Live Current in Kiplinger's

Tuesday, June 10. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

In the July '08 issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, columnist Andrew Feinberg writes that he likes Live Current (CMNN) "even more now" than when he first praised the company in Kiplinger's March issue.

Read Look Ahead, Not Behind HERE.

Media analysts: IPL viewership 'unprecedented'

Wednesday, June 4. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

From the Times of India:

If you were glued to your television set on Sunday, you were not the only one.

Groans or cheers (depending on which team you were supporting) filled the air in numerous pubs, coffee shops, homes and offices with the Indian Premier League reaching its crescendo and millions of viewers logging on to the final between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.... Media analysts say that IPL viewership has been unprecedented. TAM has pegged the aggregate viewership between April 19 and May 24 at 99 million.

Meanwhile, the Economic Times reports:

Riding on the hype, franchisee owners are exploring avenues such as maximising sponsorship revenues by hiking fees for new sponsors, extensive brand building on localised platforms and marketing the event to other countries from where they have player representation, among others.

And IBN Live writes:

Sony, which had set a target of Rs 200 crore of ad revenue, says it has beaten its expectations and raked in 300 crores [~US$75,000,000].

Sony had sold spots for 2.5 lakh per ten seconds initially in the tournament but that rate went up to 4 lakh for the last stage and reportedly up to 10 lakh per 10 seconds for the final 3 matches.

Media planners say the real windfall for Sony too will come next season as the channel can charge at least 50 per cent more than this year in Season 2.

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UPDATE: NPR's All Things Considered covers the success of the IPL. You can listen to the report here.

CNN on Lalit Modi and IPL

Wednesday, May 28. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

CNN "TalkAsia" has an exciting 3-part special about Indian Premier League Chairman Lalit Modi and the the insanely popular new league he founded that is revolutionizing the world of Cricket.

Watch Lalit Modi: Cricket's billion-dollar brain, HERE.

LCM grows more multinational

Thursday, May 8. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

Fresh from scooping the online rights for the IPL and Indian cricket, Live Current Media today announced:

Perfume.com Expands Internationally to Offer Sweet Smell of Savings to Shoppers Worldwide

Please the press release HERE.

Perfume.com already receives thousands of non-US visitors each month, and many have told us they want to shop there. Now, we will be able to serve the very sizable international community of fragrance consumers.

CBC TV covers Live Current Media

Tuesday, May 6. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner


Yesterday, CBC TV covered Live Current Media Inc. and its involvement with the Indian Premier League site (IPLT20.com) powered by Cricket.com. Live Current is enabling passionate cricket fans around the world to connect with the sport as it grows its online destinations into multi-million dollar international businesses.



BTW, the young looking red-haired gentleman being interviewed is Mark Melville, Live Current's Chief Corporate Development Officer, who was the driving force behind our agreement with the IPL & BCCI. Mark was in India for the opening match of the IPL, which he said was spectacular.

Report: IPL takes the life out of cinema, theatres, TV

Wednesday, April 30. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

For the past two weeks, we have been saying that the Indian Premier League is off to a hugely successful start and is taking India by storm. However, you don't have take our word for it. The Economic Times reports:

The ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches have virtually taken the life out of cinema theatres and television programmes....

Star Plus sources said the fresh Television Audience Measurement (TAM) ratings are expected in a day or two. However, till April 22, the IPL dominated the TAM ratings.

I read another report that the TV commercial inventory for the IPL was already oversold and that Sony was selling commercials for IPL matches at a 30% to 40% premium to Cricket World Cup ad rates. The fact that Live Current has the exclusive online rights for all things IPL and BCCI for the next ten years is just awesome, and presents us with amazing opportunities. The IPLT20.com site received millions of visitors within days of its beta launch -- with no SEO, marketing etc. -- with Alexa ranking it in the top 400 of all sites last week.

England to launch its own version of IPL?

Tuesday, April 29. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

How successful is the Indian Premier League? Enough so that the England and Wales Cricket Board are reportedly planning to launch its own version of the IPL.

Read the report at BBC Sport.

Radio Canada International reports on LCM's IPL-BCCI agreement

Thursday, April 24. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

To view this report, which includes an interview with Live Current CEO Geoff Hampson, please visit the web page of RCI's "Indo-Canadian Report with Wojtek Gwiazda."

You can listen to the actual audio file HERE.

In my opinion, this report is 'must listen' material.

