medialifemagazine.com
Perfect storm: Kids, phones, ads, free
By Heidi Dawley
Jun 30, 2008 - 2:10:44 AM
The idea of offering free phone service in return for putting up with ads has been around years. Marketers tried it but no one could figure out how to make it work.
What was missing, it turns out, was kids. Lots of kids.
A British company, Blyk, has come up with a formula that seems to work. It is now expanding into Europe, and something like it will likely be seen in the U.S., and soon.
Here's the deal: The target users, 16- to 24-year-olds, get 43 minutes of free phone calls and 217 free text messages a month for agreeing to view about six ads on their phones each day.
Ads are even targeted, based on the 60 to 100 data points users provide in a questionnaire when they sign up.
Blyk began offering its service in the UK just nine months ago, and it says it's well ahead of where it expected to be, with 155,000 customers, passing its goal of 100,000 signups six months early. It has run more than 900 campaigns already for advertisers who include Coca-Cola, Buena Vista, L’Oreal and Penguin, the book publisher. It claims a response rate to ads of 29 percent.
“They seem to be very successful in that regard,” says Jessica Ekholm, principal analyst at Gartner, the technology research group, in Britain.
It’s a case of offering the right consumer the right product at the right price—free.
“People were a bit surprised by Blyk’s success, but it fits the criteria for that niche group of subscribers. They don’t have a lot of money, but they do have time. And brands want to get their message to them,” says Tole Hart, research director for Gartner in New York.
Blyk will launch in the Netherlands later this year, and next year it plans to expand into Germany, Spain and Belgium. It has an eye on Asia and the U.S.
There are a few other companies out there offering customers free top-ups on their paid plans in return for viewing ads, such as Virgin Mobile’s Sugar Mama’s plan, but Blyk’s model is based on a totally free service.
Analysts on both sides of the Atlantic are not aware of any other offerings on the same scale as Blyk in their respective countries.
“They are pioneers,” says Robert Thurner, commercial director of Incentivated, an independent full-service mobile marketing and advertising company in London.
Yet there are still some questions over the business model’s long-term viability. For one thing, the company has yet to reveal anything about its finances or when it will achieve profitability.
But the bigger issue is whether consumers will be turned off by the ads over time. It is still too early to assess the churn rate, but that will be important to factor in when assessing the number of users later this year.
“If someone hasn’t used their SIM card in six months are they really still a member? Not really,” says Steven Hartley, senior analyst at Ovum, a telecoms research consultancy.
***
Meanwhile, elsewhere in popcult, Pixar’s new animated movie “WALL-E” topped the box offices over the weekend, bringing in $62.5 million, followed by fellow new release “Wanted,” which brought in $51.1 million.
On iTunes this morning, Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” was No. 1, followed by “Burnin’ Up” by the Jonas Brothers.
And in books, Janet Evanovich’s latest novel, “Fearless Fourteen,” came in at No. 1 on The New York Times’ hardcover fiction best-sellers list for the week ended June 21, and it also topped USA Today’s book chart for the week ended June 22.
Note: DVD charts were unavailable at press time.
|
TOP MOVIES
Weekend Box Office Estimates
Weekend of June 27-29, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
MOVIE
|
Engagements
|
Box office (millions)
|
|
1
|
WALL-E (
Buena Vista)
|
3,992
|
$62.50
|
|
2
|
Wanted (Universal)
|
3,175
|
$51.12
|
|
3
|
Get Smart (Warner Bros.)
|
3,915
|
$20.00
|
|
4
|
Kung Fu Panda (
Paramount)
|
3,670
|
$11.75
|
|
5
|
The Incredible Hulk (Universal)
|
3,349
|
$9.23
|
|
6
|
The Love Guru (
Paramount)
|
3,012
|
$5.44
|
|
7
|
Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (
Paramount)
|
2,556
|
$5.03
|
|
8
|
The Happening (Fox)
|
2,483
|
$3.85
|
|
9
|
Sex and the City (New Line, Warner Bros.)
|
1,755
|
$3.77
|
|
10
|
You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (Sony)
|
2,147
|
$3.20
|
|
Source: Yahoo Movies
|
|
ITUNES TOP 8 SONG DOWNLOADS
for week ended Monday, June 30, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
|
1
|
I Kissed a Girl, Katy Perry
|
|
2
|
Burnin’ Up, Jonas Brothers
|
|
3
|
Viva la Vida, Coldplay
|
|
4
|
Distrubia, Rihanna
|
|
5
|
When I Grow Up, The Pussycat Dolls
|
|
6
|
All I Want to Do, Sugarland
|
|
7
|
7 Things, Miley Cyrus
|
|
8
|
This Is Me, Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas
|
|
Source: iTunes
|
|
NEW YORK
TIMES BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending June 21, 2008
|
|
Fiction (hardback)
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
Weeks on chart
|
|
1
|
Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
|
-
|
1
|
|
2
|
Sail by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
|
1
|
2
|
|
3
|
The Host by Stephanie Meyer
|
3
|
7
|
|
4
|
Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger
|
6
|
4
|
|
5
|
Love the One You’re With by Emily Griffin
|
5
|
6
|
|
Nonfiction (hardback)
|
|
1
|
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
|
1
|
3
|
|
2
|
What Happened by Scott McClellan
|
2
|
4
|
|
3
|
The Monster of
Florence by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi
|
4
|
2
|
|
4
|
Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
|
7
|
9
|
|
5
|
Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert
|
-
|
13
|
|
Fiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
The Shack by William P. Young
|
1
|
5
|
|
2
|
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
|
3
|
42
|
|
3
|
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
|
2
|
42
|
|
4
|
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
|
-
|
20
|
|
5
|
Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand
|
-
|
2
|
|
Nonfiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert
|
-
|
9
|
|
2
|
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
|
1
|
73
|
|
3
|
Wisdom of Our Fathers by Tim Russert
|
3
|
6
|
|
4
|
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
|
2
|
26
|
|
5
|
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
|
4
|
74
|
|
Source: New York Times
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USA
TODAY BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending June 22, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
|
-
|
|
2
|
Sail by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
|
1
|
|
3
|
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
|
4
|
|
4
|
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
|
5
|
|
5
|
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
|
3
|
|
6
|
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
|
-
|
|
7
|
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
|
2
|
|
8
|
Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
|
7
|
|
9
|
The Shack by William P. Young
|
9
|
|
10
|
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
|
8
|
|
Source:
USA Today
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