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Mobliss Receives More Than 2.5 Million Text Messages For 'American Idol'
SEATTLE--April 21, 2003--
Hit Series Also Receives Its One-Millionth Text Vote
The first major wireless interactive TV tie-in ever seen in the U.S. has hit its first major milestone and is the biggest success story in U.S. text messaging history. On Tuesday evening, April 8, 2003, the hit series "American Idol," in which one contestant is voted off each week by viewers at home, received more than 2.5 million text messages, including polls, sweepstake entries, trivia and votes. In addition, Mobliss received the one-millionth vote via text messaging. The vote came from the Pittsburgh area.
AT&T Wireless has engaged Mobliss, Inc., www.mobliss.com, a mobile media company, to make voting for a favorite contestant even more compelling by enabling users to vote via text messaging, using the same contestant codes as those used by traditional call-in voters. The application runs on Mobliss' Short Messaging Services (SMS) moTV platform and is available exclusively to AT&T Wireless subscribers.
At one point, nearly one thousand text messages per second have been received during the voting period after each show, the highest peak text messaging traffic the U.S. has seen to date.
"The response to American Idol's text messaging voting option has been tremendous. Clearly, text messaging has caught America by storm," says Brian Levin, President of Mobliss. "An interactive TV component allows wireless carriers, brand marketers and consumers to utilize text messaging in an engaging, entertaining and profitable way."
In addition to text voting, viewers are using text messaging services to answer sweepstakes trivia questions, participate in on-air polls and even send in their comments about the show.
Adding an interactive TV component to an overall marketing strategy is one of the hottest topics in the media, marketing and wireless industries today. Indeed, it is estimated that messaging applications will generate $2 billion in revenues by 2005, compared to $531 million in 2002, according to a recent report by Morgan Stanley.
"Mobliss has consistently delivered for us throughout the American Idol series," said Jon Summers, Vice President of Product Development at AT&T Wireless Mobile Multimedia Services. "We are very pleased with the level of responsiveness and competence that their organization has demonstrated in support of our text messaging campaign for American Idol."
Mobliss is the exclusive technology provider of text voting and on-air polling for AT&T Wireless' "American Idol" messaging applications, and the company's highly configurable moTV platform facilitates the voting, making it easier for viewers to help their favorite contestant advance to the next round. As text messaging continues to skyrocket in popularity among wireless users, Mobliss' technology has been proven to be scalable to the needs of the largest wireless carriers in the U.S.
"American Idol" airs each week. Contestants compete every Tuesday (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT), and viewers' choices are revealed on the next night's results episode. The winner--the next "American Idol"--will finally be revealed on May 21, 2003.
About Mobliss
Mobliss(R), based in Seattle, WA, is a leading wireless media company delivering interactive content to over 1 million registered wireless subscribers. The company creates, develops and distributes highly interactive programming designed to entertain, engage, inform and aggregate a highly affluent mobile audience and transform them into customers--using their wireless devices. The company's proprietary Pervasive Media Platform (PMP) allows media companies and marketers to optimize their message according to a subscriber's wireless capabilities, preferences, demographics, permission and geographic location. Mobliss (www.mobliss.com) currently has relationships with the largest wireless service providers in North America including AT&T Wireless, ALLTEL, Bell Mobility, Boost Mobile, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint, Telus, T-Mobile and Verizon.
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