Online fun and games – more global success for SkillPod Media

Not a month goes by without SkillPod Media making new inroads in the international online gaming market. This South African owned company provides free and skill games to portals that serve large gaming communities in South Africa and abroad. Hot on the heels of launching a games channel for the Globe and Mail, the largest newspaper in Canada, SkillPod Media has rolled out games platforms for two of the most popular portals servicing residents of the British Isles.

Top British portals adopt SkillPod Media ’s games platform

The first of these is the vibrant UK-based Your Music Entertainment web site - YMEMusic.com. Games add an extra layer of attraction and interactivity to a site that already offers a range of music and entertainment resources for UK musicians and their legions of fans.

The other coup has been the adoption of its games by the Irish Times on its Ireland.com web site. This site is a premier web portal for Irish residents, as well as Irish people abroad.

Both these endeavours have been joint initiatives between SkillPod Media and its Canadian partners, Tag International. “As a South African company we’re extremely proud of our growing international presence,” says Mark van Diggelen, CEO of SkillPod Media . “Having become one of the top games suppliers in South Africa, with clients like Ananzi, Media24, IOL and M-Net’s KTV brand, we have been very keen to increase our existing presence in the global market,” he continues.

Enhancing the gaming platform

Never content to rest on its laurels, SkillPod Media has also forged ahead with enhancements to its game platform features and functionality. “In this business there is no such thing as standing still,” notes van Diggelen. “You’re either moving forwards or you’re sliding backwards, which is why we are constantly innovating and improving on our games offerings,” he explains.

Top of this list are 20 new games in a number of different genres: Word Games, Strategy Games, Sports Games, Puzzle Games, Driving Games and Kids Games. “While all gamers have their favourites, new games are critical to maintaining interest as well as attracting new players and growing the popularity of our game sites,” van Diggelen says.

This growth is certainly borne out by the numbers. SkillPod Media ’s games site network has shown consistent growth of 20% month on month, with the past month seeing a huge surge in game plays, jumping from 400,000 to 600,000. SkillPod Media ’s own flagship South African games site, Skillpod.co.za, has achieved in excess of 1,8 million pool games played in the past 6 months with 75,000 registered users from across the globe.

Overall game site functionality has been improved, with a particular focus on player interactivity. Advanced search features have been added to assist with challenging friends, and when viewing weekly scores, players can click on another player’s name to see their geographic location, favourite games and the last 3 games that they played. The weekly high score boards are more informative, with players able to see current and historic data, linked to their own time zones. Games can now also be launched directly from the weekly scores sections.

Good news for SkillPod Media ’s advertisers is that game tournaments pages have been given added functionality in order for campaign success to be more accurately measured.

“All these improvements have made our game networks even more attractive for players, and will provide even better return on investment for our advertisers,” concludes van Diggelen.