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Frog2Frog has partnered with Amobee Media Systems to help mobile operators generate a new revenue stream by bringing advertising to mobile messaging, while giving advertisers a new channel to reach their audience.
The partnership will allow mobile operators to offer an ad-funded messaging service by serving targeted and relevant opt-in advertising impressions within Frog2Frog’s messaging system. Once the user starts using the application to send an SMS they are served an ad from the Amobee Mobile Media System. The operator can use this advertising service to enhance the user experience by either subsidizing the messaging cost for the user, or offering them a number of free messages.

Hugh Sheehy, CCO of Frog2Frog said: “Together, Frog2Frog and Amobee can offer operators an effective business model for generating additional revenue from their messaging services. While text communication is already hugely successful, having the additional benefit of ad-funding means users can enjoy sending more messages for less, which drives messaging traffic and ARPU for the operator.”
Saurav Chopra, Director of Business Development of Amobee, said: “Peer to peer messaging may quickly become the service which generates the most mobile advertising inventory. Our partnership with Frog2Frog provides operators a quick and unique way to drive new advertising revenues from messaging.”

This is the latest in a series of strategic partnerships for Amobee, which provides a holistic ad-serving system that allows operators and content aggregators to dynamically insert ads into WAP, Java applications, Games, Video & Music, SMS and MMS. The company has alliances with a number of mobile content and service providers including SDC, PacketVideo, Exit Games, Player X and Hungama Mobile.

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BusinessofCinema writes…While the world is talking about the impending marriage of two Bollywood style icons – Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, another ‘marriage of sorts’ was announced today in Mumbai.

Globally, the Indian film industry is the biggest in the world and India has the fourth largest base of mobile subscribers in the world (poised to be number two in the coming years, second only to China). Bollywood and the mobile industry have now come together in a unique ‘Mobile Bollywood Film Initiative’ that was unveiled by Roamware and Hungama Mobile.

The two companies along with GSM Association (GSMA) have launched this initiative to create short movies tailored for mobile devices. Global roaming solutions provider Roamware will make available the content onto mobile devices across the world.

At present, the global mobile entertainment revenue market is pegged at $21 billion and by 2010 Bollywood is expected to contribute $42 billion to the same. Bollywood today commands close to 1.5 million downloads a day. What’s more, currently there are 105.4 million subscribers of the GSM services in India.

Roamware, Hungama Mobile and GSMA have also teamed up with Bollywood film maker, Sanjay Gupta (of White Feather Films), to premiere three Bollywood short movies for the mobile medium.

These films will be premiered at the GSMA’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, which will be held from 12 - 15 February, 2007. The Congress, the largest annual mobile event, is expected to attract over 60,000 attendees from across the global mobile value chain.

As has already been reported by Businessofcinema.com last week, Roamware is also the exclusive sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival: Global Short Film Project, a joint initiative of the GSM Association and the Sundance Institute. The Mobile Bollywood Initiative is another step by Roamware to facilitate short films for the mobile medium.

“We are very excited by Roamware and Hungama Mobiles’ commitment to bring the spectacle of Bollywood to mobile phones - the fourth screen - at the world’s most important mobile industry gathering. The Sundance and Bollywood communities represent some of the most creative, vibrant and diverse talent in the movie world, and we are delighted to be able to showcase these extraordinary films in Barcelona. In doing so, we hope to catalyse a truly compelling mobile entertainment experience for mobile users globally,� said GSM Association chairman Craig Ehrlich.

“Hungama Mobile has pioneered the delivery of Bollywood entertainment content to the world and has been instrumental in promoting Bollywood in the wireless world. From providing music, imagery, video and games we are now preparing to introduce full features and this project with Sanjay Gupta is a step in the same direction. Hungama Mobile has worldwide exclusive rights to over 70 per cent of Bollywood content on the mobile and digital platforms and this content comes from the world’s fastest growing mobile market – India and the most vibrant film industry. We believe it offers tremendous promise as a content category for carriers in over 125 countries,� added Hungama Mobile managing director and CEO Neeraj Roy.

“We are honoured to be part of the Sundance Institute and the GSMA’s pioneering vision of the distribution of movies via the mobile phone. Bollywood is a huge force in the global film market, and we look forward to helping the mobile industry realise the potential of this partnership,� said Roamware CEO Bobby Srinivasan.

Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta added, “Bollywood is a massive presence in the world movie industry, and South Asia represents the fastest growing mobile market in the world. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be involved in a project that has a promise and the potential to create a whole new distribution model for Bollywood cinematic entertainment. Our project Dus Kahaniyah has been made keeping the mobile and digital medium in mind and the fact that today the market for short films has been given a huge impetus as the quality of video experience on mobile has improved significantly.�

The cost of downloading the short films has not yet ascertained. The revenue sharing ratio between the content provider (producer/director) and the mobile service provider (Hungama) will be 50:50.

While at present, this initiative has been rolled out with known filmmakers, plans are also to open this medium to aspiring directors in the future. Srinivasan informs, “We will be having a phase wise rollout of the initiative. Once the model is successful, we will also open up the floodgates to budding filmmakers.”

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NewsBlaze writes…It’s official - Bollywood is going mobile in a big way. Roamware and Hungama Mobile have joined forces with the GSM Association (GSMA) to announce the launch of a ‘Mobile Bollywood Initiative’ to create short movies tailored for mobile devices, taking the world’s largest film industry onto mobile devices all over the globe.

In conjunction with the GSMA, Hungama Mobile and Roamware have teamed up with leading Bollywood filmmaker, Sanjay Gupta, to premiere three Bollywood short movies for the mobile medium. These films will be premiered at the GSMA’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, which runs from the 12th to 15th of February 2007. The Congress, the largest annual mobile event, is expected to attract over 60,000 attendees from across the global mobile value chain. Bollywood today is the world’s largest movie industry, producing more than 1,000 movies a year with an audience of more than 2 billion viewers across 127 countries.

The Mobile Bollywood Initiative builds on the announcement earlier this month that Roamware has become an exclusive sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival: Global Short Film Project, a joint initiative of the GSM Association and the Sundance Institute.

“We are very excited by Roamware and Hungama Mobiles’ commitment to bring the spectacle of Bollywood to mobile phones - the fourth screen - at the world’s most important mobile industry gathering,” said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSM Association. “The Sundance and Bollywood communities represent some of the most creative, vibrant and diverse talent in the movie world, and we are delighted to be able to showcase these extraordinary films in Barcelona. In doing so, we hope to catalyse a truly compelling mobile entertainment experience for mobile users globally.”

“Hungama Mobile has pioneered the delivery of Bollywood entertainment content to the world and has been instrumental in promoting Bollywood in the wireless world. From providing music, imagery, video and games we are now preparing to introduce full features and this project with Sanjay Gupta is a step in the same direction. Hungama Mobile has worldwide exclusive rights to over 70% of Bollywood content on the mobile and digital platforms and this content comes from the world’s fastest growing mobile market - India and the most vibrant film industry. We believe it offers tremendous promise as a content category for carriers in over 125 countries.” said Neeraj Roy, Managing Director & CEO of Hungama Mobile.

“We are honoured to be part of the Sundance Institute and the GSMA’s pioneering vision of the distribution of movies via the mobile phone. Bollywood is a huge force in the global film market, and we look forward to helping the mobile industry realise the potential of this partnership,” said Bobby Srinivasan, CEO of Roamware.

“Bollywood is a massive presence in the world movie industry, and South Asia represents the fastest growing mobile market in the world. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be involved in a project that has a promise and the potential to create a whole new distribution model for Bollywood cinematic entertainment,” said Sanjay Gupta, who is well known for directing several super-hit movies including Kaante and Musafir. “Our project ‘Dus Kahaniyah’ has been made keeping the mobile and digital medium in mind and the fact that today the market for short films has been given a huge impetus as the quality of video experience on mobile has improved significantly.”

Bollywood is one of the fastest growing entertainment industry segments and has an appeal not only for the 140 million mobile phone users in India but for markets across all continents. Indian cinema is now dubbed in over 35 languages and accounts for as much as 18% of theatrical business in markets such as UK. Indian films have made it into the top 10 charts in markets such as USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Africa.

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Mobile-Ent writes…Roamware and Hungama Mobile have teamed with the GSM Association to launch the ‘Mobile Bollywood Film Initiative’.
The three partners have joined with filmmaker Sanjay Gupta to premiere three Bollywood short ‘mobile’ movies at the GSMA’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona next month.

