The above video is an interview with Shalini Pai, Group Manager, Youtube & TV, Google.
Shalini participated on a panel at Streaming Media East moderated by Rafat Ali of PaidContent titled, Cutting the Cord on TV: Will Online Video Lead to Cable’s Demise?
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We talked about TV Everywhere, or “Video Everywhere” as Shalini likes to call it. We also talked about codecs, such as recently acquired VP8 (on2), the iPad, pay media capabilities, and Youtube’s recent big event webcast of the IPL cricket tournament a few months ago. The IPL cricket tournament was a 45 day event that reached 55 million viewers from 200 countries and peaked at 500 thousand concurrent live viewers.
I also spoke to Achal Shah of TimesofMoney Ltd, which sponsored the Youtube live video webcast of the IPL cricket tournament. My Q&A with him is below.
Why did you sponsor the IPL Cricket Tournament
Remit2India is an online remittances solution brand for Non Resident Indians living abroad. It is part of TimesofMoney a Times Group company which is focused on remittance and e-payments. North America comprises one of our larger focus markets. Remit2India has always strived to connect with its audience in ways they can relate to. Cricket & NRIs is a connect that is probably unmatched making it an ideal opportunity for any marketer to reach out to its audience.
This, combined with the fact that the IPL itself had generated a lot of interested & the last 4 games were being streamed for the first time for free, in the U.S made it an excellent opportunity for showcasing the brand. As a brand, we believe in innovation & that translates into our communication & media plan too. We are always looking at new & different opportunities to communicate with our audience & the IPL broadcast on Youtube did exactly that.
Did it meet your expectations?
The sponsorship format gave us excellent visibility in terms of our presence in the match cast video as well as on the Youtube IPL page. The brand exclusivity & the clutter-free format worked well. We were aware of the fact that the consumer is logging on to watch the match & hence we consciously maintained a non-intrusive presence throughout the webcast. With over 800,000 unique visits across the 4 match days, we did get an excellent opportunity to showcase the brand.
Would you do it again?
Remit2India as a brand, is known for its innovation – be it in product, service, promotions & value to the consumer. We are also keen that our NRI audience benefits from such sponsorships by getting access to properties like the IPL, for free. Such platforms provide an excellent opportunity combining the benefits to the consumer as well as the brand & we will constantly help the medium evolve with our presence.
