LiveCurrent

Live Current in Kiplinger's

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:02:38 -0700

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'

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:25:27 -0700

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

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:58:23 -0700

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.

Live Video and Mobile Added to Official IPL Cricket Site

nospam@example.com (Becky Porter) — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:14:51 -0700

Live Current today announced the addition of live streaming video and mobile access to the official Indian Premier League destination: IPLT20.com. Live Current and netlinkblue, the company which originally acquired the streaming video and mobile rights, have combined all digital assets to provide cricket fans with one single destination for all things related to the IPL. The relationship between Live Current and netlinkblue provides greater revenue opportunities such as pay-per-view access to games and low cost mobile access to games, scores and photos. This is yet another move forward for Live Current as we develop relationships and increase presence within the cricket community and develop Cricket.com, the future site for global cricket. Please take a moment to read today's press release and let us know if you have any questions.

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The news has already been covered this morning by the UK Guardian, one of the largest publications in the world. You can access this article online, HERE.

Perfume.com Hat Trick

nospam@example.com (Alison Twiner) — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:50:27 -0700

We are pleased to report that Perfume.com has once again been selected for listing in the newly published 2008 Edition of the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide ("IR 500"), the definitive ranking and analysis of America's 500 largest e-retailers based on their sales on the internet.

This is the third consecutive year that Perfume.com -- with just five years of operating history -- has made the Internet Retailer Top 500, and it offers further validation of the power of the destination and its efficient business model which is easily discovered by those seeking to buy top fragrance brands.

Inclusion in the IR 500 is a noteworthy accolade in the online retail industry, akin to the Fortune 500 in the blue chip world. We expect that Perfume.com will be a part of this prestigious list for years to come as we get set to launch the site as a true health & beauty DestinationHub™, improve the site's supply chain and enhance its consumer marketing programs.

For more information on the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, please click on the IR 500 image:

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P.S. If you're planning on attending the Internet Retailer conference in Chicago this June, drop by the session Perfume.com is participating in to say hello! For more information on IRCE 2008, click HERE.

Celebrating 5 years of sweet smelling sales!

nospam@example.com (Alison Twiner) — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:00:00 -0700

May 15th marks the 5th birthday for the Perfume.com business. To celebrate this special day with our customers, we're holding a One Day Sale event (sorry no cake, a logistical nightmare). Many of our best selling products have been discounted to over 50% off retail prices. Doesn't everyone love a birthday party with loot bags?

Five years in the business is an exciting milestone. In this time, our Perfume.com site has changed significantly with the evolution of online consumer behaviour, advancements in the e-commerce shopping experiences, and in the ways we connect with our customers. I look forward to seeing what the next 5 years will bring. In the near term, I'm thrilled about what the next 5 months will bring -- exciting changes to the site and new growth opportunities for the business that will kick off in the next 6 weeks.

Stay tuned...now go fill up those loot bags! We've got a birthday to celebrate.

It's a Cricket World Afterall...

nospam@example.com (Mark Melville) — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:12:52 -0700

I've had the opportunity to work and live in a number of countries throughout my career (including India), yet I had never truly experienced the almost unrivaled enthusiasm for cricket until the last couple of months. As we moved through the negotiation, closing and now execution of the BCCI/IPL deal I have learned a lot about the sport and even more about the passion around the game.

So far the IPL has been an amazing success and has run incredibly smoothly for an inaugural season -- it is after all being managed by IMG (the large American sports marketing company that managed the last soccer world cup, represents Tiger Woods, etc.). The opening ceremonies were like a Super Bowl half-time extravaganza with performers, fireworks and NFL cheerleaders. What was even more amazing about being there though was the energy and commitment of the fans -- to witness 60,000 cheering and dancing fans, faces-painted, passionately supporting teams that were playing their first game ever in a brand new league was incredible. Outside of the stadiums the league is also ubiquitous and has clearly grabbed the complete attention of the nation. During the first week of the IPL it was everywhere -- some of the news television channels were spending more than 50% of their time on the IPL and related stories. The fusing of the national sport and Bollywood has clearly paid real dividends in India. (note: see here for today's announcement that we have appointed a major Bollywood star, Riya Sen, as the website's brand ambassador: http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1370194)

One interesting development over the last six weeks has been the gradual but ever-increasing spillover of the media coverage and buzz into North America. It seems as though the world is catching on to cricket and is quickly realizing not only the fun of the sport but the ultimate business opportunity at hand -- multinationals such as Sony, Citibank, Honda, PepsiCo and Mastercard are involved in the league while closer to home Canadian banks such as Scotiabank and RBC have just recently signed on to sponsor Canadian cricket leagues and associations. The media and multinationals are a good indication of a) what consumers want and b) the biggest global trends, and so when media outlets such as the New York Times, Toronto Star, Christian Science Monitor and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation are covering the IPL, it signals the fact that this sport is in true global demand.

Here is a great article from yesterday's New York Times that speaks to this trend. In the photo you will notice the url of our website, www.iplt20.com, prominently displayed in the lead photo -- in the three IPL stadiums I have visited, it is literally plastered all over the place: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/sports/othersports/07cricket.html?ref=sports

LCM grows more multinational

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:31:18 -0700

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

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:11:14 -0700

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.

Congratulations Patrick (& John)!

nospam@example.com (Jonathan Ehrlich) — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:48:53 -0700

Live Current Media's Director of Engineering, Patrick Collison, with younger brother John, was named 'Young IT Person of the Year' at the 2008 ICT Excellence Awards, Ireland's most prestigious awards programme in the Information and Communications Technology sector. You can read the article at the ICT Excellence Awards website.

(And for all our readers/investors, Patrick is the red-haired one on the left. The one in the middle is Patrick's youngest brother, Tommy, who is apparently the smartest of the Collison clan. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait at least 10 years before we recruit him .

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

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:33:15 -0700

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?

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:27:44 -0700

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

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:18:42 -0700

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

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:55:33 -0700

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 company’s 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'

nospam@example.com (Adam Rabiner) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:34:47 -0700

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.