Ag Voice | PremierSporting Events take the Indian Mobile Advertising Space by Storm

In nation where cricket is a religion and sports a way of life, there is nothing quite as lucrative - in terms of eyeballs garnered, as advertising slots during mega events like IPL, French Open and FIFA. Sports consumption patterns, in India, are changing and the increased usage of mobile handsets also plays a huge role here. To havesporting events streamed on mobile handsets, devices that never leave the side of your target audience, means that ads now reach themat any place and any time.

Taking cognizance of this factor, VAS providers like DigiVive have begun acquiring mobile streaming rights to several sporting tournaments like IPL and French Open, thus guaranteeing that users watch their favourite matches in the very palm of their hand.

The Indian diaspora no longer sees the need to stay rooted to the couch in order to stay-updated with all the cricketing action, as nexGTv recorded that users watched over 1.56 million hours of cricket on their mobile handsets during Pepsi IPL7. The app recorded a daily average of over 290 thousand unique users, and 1 million downloads during the entire cricketing show.

Apart from free-of-cost LIVE coverage, apps like nexGtv allows users to also access match repeats, match highlights and best moments of matches in the Video-on-Demand section. The ratio of live streaming of Pepsi IPL matches to video-on-demand content consumed was at 80:20. Also, on the first day of IPL 7, 16th April, DigiVive saw 47 thousand unique downloads of the nextGTv app. Then onwards, the platform has gotten over 28 million hits, until the end of the tournament. These numbers are quite significant, especially since these are a targeted bunch of people who viewed and downloaded the app.

Mobile applications like DigiVive’snexGTv arefree to download and available on a variety of platforms likeandroid, iPhone and Windows operating systems. Therefore compatibility with platforms does not tend to be a limitation when it comes to spreading word about the advertiser’s product or service.

What this service also ensures is that advertisers get to reach out to a captive audience that not only is sporty and passionate, but also more likely than not be potential consumers of the brand in question. Mobile advertising is still a fairly untapped space with a huge outreach potential. Thus, brands can be sure that there is minimum clutter, in terms of messaging from competitors.
Mobile TV has truly arrived in India, and proof of the pudding is in the user-base additions we see especially during popular sports showcase like the IPL 7. Noticing this upwards trend around sporting events, there has also been a peak in terms of advertiser enquiries and interest.

The future of premier sporting events on mobile and Internet-enabled devices, in India, is quite upbeat. This is a marketing tool to be reckoned with, for brands that want to grow beyond their existing boundaries, by promising unparalleled scale across the mobile ecosystem. | By: G.D. Singh, Director, DigiVive.

About the author:

G. D. Singh has over twenty years of experience in the telecom vertical and has held various senior P&L positions. He is currently part of the supervisory committee of Media Matrix Worldwide Limited (MMWL) Group, spearheading the content aggregation for distribution through 3G & 4G networks. Participating in various CTO forums, Mr. Singh is a regular speaker at such events across the globe