IPLT20.com Ranks as Fourth Most Visited Sports Site Worldwide in Mobile Web Report
2008-07-18 15:27:07 -
- Live Current Media Inc. Adam Rabiner, 604-453-4875 or 1-866-898-4354 Director, Investor Relations adam@livecurrent.com Live Current Media Inc. (OTCBB: CMNN), a media company built around content and commerce destinations, today announced that www.IPLT20.com, the official website of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) developed, managed and monetized by Live Current, was the fourth most accessed site worldwide on mobile phones in May 2008, ahead of ESPN.com and Cricinfo.com, according to a recent report from web browser development company Opera Software.
Opera's "State of the Mobile Web, May 2008" report is based on users of Opera Mini mobile web browsers in 10 countries including India, United States, China, United Kingdom and South Africa.
Additionally, a new Gartner Research report on the Indian mobile market highlights the massive opportunity for mobile applications and services:
-- India is the fastest growing telecom market in the world; 8.6 million new mobile subscribers were added in May alone, driven by sales of 10,000 handsets per hour
-- India's mobile subscriber base is set to hit 737 million by 2012, growing around 21 percent annually
-- Data services will grow faster than voice, growing 26% annually through 2012
"The strength and popularity of the IPL coupled with the rapidly-growing Indian mobile market, validate our recent partnership with netlinkblue to expand our agreement with the IPL and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to include the exclusive worldwide mobile rights and the live streaming rights," says Mark Melville, acting CEO of Cricket.com and Chief Corporate Development Officer of Live Current.
Live Current plans to launch the official website for the BCCI (www.BCCI.tv) in late summer to coincide with the Indian National Team's summer tour of Sri Lanka. It plans to launch a beta version of Cricket.com as the global gateway of cricket by fall 2008. The company is also developing a custom IPL application for the Apple iPhone, set for launch in late 2008. This application will leverage Live Current's exclusive digital assets in a similar manner as Major League Baseball's "MLB at Bat" -- a top five paid application in the first week of the iTunes application store launch.
Live Current recently secured 10-year digital media content, live streaming and mobile rights for the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). IPLT20.com was launched by Live Current on April 18, 2008, the first day of the IPL's inaugural season. The website garnered tremendous fan excitement and engagement, generating more than 50 million page views and 5.2 million unique visitors during the IPL's first season.
"This bodes well for next season when the IPL website will be complemented by Cricket.com and BCCI.tv, and by having these sites indexed by the major search engines," adds Geoffrey Hampson, CEO of Live Current. "We have secured hugely valuable rights for the most popular sport in the rapidly emerging Indian market at a time when the sport of cricket is undergoing transformational events that will shape it as one of the world's leading spectator sports."
About Live Current Media Inc.
Live Current Media Inc. builds, owns and operates some of the most powerful and engaging content and commerce destinations on the Internet, such as www.Perfume.com and www.IPLT20.com. Through subject-specific DestinationHubs(TM), Live Current properties connect people to each other and to the information, brands, and products they are passionate about. Live Current has headquarters in Vancouver, Canada with a location in Seattle, WA and is publicly traded on the NASD OTCBB (CMNN). For more information, visit www.livecurrent.com.
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although Live Current Media Inc. believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions; it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include financial performance, regulatory changes, changes in economic conditions and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
India's Mobile Subscriber Base Expected to Cross 700 Million by
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