Major break for video ringtones launches in Turkey
Rating: Vringo signs crucial deal with Avea
In answer to critics who’ve said that video ringtones cannot be monetarised, Vringo has just announced a deal with Turkish operator, Avea. It’s aimed directly at the youth market.
The pair claim it is the first carrier-led video ringtone subscription model. Avea will be offering the service via its Patlican portal which is targeted at the Turkish youth market.
Members will get an initial 60 day free trial after which they will have to pay - via PRS (Premium Rate SMS) - a monthly fee. That fee will include a number of video ringtones which can be downloaded via patlican.vringo.com.
Vringo claims it will be able to offer members a library of 4,000 video ringtones which have been produced in association with music aggregator, INGrooves, and an unnamed local Turkish content partner.
“Turkey is an ideal market to begin selling Vringo’s unique service, ” Jon Medved, Vringo’s CEO, said. “It’s a country where mobile content, particularly ringtones, is incredibly popular.”
Vringo maintains that analysts estimate that 50 per cent of ringtone revenues will come from video ringtones as early as 2010, although it didn’t say which research firm produced that figure.
Avea is supporting the Vringo launch with a marketing campaign that includes out-of-home, TV, print, web plus mobile advertising. After monitoring the success of the Patlican campaign, Avea is expected to roll the service out to other, non-youth, sectors.
Vringo offers an application which lets subscribers take video content from virtually anywhere – including its own clip library - to create personalised video ringtones.
The company claims it is unique in being able to let users select which video ringtone their friends will see when they call. The application currently runs on about 200 popular handsets.
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