Seedfund-backed Sportskeeda appoints Shard Sharma as VP, sales & marketing

Bangalore-based Absolute Sports Pvt Ltd, the company behind Sportskeeda, an online platform for sports enthusiasts, has appointed Shard Sharma as its vice president of sales and marketing. In his new role, Sharma will look to maximise Sportskeeda's brand value, traffic and monetisation through various sales and marketing campaigns.

Commenting on the appointment, Porush Jain, CEO, Sportskeeda, said, "Sportskeeda has already established its name in India and overseas but there is still a lot more that can be done, especially considering the ever-increasing number of sports leagues all over. With Sharma on board, we can ensure that we capitalise on this opportunity to take sports to a whole new level."

Sharma has more than 14 years of experience, and prior to Sportskeeda, he was the head of sales at Zapak Digital Entertainment, the gaming arm of Reliance Entertainment Digital (part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group). Before that, he was the regional sales manager (North, West and East) at Sify.com.

He had earlier also worked at companies like Moneycontrol.com, Rediff.com, Webdunia, and SITI cable, among others. He holds a MBA degree in marketing and sales from Symbiosis institute of Management Studies.

"I have always been a huge sports buff and follow cricket and several other sports religiously. Sport in India has tremendous scope for growth, and Sportskeeda is one of the few organisations in the country capable of accelerating that growth. I hope to be in the thick of things when the sports revolution in India reaches fruition," said Sharma.

Launched in 2009, Sportskeeda is an online platform for sports enthusiasts which present news and reviews of more than 50 sports events. A user-driven platform, it boasts of a community of over 200 writers. The site also allows readers to write their own articles, debate and also participate in quizzes and other contests.

Sportskeeda, which stands for sports enthusiast, also provides multiple channels to reach out and engage with online consumers and communities. According to the company, its FIFA World Cup 2014 coverage saw the average monthly readership going up from three million uniques in April-May 2014 to five million in June-July period. The firm also has an office in Noida.

Last November, we had reported that the company had fired close to 20 per cent of its workforce over a course of a few months. "Since we have stabilised the business, there was some rationalisation done. We have rationalised the team size from 38 to 31," Jain had mentioned at the time.