Tag: UK

Sky To Launch A Dedicated eSports TV Channel In UK

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
UK’s largest pay-TV broadcaster Sky is teaming up with ITV, another major UK broadcaster, and cable company Virgin Media to launch a new eSports TV channel dedicated to competitive gaming content 24/7. As part of the deal, ITV and Sky have acquired minority stakes in Ginx eSports TV, previously known as Ginx TV, a channel that was only available via Virgin Media’s cable packages and covered a broader range of gaming culture. The channel will launch on Sky as a 24-hour channel in the UK and Ireland on June 23, showcasing major eSports tournaments around the world in addition to its independent programming.

What Brands Need To Do
There is no denying that eSports has become a force to be reckoned with in today’s media landscape. Earlier this week, Twitch’s E3 livestreams scored 925K concurrent viewers, a number that any basic cable channel would love to hit. The rapid growth in eSports has drawn considerable attention from traditional media companies, with ESPN, Turner, and Yahoo all establishing their own dedicated portals and racing to capture the huge audience that eSports commands. Some early-adopting brands, such as Coca-Cola and Geico, have been sponsoring eSports events to reach its young, male-skewing audience. Therefore, brands should consider leveraging the massive reach of eSports events to reach their target audience via sponsorships and ads.

 

Source: Engadget

 

Amazon Expands Prime Now And Web Services To Global Markets

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: TechCrunch & VentureBeat

Amazon has expanded Prime Now, its one-hour delivery service for Prime members, to London. An update to the Prime Now app notes the services is now “available in selected London postcodes”. This is the first foray for Prime Now outside the U.S., which first launched in Manhattan last December, which puts Amazon in direct competition with local on-demand delivery services such as Weengs.

Similarly, the ecommerce giant also announced new expansion for its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform in India. Encouraged by the “ huge potential in the Indian economy and for the growth of e-commerce in India”, the Seattle-based company plans to open a new data center in the growing market in 2016. This marks Amazon’s first expansion in India, and, combined with the expansion of Prime Now service, signals an accelerated ambition in Amazon’s global development.

London’s Red Phone Booths Go Green

Posted on by Lab Team

London’s iconic red payphone booths are getting a new lease on life by going green. Six of the city’s iconic red telephone boxes have been painted bright green and transformed into charging stations with solar panels on their roofs. The public can use them to get a quick battery boost for their mobile devices free of charge—the cost is covered by in-kiosk advertising.

UK’s Weve Makes Progress on NFC mCommerce

Posted on by Lab Team

Weve, the UK joint venture from mobile operators Vodafone, EE and O2 is gearing up for a big push behind NFC payments next year.

Their vision is summed up by this quote from the article:
“Weve hopes to have a system whereby mobile users can tap their phone at the till to use a discount offer, a second time to collect the loyalty points, and a third to pay the bill — all of which has been encouraged through advertising sent to the person’s phone or tablet”