Sports
Thomas Cook partners with London 2012
MUMBAI: The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog) has continued the development of its ticketing strategy by announcing Thomas Cook as an official supporter in a Tier 2 sponsorship deal, providing UK short breaks and trips to the Games in 2012.
Thomas Cook will provide a range of short break packages that will include accommodation, transport and event tickets for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Thomas Cook’s appointment will ensure that sports fans and families across the UK have access to a wide range of ticket and accommodation packages.
Locog chairman Sebastian Coe says, “Our ticketing strategy is based on the principles of affordability and accessibility – we want to fill our stadiums in the summer of 2012 with sports fans and make it as easy as possible for families to travel to the Games.
“Our deal with Thomas Cook will do just that – offering ticket and accommodation packages. Thomas Cook is the perfect partner for us and will help us deliver our promise to make sure as many people as possible can see the action in 2012, no matter where they live“.
Tickets and packages for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will go on sale in 2011. It is estimated that more than a quarter of a million tickets will be sold by Thomas Cook with short break and accommodation packages within the UK.
Thomas Cook CEO Manny Fontenla-Novoa said, “More than a century after Thomas Cook escorted British travellers to the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, it is a privilege to once again have the chance to give British families and sports fans the opportunity to experience such a rare and special event in their own country.”
Sports
 JioHotstar launches commerce ad tool with Instamart to convert IPL viewers into buyers
The platform launches intent-driven advertising with Instamart, aiming to turn cricket fans into customers
MUMBAI: Streaming ads are about to get a lot more pointed. JioHotstar has launched what it calls a signal-led commerce advertising capability, a system that uses real purchase intent data to help brands find consumers who are already primed to buy, not just browse. Instamart, Swiggy’s quick-commerce arm, becomes the first partner to use the offering, which goes live during the Indian Premier League cricket season when JioHotstar’s audiences are at their largest and most engaged.
The pitch to advertisers is precision over volume. Rather than serving ads based on broad demographic slices, the new capability lets brands tap aggregated, privacy-safe insights drawn from actual purchase behaviour to identify and reach high-intent audience cohorts across JioHotstar’s premium content. Crucially, it also closes the loop: consumers can move directly from content to product exploration through integrated call-to-action formats, without leaving the viewing experience. Advertisers, in turn, get down-funnel reporting across key metrics, giving them a clearer read on what their campaigns actually did.
Anup Govindan, head of sports sales at JioStar, said the offering goes beyond watching to predicting what consumers are likely to do next. “We are enabling brands to engage audiences not just when they are watching, but when they are most receptive,” he said. “During marquee events like the TATA IPL, brands can reach the right audience at the right moment, making engagement more meaningful, measurable, and outcome-driven.”
Himavant Kurnala, senior vice-president of product at Instamart, said the partnership closes the gap between inspiration and purchase. “By aligning premium entertainment with the convenience of quick commerce, we are not just placing ads; we are creating a more relevant and frictionless shopping experience for millions of Indian households,” he said.
The launch adds to a growing suite of precision tools on JioHotstar, which already offers self-serve ads and a Shop The Look feature. With 450 million monthly average users and a library of more than 300,000 hours of programming across 19 languages, the platform has no shortage of eyeballs. The question it is now answering is whether it can turn those eyeballs into wallets.
For brands, the timing is no accident. Cricket season on JioHotstar is the closest thing Indian advertising has to the Super Bowl, a moment of mass attention that the platform is now determined to monetise with considerably more finesse than a banner ad ever could.
