Sony, Vodafone, Reliance 3G top advertisers of WC11

AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, which monitors ad volumes and other cumulative analysis, has revealed the top advertisers on Day 1 of the ICC World Cup 2011 that began on February 19.

Commercial Players
AdEx divides advertisers into On-screen and Commercial Breaks during Live telecast of the matches, which exclude Pre-, Mid- and Post-Analysis and ranks brands based on ad volumes in seconds.

As per the data, top five advertisers in the commercial space were from the telecom sector. The bulk advertising visible was from sponsors and associate sponsors with Reliance Communications Ltd at the top, followed by Nokia Corporation, Hero Honda Motors, Sony India, Vodafone Essar, PepsiCo, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, Spice Mobile and Cadburys India. Sony Bravia Full HD 1080 was the top brand during commercial breaks.

In terms of specific brands, Sony Bravia Full HD 1080, Vodafone Cellular Phone Service and Reliance 3G emerged in the top three, followed by Spice Video Phones, Airtel Cellular Phone Service, Nokia N8, Lehar Slice, Micromax Psych X505, Pepsi and Hero Honda Karizma ZMR.

On-Screen Advertisers
The on-screen space was ruled by Action Replay sponsor (Union Bank of India). Four of top 10 advertisers were official sponsors, while some were pure advertisers, respectively, such as LG Electronics, Yahoo India, United Spirits, MRF, Rupa & Co and Philips Electronics India.

The on-screen advertising mix saw a diverse range of advertisers from categories such as Banking-Services & Products, Corporate/ Brand Image, Internet Service - General, Internet Service Providers, Cellular Phone Service, Liquor (surrogate advertising), Hosiery, Lighting Products, Tyres and Cellular Phones.source

World Cup matches on your Mobile by VODAFONE

Cellular service provider Vodafone Essar on Thursday said it has tied up with the official broadcaster of the upcoming cricket World Cup ESPN Star Sports (ESS) for live streaming of the matches on mobile phones.

As a co-presenting broadcast sponsor, Vodafone will enable its subscribers to see ‘ball-by-ball’ live coverage of 49 matches of the event that begins from February 19 onwards.

“The 2011 cricket season in India coincides with an exciting time in the telecom industry, when mobile number portability and 3G are buzz words and the entire consumer base is being wooed afresh by incumbent and new competitors alike,” Vodafone Essar Chief Marketing Officer Mr Kumar Ramanathan said in a statement.

Live streaming of the matches on ‘ESPN Mobile TV’ can be availed on both 2G (GPRS enabled) and 3G handsets, the statement said.

Vodafone will also launch an on-air advertising campaign around the World Cup soon. source

Catch Live Streaming of World Cup via Vodafone 3G

It's time for a cricket carnival in India, and telecom players are batting with their latest weapon, 3G, hoping that the World Cup will be a money spinner for them.

While a number of players have bid for the rights to stream the ICC World Cup live on 3G, a first in India, NDTV has learnt that Vodafone has pipped ICC World Cup’s on ground sponsor- Reliance Communications and have won the exclusive rights for live streaming of all the 49 World Cup matches this year for a sum of Rs. 55 crore.

"India is a cricket crazy nation.. We do expect an increase in the VAS services, increase in traffic, packages, and subscribers around the World Cup," said Anuradha Aggarwal, VP- brand communications of Vodafone.

So while Vodafone walks away with the exclusive right to stream matches live, telecom players like Airtel and Reliance are planning to sell value added services around the World Cup and are expecting a spurt in the ARPUs as customers migrate to 3G.

Analysts believe that there may be a cricket overkill with multiplexes, internet and now telecom companies streaming cricket content. But with MNP in play now, telcos clearly want to go the whole hog to entice customers.

"At a time when MNP is round the corner offering such services will have  a positive rub off," said Bhavesh Gandhi, an analyst, India Infoline.

With telecom players having invested so heavily in 3G, it remains to be seen how it will spin off with events like World Cup lined up. But for consumers like you and me who want to catch the matches on the go real time, it is surely good news, but may not come cheap and surely at a premium apart from the costs of subscribing to 3G services.source

Airtel bets on World Cup, IPL to flag 3G service

India’s largest mobile service operator Bharti Airtel is betting on the upcoming World Cup and Indian Premier League (IPL) to hook customers on to its 3G (third generation) service to view cricket matches live on their mobile phones.
“We will pitch for more subscribers during the World Cup and IPL matches to flag our 3G service being rolled out, as they will be able to capture the exciting matches live from anywhere and when on the move,” Airtel chief executive V. Venkatesh told IANS.
Airtel is the main corporate sponsor for all international cricket series played in India during the next three years, bagging the rights at Rs.3.33 crore per match, covering Tests, one-day internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 (T-20) games.
The 10th International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup ODIs will be played in the sub-continent during Feb 19-April 2 and the fourth edition of IPL T-20 matches in April-May.
The company, which paid Rs.12,290 crore for the 3G spectrum licence in 13 circles, rolled out the high-speed multimedia service this week in Karnataka and plans to cover about 40 cities in other circles by March.
“In the run-up, we will carry promos to showcase the benefits of our latest service in watching the World Cup and the IPL in real time. Such big-ticket sporting events give us an opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of the 3G service,” Venkatesh said.
With over 150 million subscribers in the circles, it operates across the country. The company is targeting 20-30 percent of them to migrate to 3G from 2G on its GSM (global system for mobile communication) network in the first year of operation.
“About 20 percent of our customers are already using the 2-2.5G spectrum for various data services, including internet access to check mails, websites, news portals and chat,” Venkatesh said.
“We are confident that they will migrate to 3G for the advantages and host of services we offer at attractive tariffs,” he added.
Airtel chose this tech hub as a launch-pad for unveiling the 3G service as Karnataka is its largest circle by revenue with 15 million customers and commands about 50 percent of the market share in the state.
The company’s high-speed download packet access technology will enable customers to watch live streaming television on the mobile phone with quality visuals and sound.
“It is a common strategy to make best use of sporting events for promoting one’s product or service. We see sales of televisions surge during World Cup soccer, Olympics and international cricket matches in India,” Venkatesh pointed out.
“Similarly, World Cup and IPL offer us a great marketing opportunity to hardsell our new service,” he added.
According to Airtel brand & media head Mohit Beotra, cricket is a game that hooks Indian masses as no other sport so passionately.
“We believe that cricket as a sport represents the zeal and vigour our youth stand for. We are hence looking forward to a long-term association with the game for our brand promotion,” Beotra said in a statement earlier.
The Airtel 3G also gives its customers the power of high speed mobile broadband to enjoy other services, including video calling, social networking, video watching and music downloads.
In view of the competition hotting up, with other operators too rolling out their 3G service, Airtel is offering time-based tariff plans for light users of data where usage and billing will be by hour and flexi-shield plans for heavy users of data where the service will be capped.source