As most of you know, the NBA has been on lockout for quite some time. Sabrina Rai just posted an interesting blog on Google’s ploy to use the lockout to its advantage.
It was announced that four of the NBA’s biggest stars–LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Dwayne Wade–are to take part in a 4-game exhibition tour dubbed the “Google+ Homecoming Tour.” Not only will Google be the main sponsor, it will also be live streaming the games via the tour’s Google+ page. The scheme is, ultimately, supposed to increase brand awareness for Google.
I find it most interesting that Google is expanding into the live-streaming video market. A news-press on CNN just revealed Netflix is selling shares and hiking up prices in order to get a little security and protection from competitors “with much deeper pockets.” Big tech players such as Amazon and Google are jumping into the streaming game and making things very difficult for Netflix. If it goes as planned, Google should recruit tonnes more Google+ users and as well become known as a strong live-streaming site.
Google+ is interesting, it’s great to see a really well-executed product in the space. There have been a lot of Facebook competitors, but Google+ is the best so far.
-Dustin Moskovitz (co-founder of Facebook)
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blog/tech/58419–google-plus-unlikely-winners-in-the-nba-lockout