Sportskeeda on Times Square billboards; "US contributes to over 20% of our consumption": Porush Jain

Sportskeeda ad was seen romancing the good old billboards in Midtown Manhattan. Last week, Porush Jain, founder and CEO of the multisport web publication, uploaded an image that showed a Sportskeeda ad at the busy intersection of New York City - the iconic Times Square. The billboard reads, "Soccer transfer expert, Fabrizio Romano joins hands with Sportskeeda."

Another ad on an adjacent billboard reads, "Fabrizio Romano's latest transfer news now on Sportskeeda." Romano is an Italian journalist and one of the most popular football pundits in the world.

Jain informs that Romano writes a weekly article for Sportskeeda. It is a roundup of the European football transfer news. "We were in talks with Fabrizio on the best format for our (Indian) football fans. We closed all of these details just before the transfer window for all the (European football) leagues opened up. This is an exciting time for all Sportskeeda football fans," says Jain.

Sportskeeda has also signed up famous names, like Jim Begin, Paul Merson and David James. "They have been writing for Sportskeeda for the past few weeks. Collectively, they have over 100 years of professional football (experience) between them. The in-depth analysis and knowledge reflect in their writing," adds Jain.

In 2019, Mumbai-headquartered Nazara Technologies, a mobile games and sports media company, spent around Rs 44 crore to acquire a 67 per cent stake in Sportskeeda.

The website started its journey in 2009 from Delhi, and later shifted to Bengaluru. Sportskeeda continued its expansion to various genres of sports and multiple regions.

"The US is the largest online English language market, after India, and almost all of our content is in English. We have a global audience, and users all across the world consume our content. It is only natural that we also focus on growth in the US market," says Jain on the marketing initiatives rolled out at Times Square.

He adds, "Our US audience contributes to over 20 per cent of content consumption. The US sports market is a mature one, and is valued at $77-81 billion. Soccer, as football is better known as in the US, is a relatively small percentage. It is, however, gaining popularity and growing its share, steadily and swiftly."

Jain mentions that at present, Sportskeeda monetises its content through ad sales.

"It is the same across all geographies. We are looking at different ways to monetise our content, and the subscription model is one of them. Our audiences are now comfortable about paying online. We create premium content, and our users see that and value it," he concludes.