In contrast to its troubles in China, Google is expected on Wednesday to announce a deal to broadcast matches of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, the country's most lucrative sporting event, live on YouTube.
The expected two-year internet broadcasting contract follows a glamorous players' auction on Tuesday in Mumbai, where the Bollywood stars and industrialists who own the tournament's eight teams paid more than $750,000 (€525,000, £460,000) for some cricketers.
"Google is clearly aware of the potential of India," said Jehil Thakkar, executive director, media and entertainment practice at KPMG, the professional services firm. "India is the fourth or fifth largest nation for internet traffic even though broadband and internet penetration is lower."
The YouTube broadcast plan is a first for India and shows the appeal of the IPL to multinationals. Sony owns the television broadcast rights and others, such as Vodafone of the UK, have captured some of the main TV sponsorship slots.
The three-year-old tournament's eight teams are each estimated to be worth about $250m while Sony's broadcast rights cost about $1bn over 10 years.
The industry has taken over India's media and entertainment sector, forcing many cinemas to give up showing Bollywood movies during the tournament, with plans this year to instead exhibit the matches live.
Under its deal, Google is expected to offer IPL matches on YouTube with revenue stemming from advertising and sponsorship deals, people familiar with the matter said.
Google declined to comment. No value for the deal has yet been disclosed.
Google's leadership and flexibility to conduct business in India, where it is the top search engine, stands in contrast to its fortunes in China, where it has threatened to pull out over alleged interference by the Chinese government.
But it and other companies that get involved with the six-week IPL, which this year starts in mid-March and is based on the shortened three-hour version of cricket, have to be prepared for their own share of controversy.
Last year the entire tournament had to be moved to South Africa for security reasons after the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November, 2008.
Controversy threatened to erupt again at Tuesday's auction when the 11 Pakistani players, out of 66 international cricketers up for auction, went unsold, prompting speculation that the team owners had been discouraged from buying them.
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