
Many major MMA organizations, such as the UFC, (rightfully) prohibit their copyrighted material from appearing on YouTube. However, they rarely offer alternatives — other than event previews — for people who simply want a sampling of the product.
Within the next week, the IFL will make available fights from the Nov. 3 IFL World Grand Prix, which took place at the Sears Centre in Chicago. Only two of the night’s nine fights — Bart Palaszewski vs. Chris Horodecki, and Alex Schoenauer vs. Vladimir Matyushenko — were shown live on MyNetworkTV, but the remaining seven fights will be available on YouTube.
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