The Mobile Bollywood Film Initiative builds on the announcement earlier this month of the Sundance Film Festival: Global Short Film Project, a joint initiative of the GSMA and the Sundance Institute. 

Sanjay Gupta’s initial three films will be joined by seven more from other directors in the coming months as part of a series on ten films known collectively as Dus Kahaniyah. As with the Sundance Short Film Project, operator distribution for the films will be announced in the coming weeks.

Craig Ehrlich, chairman of the GSMA, said: “The Sundance and Bollywood communities represent some of the most creative, vibrant and diverse talent in the movie world. We hope to catalyse a truly compelling mobile entertainment experience for mobile users globally.�

Bollywood is one of the fastest growing entertainment industry segments and has an appeal not only for the 140 million mobile phone users in India but for markets across all continents. Indian cinema is now dubbed in over 35 languages and accounts for as much as 18 per cent of theatrical business in markets such as UK.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

Webitpr writes…It’s official - Bollywood is going mobile in a big way. Roamware and Hungama Mobile have joined forces with the GSM Association (GSMA) to announce the launch of a ‘Mobile Bollywood Initiative’ to create short movies tailored for mobile devices, taking the world’s largest film industry onto mobile devices all over the globe.

In conjunction with the GSMA, Hungama Mobile and Roamware have teamed up with leading Bollywood film maker, Sanjay Gupta, to premiere three Bollywood short movies for the mobile medium. These films will be premiered at the GSMA’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, which runs from the 12th to 15th of February 2007. The Congress, the largest annual mobile event, is expected to attract over 60,000 attendees from across the global mobile value chain. Bollywood today is the world’s largest movie industry, producing more than 1,000 movies a year with an audience of more than 2 billion viewers across 127 countries.

The Mobile Bollywood Initiative builds on the announcement earlier this month that Roamware has become an exclusive sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival: Global Short Film Project, a joint initiative of the GSM Association and the Sundance Institute.

“We are very excited by Roamware and Hungama Mobiles’ commitment to bring the spectacle of Bollywood to mobile phones - the fourth screen - at the world’s most important mobile industry gathering,� said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSM Association. “The Sundance and Bollywood communities represent some of the most creative, vibrant and diverse talent in the movie world, and we are delighted to be able to showcase these extraordinary films in Barcelona. In doing so, we hope to catalyse a truly compelling mobile entertainment experience for mobile users globally.�

“Hungama Mobile has pioneered the delivery of Bollywood entertainment content to the world and has been instrumental in promoting Bollywood in the wireless world. From providing music, imagery, video and games we are now preparing to introduce full features and this project with Sanjay Gupta is a step in the same direction. Hungama Mobile has worldwide exclusive rights to over 70% of Bollywood content on the mobile and digital platforms and this content comes from the world’s fastest growing mobile market – India and the most vibrant film industry. We believe it offers tremendous promise as a content category for carriers in over 125 countries.� said Neeraj Roy, Managing Director & CEO of Hungama Mobile.

“We are honoured to be part of the Sundance Institute and the GSMA’s pioneering vision of the distribution of movies via the mobile phone. Bollywood is a huge force in the global film market, and we look forward to helping the mobile industry realise the potential of this partnership,� said Bobby Srinivasan, CEO of Roamware.

“Bollywood is a massive presence in the world movie industry, and South Asia represents the fastest growing mobile market in the world. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be involved in a project that has a promise and the potential to create a whole new distribution model for Bollywood cinematic entertainment,� said Sanjay Gupta, who is well known for directing several super-hit movies including Kaante and Musafir. “Our project ‘Dus Kahaniyah’ has been made keeping the mobile and digital medium in mind and the fact that today the market for short films has been given a huge impetus as the quality of video experience on mobile has improved significantly.�

Bollywood is one of the fastest growing entertainment industry segments and has an appeal not only for the 140 million mobile phone users in India but for markets across all continents. Indian cinema is now dubbed in over 35 languages and accounts for as much as 18% of theatrical business in markets such as UK. Indian films have made it into the top 10 charts in markets such as USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Africa.

Wireless Mobile Telecom