MUMBAI: The nation is caught in the Pepsi IPL 2014 fever. The series that is being streamed on starsports.com, in its first week, has managed to garner an unprecedented traction of more than a million visitors every day. During the period, starsports.com has attracted around 47 lakh unique visitors across web and mobile delivering just more than a crore visits.
During the first seven matches played in the current season, 150 million minutes of video were consumed by users with an average of more than 32 minutes per match. Consumption on mobile now stands at 42 per cent of the overall traffic. The majority of the viewer base is in the age group of 18-24 years in the top eight metro cities which contribute to overall 60 per cent of the traffic. Gender specifically, female traffic saw a significant surge contributing 27 per cent of the overall audience.
Speaking on the occasion, Star India EVP and head, new media Ajit Mohan said, “IPL 2014 is perhaps a turning point for sports consumption. For the first time, online consumption of sports is becoming about video, video, and video. And, our investment in creating a world class backbone for video delivery is showing up as a significant improvement in the experience for sports fans, especially on a mobile screen.”
Since its inception in December 2012, starsports.com has invested heavily to build a video infrastructure customized for India, where the experience is characterized by a proliferation of mobile devices and where a large number of consumers still have access to low bandwidth. In addition, for IPL, the company has leveraged its television infrastructure to deliver mid-rolls (advertisements in the middle of the overs) in addition to the already prevalent pre-rolls (advertisements which roll before the start of the video).
Video streaming of Pepsi IPL 2014 on the sports website has attracted many sponsors-HUL as the presenting sponsor and amazon.in, Toyota, ITC Personal Care and Reckitt Benckiser as associate sponsors.
Star India president sales Amit Chopra added, “The most innovative advertisers in India are recognising the power of the mobile screen. Many of them have been hesitant in the past about investing in video ads online, given the sketchy delivery of both content and ads. We have been able to offer a powerful proposition to these advertisers by delivering a great video experience and a highly engaged sports fan.”
Powered by live and video rights, the rich digital platform covers many world sports like major cricket tournaments, BPL, La Liga and Serie A in football, F1, hockey, tennis and badminton.
