NEW YORK – October 23, 2008 – Thumbplay® (
www.thumbplay.com), the #1 mobile entertainment content service in the U.S.*, has been named the winner of the Rising Star award in Deloitte & Touche USA LLP's Technology Fast 50 program for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The Rising Star award, presented last night in a ceremony in New York City, is a special designation for fast-growing companies that have been in business a minimum of three years, but less than five. Deloitte & Touche's New York, New Jersey, Connecticut Technology Fast 50 program ranks the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, and life sciences companies in the tri-state area. Rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over three years (2005–2007).
Thumbplay's revenue grew 275% in 2007 over 2006. As of 2Q‘08, Thumbplay has widened its dominant leadership position even further and currently has more than 15% market share in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile's "Mobile Content Storefront Revenue” Report).
"Thumbplay's ongoing commitment to technological innovation, exceptional customer service and strategic partnerships has definitely paid off,” said Are Traasdahl, CEO and founder of Thumbplay. "This approach has placed us firmly at the forefront of what is happening in mobile entertainment, and it has allowed us to enjoy the accelerated growth recognized today by Deloitte.”
To qualify for the Technology Fast 50 Rising Star program, companies must have had operating revenues of at least $50,000 in 2005 and $5,000,000 in 2007, be headquartered in North America, and own proprietary technology or proprietary intellectual property that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues or devote a significant proportion of revenues to the research and development of technology. Using other companies' technology or intellectual property in a unique way does not qualify.
"To be honored by Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Rising Star, companies within New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut must have had tremendous revenue growth over three years from 2005–2007,” said Kevin Buckley, Technology Fast 50 Program Director, Deloitte Services LP. "Deloitte applauds Thumbplay for having the long-term vision to develop technologies that change the way we work and play.”
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 mobile 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 receives 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 Deloitte
As used in this document, "Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.
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.
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