BET, Motricity delivering ring tones
Imagine you're watching a Mariah Carey video when a note appears on the television screen telling you how to download the song as a ring tone on your cell phone. A quick text message later, and Mariah is on your phone, ready to play.
BET and Durham-based Motricity are making it just that easy with the introduction of BET Mobile, a partnership that has the companies collaborating to develop mobile content and promote it.
BET, a television network geared to an African-American audience, will advertise ring tones and other mobile content, not just during commercial breaks, but within video shows 106 & Park and Rap City. BET is the first network to incorporate advertising for mobile content into its leading shows, Motricity says.
The goal is to drive impulse purchases, said Jud Bowman, the Durham company's chief technology officer. BET's new initiative shows the text-message code for a download on the television screen, allowing viewers to get ring tones practically without taking their eyes off the music video."People just have to pull their cell phones out of their pockets and they'll be able to download it," Bowman said.
The service became available to Sprint, Cingular and T-Mobile subscribers Tuesday, and it will be accessible to Alltel, Nextel and Verizon customers early next year.
BET Mobile could change the way people buy ring tones, said Motricity CEO Ryan Wuerch. BET viewers eventually will be able to download full-track music and videos just as easily, he said.
The deal could revolutionize the music distribution model, Bowman said. Networks such as BET have never sold music, he said. They have instead been the place where people watched music videos before buying CDs or downloading MP3s from other companies.
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I agree that the aim is to drive impulse purchasing, but I'm not sure if it is a good or bad thing. I suppose for BET it is business.
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