ESPN’s Cricinfo, the world’s largest cricket content source, has hired the mobile advertising network AdMob to turn its Internet traffic into gold. Unlike the unsuccessful attempts by alchemists of old to make gold out of base metals, AdMob has a proven track record of turning Internet traffic into advertising money.
AdMob will deliver ads globally for Cricinfo, while allowing advertisers to reach users in local markets using sophisticated targeting. This partnership is one of the first global and local mobile advertising ventures. AdMob will serve ads on Cricinfo pages, connecting its advertiser base of hundreds of brands to the Cricinfo demographic.
Cricinfo is popular in India, North America, the U.K., Australia, and other cricket playing nations. Because a cricket match can take days to play, those interested in the sport require constant updates of scores and statistics when not able to watch a match.
“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.”
Cricinfo has already launched AdMob ads for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, which is expected to draw millions of fans searching for information on their mobile devices from around the world. This is a potential boom for advertisers who want to get their messages out to the cricket loving public.
“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.”
If ESPN’s Cricinfo is able to show good revenue numbers from its partnership with AdMob, in the future other global sporting events may follow ESPN’s lead. Updated mobile information on events like World Cup Soccer and the Olympics could create a potential for advertising revenue that is both global in reach and local in specificity.