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ESPN’s Lance Peatey confident for Australian summer of cricket as Cricinfo relaunches

Lance Peatey, ESPN ANZ director digital products and partnerships, is confident the dispute between the Australian Cricketers Association and Cricket Australia will be resolved.

Commenting ahead of today’s global relaunch of the ESPNcricinfo website and app, Peatey told Mumbrella the company was looking forward to covering a “massive summer of cricket” despite the dispute currently underway.

“Cricinfo has led the news agenda in the recent pay dispute in Australian cricket, Daniel Brettig, one of our leading writers from Australia, has led the news agenda throughout the pay dispute and its that kind of independence that cricinfo is known and loved for and now we are bring those fans a brand new site and a brand new app so it’s brilliant timing,” Peatey said.

While most of Australia was probably concerned about whether the team would reach an agreement, it wasn’t affecting the website’s local audiences he claimed.

“Everyone in Australia is probably concerned that if we don’t reach an agreement, everyone in Australia would be concerned because our summer would just not be the same.

“It seems it might be close, so fingers crossed they can reach a resolution. All the while, the new cricinfo is launching and we are absolutely delighted with the new product and we are looking forward to a massive summer of cricket,” he said.

“The one thing we can certainly confirm is that our usage has absolutely been going through the roof throughout the pay dispute, because we’ve been leading the news agenda in this country for the coverage of that pay dispute.

“That independence is something that we really treasure for ESPNcricinfo and as we look forward to our 25th birthday, we want to make sure we preserve those things that are really our heritage but also deliver some of the world’s best technology across the site and the app.”

The new digital first website and app, will feature a more streamlined design, fast coverage of live scores, stats and commentary, and personalisation and alerts based on preferred teams and competitions.

It will also include new storytelling formats, increased video and short, ‘snackable’ information.

Peatey said the new product would be perfect for audiences to get around the upcoming Ashes series.

“The Ashes is another one (event) where we’ll offer unparalleled coverage because we obviously have a huge footprint within the UK, and we’ll be bringing down some of our writers and video producers from the UK to go head to head against our Australian editorial team. We have really big plans for the Ashes come summer.”

He is confident ESPNcricinfo’s relaunch – which will focus on digital advertising and multi-screen advertising experiences as well as more capabilities through the personalisation feature – will offer a range of new opportunities for advertisers.

“We are delighted about the prospect to deliver our partners and advertisers some really amazing solutions,” Peatey stated.

“The connection this now brings to our entire Australian digital network including our relatively newly launched ESPN.com Australia edition, which launched in march of 2016, and we’ve had phenomenal growth across that property, ESPN Footy Tips has had a record year.

“Now cricinfo is getting more than a lick of paint and really prepping us nicely for a big Ashes series and across our entire network we can offer some pretty compelling advertising when you combine ESPNcricinfo and the Ashes series alongside, ESPN.com and the NBA and NFL seasons.”

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