Thumbplay News

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Thumbplay Jumps In The Octagon With UFC®

Lookin' for a Fight with Randy Couture, Forrest Griffin, Gorges St-Pierre?
It's Never Been Closer Than in the Palm of Your Hand

NEW YORK – September 23, 2008 – Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the #1 mobile entertainment content service in the U.S.*, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®), the world's premiere mixed martial arts sports organization, today announced the launch of a wide array of mobile content through the Thumbplay service. Effective immediately, UFC fans can hear from their favorite UFC fighters, replay videos of the most intense matchups and view the stunning Octagon Girls™ through the convenience of Thumbplay’s online and mobile content retrieval service.

Thumbplay, available on more than 2,000 mobile devices across all major U.S. carriers, will now showcase some of the most exciting throw-downs in fight history and other riveting content, including:

Fighters: Download videos and wall papers from various UFC fighters
Octagon Girls: Arianny Celeste, Edith Labelle and Rachelle Leah heat up your background
Events: Video Clips and stills from the biggest battles in UFC history
Sound Effects: All the sounds of the Octagon in one convenient spot

“UFC has exploded on the sports scene and enjoys an enormous fan following that is as dedicated and passionate as the athletes themselves,” commented Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay’s CEO and founder. “Now, the fans will have an even deeper connection to their favorite athletes and all of the compelling content the UFC has assembled. And naturally, it is all delivered with the great service and easy access Thumbplay is known for.”

UFC, the world’s largest pay-per-view content provider with more than 12 events per year, is a mixed martial arts competition between highly skilled professional fighters who use such disciplines as jiu-jitsu, judo, karate, boxing, kickboxing and wrestling. UFC fighters are among the best-trained and conditioned athletes in the world hailing from such diverse countries as the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Holland and the United Kingdom.

“We are always pushing technology and looking for new ways to deliver the UFC experience to our fans,” stated Dana White, UFC President. “With Thumbplay, we can offer the UFC fighters, sounds and action from UFC events as downloads. This partnership makes new UFC content available to fans and can literally make the UFC come to life right on your mobile device.”

Featuring music, videos, games and more, Thumbplay’s extensive and ever-growing entertainment library currently consists of more than 100,000 pieces of licensed content. Their award-winning direct-to-consumer service is accessible on more than 2,000 devices among every major carrier in the U.S.

The company has maintained and grown its leadership position in the industry by providing its consumers with the best possible customer experience, including live, “24/7/365” customer service and a commitment to delivering the largest catalog of entertainment possible. Thumbplay’s “locker” service also allows users to automatically back-up and store purchased items.

Thumbplay features licensed music, video and gaming content from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including EMI, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Pictures Television, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Thumbplay’s mobile entertainment catalog is integrated into Clear Channel Radio, AOL and MSN Mobile sites, as well as iLike.com, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services. Moreover, based on Thumbplay’s reputation for exceptional customer care and technological innovation, MTV recently tapped the company to power personalization content for the music giant’s mobile content site.

Each month, Thumbplay.com gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (m.thumbplay.com) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.

About The Ultimate Fighting Championship®
The Ultimate Fighting Championship® is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN Entertainment, Shaw Pay-Per-View, Bell ExpressVU, Viewers Choice and via the Internet worldwide on Yahoo! Sports, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions. In addition to its North American distribution, UFC® programming is distributed in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world. For more information, or current UFC® fight news, visit www.ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or www.ufcespanol.com.

Ultimate Fighting Championship®, Ultimate Fighting®, UFC®, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, Zuffa™, The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, trademarks, trade dress or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC or other respective owners.

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. As the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination, Thumbplay gives consumers access to the broadest and deepest catalog in the industry, spanning audio, video and gaming content from the leading music labels and artists, game publishers and media companies. Its innovative delivery and marketing platform makes it easy for users to discover, manage, store and share mobile content online and on their wireless devices.

Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.

Labels: press-release