Cricinfo.com Taps AdMob as Mobile Ads Provider

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Cricinfo.com, the world’s largest cricket content source, has selected mobile advertising network AdMob to monetize its mobile Internet traffic. AdMob will deliver ads globally for Cricinfo, while allowing advertisers to reach users in local markets using sophisticated targeting. This marks one of the first global and local mobile advertising partnerships.

Key markets for Cricinfo include India, North America, the UK, Australia and other cricket playing nations. “Cricket is a sport that lends itself perfectly to mobile coverage,” said Anil Nair, Head, Wireless Media, Cricinfo. “The length of time over which the game is played means many consumers cannot watch broadcasts of entire matches and want anytime, anywhere access to the latest news and results.”

AdMob will serve ads on Cricinfo pages, connecting its advertiser base of hundreds of brands to the Cricinfo demographic. In August, AdMob served over 350 million ads in India alone across its network of over 2,000 mobile Web publishers. AdMob serves both global and market-specific advertisers, offering industry-leading ad targeting.

Cricinfo launched ads with AdMob just in time for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, which is expected to draw millions of fans searching for information via their mobile devices from around the world. Mobile Web users visit Cricinfo for up-to-date match scores, schedules, results and more.

“The challenge is reaching our five core geographic markets of India, North America, the UK, Australia and South Africa with a relevant and effective advertising campaign that truly reaches cricket fans,” Nair said. “The AdMob Marketplace has proven to be effective at filling ad inventory with quality advertisers worldwide and we are excited to be working with them.”

Acquired by ESPN in June of this year, Cricinfo reaches seven million cricket fans each month, with a core male audience 18 and older, and is the world’s leading resource for cricket entertainment and information. With the majority of the sport’s fans residing in India, North America, the UK, Australia and South Africa, the Web site sought the services of AdMob to target specific geographic markets more effectively.

“Cricinfo has a worldwide following of users who are passionate, and hungry for score updates, match reports, and all the other buzz that will swirl around events like the Twenty20 Tourney,” said Niren Hiro, Vice President, Business Development, of AdMob. “This is a great example of how the global strength and reach of our network can be used by an international brand like Cricinfo to monetize its audience locally.”

About Cricinfo

Cricinfo is a wholly owned subsidiary of ESPN Inc., the world’s leading multimedia sports entertainment company. Ranked number one in all of its major markets, Cricinfo now reaches more than seven million users every month. The site was founded in 1993, and its continuing success is built on the combination of live ball-by-ball coverage of all Test and one-day international matches, news and features written by some of the world’s best cricket writers, and in-depth statistics on every one of the 3,000 international and 45,000 first-class cricketers to have played the game. The site’s reach, authority and brand recognition are unrivalled in the online cricket world. And Cricinfo now reaches beyond the Internet — so that fans can get Cricinfo content on mobile applications and at some of the world’s leading Internet portals. Cricinfo Mobile is one of the leading providers of mobile applications and services, including SMS, MMS and audio services in key cricket markets across the globe.

To learn more about Cricinfo, visit http://wap.cricinfo.com from your mobile or log on to www.cricinfo.com.
For questions about Cricinfo, please contact:
Premdeep Gangadharan / Head of Marketing
premdeep.gangadharan@cricinfo.com

About AdMob

AdMob is the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace, having served more than 7 billion advertisements since launching in December 2005, and currently serving more than 1.5 billion ads monthly. AdMob allows advertisers to reach their customers on the mobile Web and publishers to increase the value of their mobile sites. AdMob offers both advertisers and publishers the ability to target and personalize advertising to their customers in 160 countries. AdMob customers include Coca-Cola, Electronic Arts, Starbucks, MSN, Paramount Pictures, Reuters, MTV and many more. AdMob serves ads for over 2,000 mobile Web sites, including ESPN, CBS, Weather Underground, Maxim and Peperonity.

BCCI nets cool Rs 173 cr from ground sponsorship

BCCI managed to sell the ground sponsorship rights and title naming rights for a total of 55 matches to be played in India till March 2010 to Singapore-based sports marketing firm World Sports Group (WSG) for a whopping Rs 173.2 crore. The amount is three times higher than the price at which the rights were sold last time. The previous rights were sold in the range of Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore per match, which expired in 2006.

WSG, which is part of the Global Cricket Corporation based in Hong Kong, London and Singapore, was in the race along with three other competing consortiums led by Nimbus, Percept and 21st Century Media (which was disqualified for not submitting necessary documents). The winning bid was a little over BCCI’s asking price of Rs 3 crore per match.

“The record deal just demonstrates the fact that cricket is still the leading medium for an advertiser. It translated into a 300% increase in revenue, and we are glad to bring on board a new member into the BCCI family.

The fact that newer companies and clients are getting into cricket just further endorses BCCI as the premier group for cricket management,” Lalit Modi, vice-president and marketing committee head, BCCI, said.

BCCI is still negotiating with advertisers for the Twenty20 international tournaments to be played in India. These matches are slated to debut in March 2008.

Venu Nair, CEO of WSG, told ET that the value of the deal would work out to $50 million over the three-year period between 2007 and 2010. “That is the kind of exposure we are expecting from this deal,” he said.

While declining to divulge names of advertisers who bid through the WSG consortium, Mr Nair said: “We have three-four advertisers on board, and the contracts are in the process of being signed.”

Commenting on the deal, Seamus O’Brien, chairman, WSG, said: “Cricket in India delivers outstanding value. We plan to have long-term partnerships with our clients, and we will service them as partners of the BCCI.”

Elaborating on the BCCI deal, Mr Nair said: “There is a significant difference between the ground rights of the BCCI and the ICC. The former guarantees India’s presence in every single match; and this in turn helps consistently deliver returns on investment.”

ICC, in the meantime, has sealed its global sponsorship deal for the next eight years with Reliance and Pepsi for $60-80 million. Nokia and UAE-based real estate major Emaar MGF have signed on for the ICC debut Twenty20 series for $5-6 million.

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The encryption of Doordarshan channels, which was offered as a compromise formula by private broadcaster Nimbus for sharing the live feed of cricket matches, has been given a quiet burial by the government with DD stoutly opposing the proposal.

The technical committee formed to study encryption of DD signal, after a showdown between the government and Nimbus over sharing the live feed of cricket matches, remained deeply divided over the issue, sources said.

Unable to reach a consensus, it submitted an "inconclusive" report with the ministry broadly outlining the difficulties of implementing the encryption on the public broadcaster, the sources added.

"The committee could not reach any decision on encryption issue. The report has been submitted to the ministry," a senior official in Information and Broadcasting ministry told the media.

"The issue is no longer being pursued now and the DD channels will not be encrypted,"

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When contacted, ESPN refused to comment on the value of the deals or the status of the inventory. However, sources say the Indian team’s good performance could have a ‘positive influence’ on the rate of advertising spots. In other words, the current rate of Rs 1.6 lakh per 10 second spot could go up.

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