News Broadcasting
Nickelodeon UK gets interactive with NDS
LONDON: Nickelodeon UK and NDS, the technology outfit from the News Corp stable are offering viewers the chance to test their knowledge of Sabrina The Teenage Witch with the launch of an interactive quiz.
This marks the start of a long-term strategy to take interactivity to all Nickelodeon viewers. Nickelodeon’s Sabrina Magic Spell Game is being broadcast around the ad breaks of the new series, between 4 and 6 pm every day for four weeks. The initiative started on 2 September.
According to a channel release, Sabrina is a popular live action teen series, which follows the rites-of-passage experiences of a 16 year-old girl who moves in with her aunts, discovers that they, and she, are all witches and that their black cat, Salem, can talk. In India, the show used to air on Star World. The Nickelodeon Sabrina Magic Spell Game is multiple choice. At the end of the break, viewers are asked a question about Sabrina, who have to respond with the remote control. The correct response and individual viewer’s score are then displayed before the beginning of the next show. Eight games are broadcast per day with cumulative points gained for each correct answer, and final scores can be entered into a prize draw through the return path.
The release states that powered by NDS’s Value@TV system, Nickelodeon’s Sabrina Magic Spell Game builds on the successes of previous interactive applications, such as the Watch Your Own Week voting application, created for the broadcaster by NDS. Further interactivity is planned during the Ultimate Sabrina Marathon due to launch on Nickelodeon in November.
This initiative comes about as Nickelodeon is looking to generate additional channel loyalty and new revenue streams in an increasingly competitive youth market. Nickelodeon claims to have chosen NDS as a result of the unprecedented success of previous co-developed applications, and NDS’ position as a leader in the iTV industry, says the release.
News Broadcasting
Book Cricket gets a digital century on News18 amid T20 fever
Nostalgic classroom game revamped in English, Hindi plus Telugu on web and app.
MUMBAI: When the T20 World Cup fever hits fever pitch, News18 decides to flip the script straight back to the classroom. The digital news platform has revived the timeless schoolyard favourite Book Cricket as an interactive online game, perfectly timed to ride the cricket wave gripping fans across the globe. The reimagined Book Cricket ditches textbooks for smartphones, blending old-school nostalgia with modern gameplay. Once a sneaky recess pastime played by flicking book pages to score runs, the digital version now offers seamless fun for anyone craving a quick cricket fix between overs.
Available in English, Hindi and Telugu (with more languages planned across News18’s network), the game sits within the platform’s fast-growing gaming portfolio of over 20 titles, all built in-house. It joins event-driven hits like ‘Kursi Catcher’ and ‘Result Rewind’ during the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, plus festive specials such as ‘Durga’s Astras’ for Durga Puja and ‘Mouse Modak’ for Ganesh Chaturthi.
News18 Digital CEO Mitul Sangani said, “Gaming is a key pillar of our engagement strategy. At News18, we uniquely combine our newsroom agility with immersive gaming experiences. By blending credible content with interactive formats, we are creating meaningful engagement in an era defined by shrinking attention spans and evolving consumption habits.”
Select titles have expanded beyond News18.com to CNBC-TV18.com and Firstpost.com, reflecting the network’s push to deepen user interaction across platforms. The Book Cricket game is live now at https://www.news18.com/games/book-cricket/.
In a tournament where every boundary counts, News18’s digital Book Cricket proves the simplest games can still deliver the biggest smiles no syllabus required, just pure cricket joy one page-flip at a time.
