The Hindu Business Line : Cricinfo upbeat on alliance with ESPN

Bangalore June 11 Mr Tom Gleeson, Managing Director of Cricinfo, cannot hide his excitement about being part of what he calls "the world's leading sports media business."

Although he is not sure what shape the synergy with ESPN (the US-based ESPN Inc has acquired Bangalore-based Cricinfo) will take going forward, there is no doubt in his mind that Cricinfo will "enormously benefit" from the association with a "strong brand."

Cricinfo enjoys huge brand equity among cricket lovers, especially Indians. (The site has 6-10 million unique users per month and about 25 per cent of that traffic comes from India.) And a name like ESPN will only add to the clout, feels Mr Gleeson. "We can tap into the marketing and technology investment of ESPN. ESPN too recognises the value of a Web site like ours and not change what we do. Over time, we will see which are the areas we can derive benefits from mutually."

So, will the branding see any changes?

"We haven't talked about the details, but in the short term, Cricinfo will continue to exist as it is. In the long term, however, we do see the ESPN name being used in the branding," explains Mr Gleeson.

With Cricinfo steeped in cricket coverage, will this pact complement and supplement ESPN's cricket content?

Says Mr Gleeson: "We have been providing some cricket coverage for about three years now to ESPN's Web site (espn.com) with links to our site. Going ahead too, ESPN will use our content - news pieces, reports, interviews etc - depending on how big the event is."

International sports coverage online is huge and, of course, cricket being a big sport forms a big part of the coverage. But right now, espn.com is heavily focussed on US sports; hopefully we will see more of cricket and promotions on the game in the future, says Mr Gleeson.

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