Maruti in $ 1 million sponsorship deal for cricket World Cup website

Indiantelevision.com Team

(26 February 2007 11:30 pm)

MUMBAI: ICC internet partner Indya.com kicked off its campaign for the globe's biggest cricketing carnival with the official launch today of its World Cup dedicated website cricketworldcup.com.

The launch coincided with the confirmation that car major Maruti had come on board the site as presenting sponsor for cricket's headline event. In what is being termed as the biggest online advertising deal negotiated in India in recent times, Maruti has committed somewhere in the region of $ 1 million (Rs 45 million) for the privilege of owning "most of the real estate" on the site, sources close to the developments say.

"Maruti has always been at the cutting edge of technology and have always been open to explore and experiment with new ideas," NDTV Media CEO Raj Nayak, whose company has been given the mandate to sell advertising for Indya.com for the World Cup, said. "I think this is a testimony to the power of the worldwide web," Nayak added.

It may be recalled that earlier, the sponsorship packages on offer involved one presenting sponsor and four associate sponsors. This has all changed because of the size of the deal Indya has negotiated with Maruti. There will now be far less inventory available for other potential sponsors than had been originally envisaged, Vidyasagar explained.

Speaking about cricketworldcup.com, Vidyasagar said, "We are committed to provide the most comprehensive and definitive website of the game during the tournament and assure our users an online experience that they will find unparalleled.

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