Live Current to participate in first investor conference at the inaugural LD MICRO event

Wednesday, April 23. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

Communicate.com Inc. dba Live Current Media Inc. (OTCBB:CMNN), a media company built around content and commerce destinations, announced today that Geoffrey Hampson, Chairman and CEO, will present at the inaugural LD MICRO Conference on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. PST on Track 1 at The Omni Los Angeles at California Plaza. Hampson will conduct a breakout session immediately following the presentation and will meet with institutional investors to discuss the companys business strategy and market opportunity for developing subject-specific DestinationHubs, from its premium online properties.

LD MICRO publishes a by-invitation only newsletter focusing on discovering undervalued companies in the micro cap space overlooked by institutional investors. Since 2002, the firm has published an annual list of recommended stocks as well as comprehensive reports on select names throughout the year. The conference will include a select list of 60 companies presenting and will have over 250 institutional and private investors in attendance.

Please read the whole press release HERE.

'Bowling for Cricket Brands'

Tuesday, April 22. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

The IPL and BCCI are the focus of a Brandchannel.com report on the huge and lucrative Indian cricket market:

Cricket's branding is being repositioned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), through the Indian Premier League (IPL).

It’s the most in-your-face sports commercialization and branding exercise to date, where every team—down to individual players—has the ability to be branded and utilized as an endorsement vehicle to sell products from FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), and apparel and electronics, to telecom and banking services. Moreover, corporations like Reliance Industries and United Breweries Ltd. that have bought IPL teams, will use the league and the players to promote their brands. By capitalizing on the vast numbers of fans and their high level of enthusiasm for the game, the new campaign is comparable in size and scope to the National Football League (NFL) in North America and the English Premier League for football (soccer, for US readers).

Please read the whole thing HERE.

LCM in Hindustan Times

Saturday, April 19. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

The Hindustan Times, India's largest English language newspaper, interviewed Live Current Media CEO Geoff Hampson for a piece titled, "They don't know cricket, but know their business":

Geoffrey Hampson doesn’t know much of the rules of cricket. But, as the CEO of the Vancouver-based Live Current Media group, he pulled off a major coup by upstaging many mainstream media companies and bagging a $50 million (Rs 200 crore) contract to host the IPL’s online content.

Read the whole article HERE (the e-paper version, with picture, can be seen HERE)

Select media coverage of the LCM - IPL agreement

Thursday, April 17. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

In my prior post, I mentioned that I would link to some media coverage of our agreement with IPL and BCCI. Here are some that you might want to read in full, from two of the top internet technology & finance sites:

 click HERE

 click HERE

A great cricket match

Thursday, April 17. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

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Live Current Media Inc. and DLF Indian Premier League to Launch IPLT20.com as Official IPL Online Destination

Exclusive Ten-year Partnership with IPL and BCCI Represents First Steps Toward Bringing Global Cricket Fans Closer to the Game Through In-Depth, Interactive Experiences

Read the whole press release HERE.

This is clearly a milestone event for Live Current. Cricket is one of the world's most popular sports, and in India, the world's largest cricket nation, the IPL and the BCCI are king. Blue chips are spending huge amounts of ad dollars to reach India's massive, passionate cricket audience.

There has been a substantial amount of media coverage about the Live Current-IPL/BCCI agreement, and we'll post some links at the blog a bit later.

Newsweek features Auctomatic + Live Current

Monday, April 7. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

In the Apr. 14 issue of Newsweek, Steven Levy writes about Auctomatic and Live Current's acquisition of that company. Please read, "Take the Millions Now."

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UPDATE, April 9th: The article was published in today's Washington Post, under a different headline. 

Company undergoes 'signifcant makeover'

Friday, April 4. 2008
Posted by Adam Rabiner

Internet Retailer has a cool interview with Live Current's Jonathan Ehrlich:

Communicate.com Inc. is undergoing a significant makeover. It is in the final stages of an acquisition, it recently changed its name and it’s stepping up efforts to build a network of e-commerce and information sites to accompany the hundreds of domains it owns...

Now, the company is looking to turn that prime real estate into profit by building destination sites for its domains under a new brand, Live Current Media Inc. Late last month it announced it will buy e-commerce auction software firm Auctomatic for $5 million to help. Live Current says it plans to use much of Auctomatic’s technology and staff to create and manage the web sites.

“The domain name business was a low-cost way to get access to consumers, and now we want to bring products and value to those consumers,” says Jonathan Ehrlich, chief operating officer and president of Live Current Media... Ehrlich says creating informational and revenue-generating sites is now a top priority. “This is kind of like our coming-out party,” Ehrlich says. “We are now totally focused on getting users to spend as much time at our sites as possible,” Ehrlich says.

Read the full piece HERE.