Thumbplay News

Recognized as most effective direct-to-consumer service in the world



NEW YORK – May 9, 2008 – At the fifth annual Meffys awards gala held last night, Thumbplay®, the #1 mobile entertainment content service in the U.S.*, was named winner of the 2008 Meffys Award for "Off Deck Services." The award was accepted by Thumbplay’s CEO and founder, Are Traasdahl, at a special gala dinner in Cannes, France during the Mobile Entertainment Forum’s official annual event, Mobile Entertainment Market (MeM) 2008.

Now in their fifth year, the Meffys, which are held in association with Nokia, are judged by national media and leading trade journalists and analysts, and have developed a reputation as the industry’s most fiercely contested prizes. As the industry’s official benchmark for measuring success and rewarding innovative products and services that are entertaining consumers on the go, the Meffys recognize and honor the most influential mobile entertainment players from around the world. Over the years, the industry’s most coveted awards have recognized the global brands, dynamic start-ups and visionary individuals who have helped shape the mobile entertainment industry.

For the "Off Deck Services" category, judges were asked to look for services that created added value and choice for consumers. Criteria included those services which have extended choice for mobile consumers, proven high consumer awareness and adoption and demonstrated both the increasing success of the mobile entertainment industry and evidence of return usage by consumers. This award category was introduced this year in recognition of the industry’s efforts to offer consumers value for money and easy access to a wide choice of mobile entertainment.

"The global diversity of our competition in this category clearly proves that the global mobile entertainment industry is maturing," said Traasdahl. "In a year that saw a record number of entries representing 21 countries, we are most honored to be recognized as the most effective direct-to-consumer mobile entertainment service in the world for our efforts to keep U.S. consumers entertained."

"A focus on discoverability, interactivity, usability and affordability were the common strands shared by this year’s winners," said Rimma Perelmuter, MEF Executive Director. " Above all, the companies selected by the Meffys judges clearly focused on putting the consumer first; attracting and entertaining subscribers though a variety of appealing offerings including innovative new ad-supported, communities and subscription-based models."

With more than 80,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space. During the last quarter of 2007, Thumbplay announced deals to integrate its mobile entertainment content catalog into the Web and mobile portals of AOL and MSN Mobile, as well as iLike, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services.

Earlier this year, Thumbplay signed a digital distribution agreement to add content from Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s artists to Thumbplay’s already diverse mobile entertainment catalog, as well as to roll out mobile content stores on the Web sites for Entertainment Tonight, A&E Network, The History Channel and The Biography Channel, as well as more than 650 of Clear Channel Radio’s local music, news and sports stations throughout the U.S.

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