Planet Rugby Hooks Partner for Interactive RBS Six Nations Game
3 February 2006
The UK's leading rugby news and content provider, TEAMtalk Media Group has teamed up with video games publisher Ubisoft, producer of the RBS Six Nations Championship game, for an online partnership coinciding with this year's competition.
In a deal brokered by MJ Media, all visitors to TEAMtalk's planet-rugby.com and sportinglife.com websites will be able to access the Fantasy RBS Six Nations online game, developed by TEAMtalk, which will be sponsored by Ubisoft. The online game will feature branding for Ubisoft's Rugby Challenge 2006 video game, which is now available for rugby fans who want to experience the championships in their own home.
The tournament kicks off with Ireland v France at Lansdowne Road on February 4 and the game will give Ubisoft a click-through presence on every page of planet-rugby.com and throughout the rugby section of sportinglife.com. Combined, the two sites have more than 2.1 million unique users, with around 75 million page impressions per month.
"It was felt that the audience of both websites fitted well with our target market and that TEAMtalk's interactive game would be an effective way to promote Rugby Challenge 2006," says Phil Brannelly of Ubisoft. "The online game is not the same as the Ubisoft product, but it is designed to appeal to the same type of fan, and the presence on the TEAMtalk sites means we can reach potential buyers with an established interest in rugby."
Planet Rugby is part of TEAMtalk Media Group, the UK's leading provider of online sports news, result and comment. The site's audience is predominantly male, in the 25-44 age group and in the ABC1 social demographic. The site attracts 2.1 million monthly impressions with the average user staying online for 35 minutes per visit.
sportinglife.com is also mainly used by male sports fans, attracting more than 70 million page impressions per month. It is estimated that more 76% of users are active online purchasers.
"Planet Rugby takes a light-hearted look at the game, while sportinglife.com will deliver the really serious sports fans," says Tom Moon of TEAMtalk Media Group. "We love it when the opportunity arises to work with clients on something fun and interactive that will appeal across our different sites. The Rugby Challenge 2006 video game is exactly the sort of product we want to associate our brands with and it fits brilliantly with the Fantasy RBS Six Nationsgame we've developed."
ENDS
Issued on behalf of TEAMtalk Media Group
by Forum Communicate
For further information please contact:
Rob Lawson on (0191) 226 8800 or email rob@forumcommunicate.co.uk
Richard Garrad on (0191) 226 8800 or email richard@forumcommunicate.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
TEAMtalk Media Group
Operating within the sports content division of ukbetting plc, the AIM-listed online betting and casino operation, TEAMtalk Media Group is the leading network of sports web sites in the UK.
Comprising sportinglife.com, TEAMtalk.com, Sportal.com, football365.com, cricket365.com, golf365.com, Rivals.net, planet-f1.com planet-rugby.com, and Bettingzone.co.uk, among others, we deliver leading edge interactive content to a combined audience of around 6 million loyal, web literate sports fans.
TEAMtalk Media Group excels in the provision of multi platform sports content delivery specifically for web, audio, iTV and mobile telephony. We offer excellent advertising and sponsorship opportunities across the entire network, with leading brand names for leading brand players.
Since its launch in 1998, Planet Rugby has established itself as the largest independent Rugby Union website on the planet. The site provides first class content through regular news, features and reviews. In fact, Planet-rugby has become one of the largest rugby publications both on-line and offline.
Christened "The All Blacks of the offline sector" the site attracts top names as regular contributors such as Martin Johnson, Michael Lynagh and Stephen Jones. with first class content, it attracts the largest, most passionate global rugby audience.
Site Users:
- Monthly impressions: 2.1 million
- Unique users: 184,000
Target Audience:
- Male - 88%
- Aged 25-44 - 84%
- ABC1 - 82%
Launched in January 1997, Sportinglife.com was the first UK sports images and remains the UK's number one multi-sports site with over 1.5million unique users generating between 50 - 100 million page impressions monthly. (August 2002)
Sportinglife.com offers unrivalled in-depth news, scores, results and reviews across an impressive array of sport specific channels including: Football, Horse Racing, Cricket, Greyhound Racing, Rugby Union, Rugby League ,Formula 1, Golf, Boxing, Tennis, Snooker, NFL/American Sports and more.
With an emphasis on event-driven coverage, sportinglife.com also creates around 50 event specific micro-sites a year for sporting occasions such as the World Cup, Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup.
Site Users
- Monthly impressions: 73 million
- Unique ssers: 1.9 million
Target Audience
- Male - 87%
- Aged 25-44 - 62%
- ABC1 - 81%
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through its strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships.
Ubisoft has offices in 21 countries and sales in more than 50 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge videogame titles to consumers. Ubisoft generated revenue of 538 million Euros for the 2004-2005 fiscal year, an increase of 8 percent over the previous fiscal year at constant exchange rates. To learn more, please visit ubisoftgroup.com.
- 3rd independent European publisher
- 5th independent publisher in the US all consoles combined(source: NPD first quarter 2005)
- Second largest in-house development staffing the world
- The ubi.com portal attracts 3.5 million unique visitors each month
MJ Media: Youth and Entertainment Media Specialists
MJ Media was established in 1997 to address the concern that service levels in the media industry had declined as agencies grew in size. We set out to restore service levels by using experienced staff who remember the days when clients received a higher priority than agency profit targets.
We live and breathe media and believe in transparency and open working relationships. We have full service agency backgrounds so have a mindset of marketing and advertising backgrounds rather than just media.
We also believe in the largely forgotten adage that a media department should be an extension of the marketing department. Above all we are passionate about media and the markets in which we operate.