Disney to focus on gaming, cricket

KOLKATA: Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG)  is looking to focus on gaming and cricket in the country to drive revenues.

The mobile content market is slated to touch $400 million by end of 2008 from the present $300 million and WDIG is aiming for a fair share in this pie. The current reach in the content space is about 94%. WDIG is looking to push cricket as a genre to enhance its mobile content portfolio apart from gaming.

According to WDIG sources, stickiness has increased with the average time consumption in mobile gaming having gone up from 11 minutes to 18 minutes.

However, targeting kids and family entertainment, WDIG is not wooing Bollywood audience in a conscious move to carve its niche.

WDIG has also noted that after 8 p.m. the remote or the father’s mobile goes into the hands of the kids, who thus become the actual consumers of gaming content.

For WDIG, the largest target segment is for Power Rangers on the gaming front. Over the past eight months or so, there have been over two million downloads by those mainly in the 4-14 age group.

If, for the 18-30 age group, Disney Romances, Mickey’s American journey with Minnie and Power Rangers are popular, then for the lower end of the market - less than six years - the typical product will be Mickey and Friends.

Overall, WDIG is stressing on creativity, technology and localisation in India, which is also part of its global approach.