»
As the entertainment industry attempts to work with mobile carriers to push entertainment content to users, Hollywood and others have complained that the cellular companies ask for too large a cut.
Entertainment companies also vie against each other for visibility on the decks of prepackaged content carried by cell companies like Verizon, Sprint Nextel, Vodafone and others. To avoid those two pitfalls of working directly with mobile carriers, Universal is planning to launch its own website in November that will offer branded mobile content, writes Adweek.
The move allows Universal to keep a greater share of the mobile revenue pie, and to “have an environment we control,” says Jeremy Laws, svp at Universal Mobile Entertainment.
Universal’s operator channel will likely remain the main revenue generator as far as mobile is concerned, however, Laws says. He believes the value of the direct site will mainly be from a marketing perspective.
The site will sell ringtones, wallpaper and games, in addition to containing mobile pages for Universal films. And, unlike content delivered via carrier decks, the look and feel of the content will be dictated solely by Universal.
News Corp.’s Fox Mobile Entertainment launched a similar initiative last year, with the website Mobizzo. That site has been folded into Jamster, part of the conglomerate’s joint venture with Jamba.
Radio stations in the U.K. reacted with outrage when they learned of a report by researchers from the University of the West of England which accused them of promoting excessive drinking.
The study looked at 1,200 hours of radio output,…
General Motors posted sales of 308,817 vehicles in August. That’s a drop of 20 percent from August of last year - but 31 percent better than July.
In order to boost sales as much as possible during a time when…
A new digital out-of-home network to reach golfers is launching to 100 retail locations in the next two months. The network will be available in Dunham’s Sporting Goods, Golf Etc., Golf USA, Pro Golf, and ParMasters, among others.
Fox says that viewers’ attention to commercials is higher when fewer commercials are aired. The revelation comes as a result of testing the network has done for its freshman thriller, Fringe, which will premiere Sept. 9 with limited commercials and shorter…
Worldwide sales of mobile phones will reach 1.28 billion units in 2008 - up from 1.15 billion units in 2007 - an 11 percent increase from last year, according to Gartner, Inc - (via MarketingCharts).
While the mobile phone market is poised for…
Consumers in all income segments are cutting back spending, and doing so to a greater extent recently than at the beginning of the second quarter, according to a comScore study examining changes in consumer attitudes and perceptions about the U.S. economy…
