5% mobile internet users log on to IPL-related websites

Websites, mobile apps and games seem to be making the most of the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season.

Informate, which provides comprehensive consumer intelligence for the mobile industry, reports that nearly 5 per cent of the 60 million general packet radio service (GPRS) base in India accessed IPL-related websites, games and apps on their mobile phones.

Informate, with the help of an “on-device” mobile meter installed on the handset, captures real-time mobile phone usage across a wide network of mobile users. It states that websites like Cricinfo and IPLT20 were the most frequented by mobile users while cricket-based games like Cricket T20 and Brian Lara cricket were a hit among the young mobile users. Kedar Sohoni, director, Informate said, “We have seen mobile users spending an average 12 minutes on cricket websites and about five minutes per day on top cricket games. In fact, cricket-based apps on Symbian and Windows mobile phone have been a hit among the 18-year-old handset owners, as per our reports.”

Crickzenga and Cricinfo mobicast were the two most popular cricket-based mobile applications across age groups measured by Informate.

Meanwhile Apalya Technologies, which was recently chosen as the official mobile TV partner of IPL 3, saw its mobile TV subscriber base increase 32 per cent to 1,325,000 in a period of just 15 days. “Users have preferred our real live mobile TV service in comparison to delayed streaming from YouTube. Furthermore the optimised service for different mobile phones, networks and local operating conditions has been appreciated too,” said Vamshi Krishna Reddy, CEO and co-founder of Apalya.

WEB CATCHES THE IPL MANIA

# Cricinfo followed by IPLT20 are the two most popular sites with the age group 36-40 years

# Crickzenga and Cricinfo Mobicast are the two top cricket-based applications for IPL

# Cricket T20 seems to be a popular game across all age groups

# Among cricket sites, the overall share of page views for Cricinfo continues to grow

With 700,000 IPL videos being watched, over 2,000 hours of videos downloaded and viewed by users on their mobile phones, IPL on mobile platform has been on a winning run, insist content providers.

Around 65 per cent Nokia phones, according to July Systems, were used to access IPL-related content, followed by Samsung, LG, BlackBerry and Sony Ericsson each accounting for 30 per cent of the user base. July Systems had earlier introduced its exclusive IPL on mobile service that allows cricket-fans to see live ball-by-ball updates, action replays, video scorecards and cheerleader videos.