Spotlight

Play to win

React Media takes online gaming to another level and makes sports fans compete against each other by predicting outcomes of actual sporting events, writes Pratap Vikram Singh

React Media is a digital media technology company founded in 2004, that specializes in fantasy sports gaming and content management products for the Internet and mobile media. Headquartered in Bangalore, React Media has deployed content management, fantasy gaming and streaming media solutions for Asia’s leading TV broadcasters and media companies, including ESPN STAR Sports, STAR TV, Neo Sports, Yahoo India and www.worldcupcricket.com.

With 14 years of experience and expertise in technology, media and entertainment domain, Latha Iyer founded React Media. In 2007, the organization made a strategic decision to build its own consumer gaming destination by creating a proprietary gaming platform, Presino (www.presino.com). Presino, (‘play with friends’), is the first sports community destination in India.

In April 2008, the company presented its first fantasy cricket team manager to the users and since then it has offered games and prizes for a number of sports and tournaments. More recently in August 2008, a number of new features were added and the site was re-launched with a new look and a new set of games.

Presino is coined from ‘Predictions’ and ‘Casino’ to reflect the challenge and fun associated with sports and the ability for sports fans to compete with one another to establish their ‘sports IQ’. It is poised to be a unique destination for sports fans to compete and win by predicting the outcomes of actual sporting events. It brings to its target audience a gaming platform wherein they could compete in a network of games, based on sports and entertainment.

“In India the online gaming industry is fairly well tracked and researched for those involved with arcade games or casual Java downloadable games. However, Presino.com is an online gaming site with a difference—the games are not arcade games or graphic casual games. These are strategy based games that follow the real sport very closely,” said Latha Iyer, CEO and Founder of Presino.com said.

Iyer added, “Presino.com has been conceived as a comprehensive destination for sports fans in India and other parts of Asia. One can find games based on a variety sports like cricket, football and Formula 1. Users are encouraged to come together and play and compete with friends and other like-minded individuals.”

Games offered

Presino.com offers games across various sports such as cricket, football, Formula 1, NFL, tennis, golf, etc. Broadly, Presino.com offers three types of games:

• Fantasy team manager games

Here users play the role of a team manager and pick players that they think are good. Based on how these players perform, they collect points and leaderboards are generated.

• The Deck

Prediction based games using Presino’s virtual currency ‘Pi’. Gamers play with the virtual currency to buy and predict outcomes from the game.

• Presino Pixter

It’s a non-complicated game where users predict an outcome and collect points for every correct prediction. The prediction game formats reward a user accuracy points for predictions over time.

“All these game formats are structured to test the user’s sports IQ, or his knowledge of the sport. Along with these games, the site has powerful networking and communication features, such as private leagues, game alerts, invite friends, search, friend leaderboards and many more,” said Iyer.

Presently, Presino.com has a section titled ‘desi and ausi’ for the ongoing series of cricket matches between India and Australia. Under this section, there lies a sub-section called ‘Switch Hitter’, where users predict the performance of the players, for example, the batsmen who will be out on duck, number of 6’s and 4’s a batsman will hit, number of wickets a bowler will take, etc.

Iyer further informed that her company is also working to provide innovative versions of games that can be easily played on mobile phones. This will be a lighter version of the Presino.com, customized specifically for mobile users. She added that with the start of the upcoming India-England cricket series, Presino.com will be providing some interesting games related to the series for the users.

Target audience

Presino.com being the most important development from React Media, has primary audience typically in the age group of 18-25 years—comprising of the Internet-savvy youth section of the population. Since the games are sports- centric, the platform will appeal even to audiences in the 26-35 years age group. Presino.com has approximately 40,000 users who have experienced the games and the various game formats offered.

Though in India, and in other parts of South East Asia, fantasy gaming is in its infancy, Iyer said, “Presino.com is committed to growing this genre of entertainment and providing sports fans with a quality community platform where they can compete and play with one another. Presino.com does not charge a registration fee for users to play its games.”

Small team, big ambitions

The company has a small, young team with almost no hierarchy. Being a young team, the office is filled with enthusiasm and a sporting atmosphere. Work hard and play harder is an often heard line from Latha.

Elaborating on the organization’s workforce, Iyer said, “We are a team of engineers, game administrators, Web designers, and more importantly, passionate sports fans. The game platform itself is complex and has been built by our engineers to handle all the complexities of a transaction heavy game. The gaming platform has been built using Java technology.”

Growing opportunity

The entire sports landscape in the country is undergoing a rapid change. With cricket being the most dominant sport in the country, new game formats like the T20 has found favor with the majority of youngsters here.

“The IPL tournament with the regional league format, similar to the English Premier League, has just catalyzed this whole movement. Similarly, Formula 1 with the Force India F1 team and the talks of a track in India, is finding a much larger audience in this country,” pointed out Iyer.

This coupled with the upwardly mobile, tech savvy youth is a great marketing mix. Sports marketing will evolve to become more sophisticated with the growth of the Internet and mobile usage in the country. Presino.com is poised to take advantage of this opportunity to create a vibrant sports community here.

As far as revenue streams are concerned, the company draws its revenue through advertisements and mobile content services.

Iyer wants Presino.com to be a premier gaming destination for users in the near future. By 2013, Iyer is expecting the number of users for Presino.com to go up to 10 million. In terms of monetary benefits, she is optimistic about making the business worth $40 million, by the same period.

pratap.vikram@expressindia.com