WinZO Becomes Co-powered Sponsor In India-Australia Series On SonyLIV The gaming platform will be backing the approaching Indian tour of Australia over the course of two months on the OTT platform
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Social gaming platform WinZO on Friday announced that it has become the official co-powered sponsor of India's ongoing cricket tour of Australia on being broadcast on SonyLIV. This is the first time WinZO will be sponsoring a major sports event on a digital platform. SonyLIV is the over-the-top (OTT) brand of Sony Pictures Networks India.
India's tour of Australia, starting on 27 November 2020, is India's first international tour after nine months post the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdown; India last played New Zealand in February 2020. The tour is two-month-long, comprising a three-match ODI series, followed by a three-match T20 series and a four-match test series.
The company has been successful in delivering unit economics in the Indian gaming ecosystem and has supported the gaming ecosystem by setting-up a Game Developers Fund 2.0 of a $5 million corpus to fund projects in interactive entertainment space built by game developers.
"India is a market with over a billion cricket fans who have been hungry for cricketing action for the last nine months. Post IPL, it is great to see the resuming of international tournaments as well and it's a proud moment for us to associate with the first India-Australia International series of the year. WinZO is always committed to bringing the best entertainment to Bharat," said Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder, WinZO Games.
Launched in early 2018, the social gaming platform is available in 12 languages with over 25 million registered users. Clocking over 1 billion micro-transactions per month, the company offers over 70 games across various multiplayer formats and focuses on building a community of gamers and game influencers in tier II–tier V cities of India.
"We are really delighted to have WinZO as a co-powered sponsor for the India tour of Australia on SonyLIV. This is a big overseas tournament that's sure to drive viewership on the platform and be of value to both brands," added Ranjana Mangla, head ad sales revenue, digital business, SonyLIV.
The company recently bagged $18 million in series B funding led by global interactive entertainment fund, Makers Fund, New York-based Courtside Venture, and Steve Pagliuca, the Co-Chairman of Bain Capital and investor in Epic Games - developers of the massively popular game, Fortnite. All these investors have made their first investments in the Indian market for the first time through WinZO.
