UCWeb's mobile browser UC Browser signed a deal Thursday with Microsoft Bing and Twitter to provide cricket enthusiasts a mobile gateway into cricket news and updates. The deal brings content from Twitter — including live, public, controversial, and exclusive content like native videos, Vines, Periscopes, and Bing's almost-accurate game predictions to UC Browser.
"Twitter is your connection to live culture, so the perfect place to keep up with all the latest from the cricket games, and share your excitement with other fans," Ravichandran Bhaskaran, head of business development, India and South Asia for Twitter, said in a statement. "The partnership with UCWeb will extend the best Tweets from the most exciting moments of every match by fans, players, and commentators to a larger and new cricket-loving audience throughout the season,"
Microsoft Bing will provide predictions to upcoming games via Bing Predicts, which the company claims was 83 percent accurate during last year's World Cup matches. UC Browser is also addressing Internet speed issues in India by improving the speed on browsing so users can watch online videos without buffering. It has facilitated "fast and stable downloads with the help of powerful servers," Kenny Ye, general manager of Global Markets, Alibaba Mobile Business Group, which owns UCWeb, told IANS.
The move comes as an attempt from UC Web to move into the world of digitalised content. Reports released by global market research firm Ernst & Young say the small screen will be the platform for consumption of almost 50 percent of all content over the Internet in less than five years.
Statistics released last December revealed UC Browser is the third-most-used app in India after Facebook and WhatsApp, and a lot of this has to do with India's love for Cricket.
"India has a huge appetite for digital content. In UC Browser, we provide an all-in-one browser and have incorporated different types of content on a single platform. UC Cricket is the best way to engage with Indian fans during this cricket season," Ye was quoted by IANS as saying.
UC Cricket users will already see the Twitter integration on the browser. The Bing integration is expected to go live March 14.
