Buzzwire, Inc. (www.buzzwire.com) today debuted the industry's first editorially directed, community-driven mobile site featuring the best of the mobile Web. The new site, launching in beta today at m.buzzwire.com, lets users easily discover, experience, and share the most popular content on the mobile web and offers advertisers, publishers and carriers a new way to build brands, increase site traffic and increase revenue from new services.
Following its successful Web video platform offering through Verizon Wireless' m.vcast.com and viral video channels with AT&T, Alltel, Verizon Wireless and MobiTV, Buzzwire is the first to launch a dedicated mobile site that takes the hassle out of mobile Web browsing by giving consumers easy access to great content and letting them contribute to and take part in determining what is most interesting.
"The mobile Web is different from the PC Web because content, editorial and presentation must all be adapted to work on mobile devices. Yet, mobile is fast becoming the preferred means for Internet browsing," said Greg Osberg, Buzzwire president and CEO. "We're pioneering a mobile community site that will appeal to consumers, while offering a unique brand building experience to advertisers and new traffic building opportunities for publishers. By improving the mobile web experience, Buzzwire also creates a catalyst for fueling data plan usage for carriers. Our ability to address consumer pain points and critical business needs at the same time makes this a winning model for mobile."
Several publishers, including TV Guide, will incorporate the Buzzwire "Buzzie" button on their mobile sites enabling users to easily post and share their favorite mobile content to m.buzzwire.com , resulting in mobile traffic increases for Buzzwire's publishing partners.
"Mobile is an important part of our future growth as our 16-million strong unique user base looks to access TV listings and information about their favorite shows and stars anytime and anywhere," said Paul Greenberg, Executive Vice President of TV Guide Online. "Buzzwire's hybrid, user-driven publishing model offers the opportunity to quickly raise the visibility of our content to the huge mobile market and drive significant increases in traffic back to our site."
On the advertising front, an exclusive sponsorship of the m.buzzwire.com launch has been completed with Deutsch Inc. A range of Deutsch clients including DIRECTV, Kodak, Under Armour and the Michael J. Fox Foundation will have exclusive advertising rights to m.buzzwire.com during the beta period of the launch.
"There's tremendous interest in mobile as an advertising medium, but the quality of the delivery has been a challenge to date," said Peter Gardiner, Partner and Chief Media Officer at Deutsch, Inc. New York. "Buzzwire brings a unique and high quality brand building experience to mobile. Our partnership with Buzzwire allows our clients broad reach, timeliness and relevance and it's highly accountable from a performance perspective. The business model makes perfect sense and really advances the potential of mobile as a mainstream marketing medium."
By all measures, mobile is booming. Wireless subscriptions will exceed five billion by 2011, and mobile web users are expected to reach 530 million by 2013. In the last 18 months, the mobile industry has undergone a dramatic and rapid transformation, removing many of the obstacles to a great mobile internet experience-including exciting new handsets, faster networks speeds, and more accommodating pricing plans. Buzzwire is targeting this huge opportunity with an offering that effectively addresses the needs of advertisers, publishers, carriers and consumers and a business model that is sustainable and profitable from the start.
How Buzzwire Works
Anyone with a mobile phone and web access can go to m.buzzwire.com. The Buzzwire home page features the freshest, most popular stories, sites, video, music, photos and people as determined by the mobile community, and makes them easily accessible to any user. Users can contribute content by sending a link to that content to Buzzwire in one of three easy ways:
1. By e-mail to post@buzzwire.com. Send the URL through the built-in, e-mail Web browser feature on a mobile phone
2. By TEXT message to 28999 (BUZZ9)
3. By clicking the "Buzzie" button on mobile Web sites
Buzzwire also lets users follow their friends, so they can stay up to date on what's popular within their own mobile communities.
About Buzzwire
Buzzwire is the first and only community-driven mobile site featuring the best of the mobile Web. Users can discover, experience, and share the most popular stories, sites, videos, music, photos, and people pulsing through the mobile community. Anyone can become a Buzzwire member and can contribute by tagging their favorite mobile content - and the most popular sites get top billing. Free to consumers, Buzzwire works on any mobile phone with Web access. The company's history of innovation in pioneering mobile Web and video services is marked by deals to power Verizon Wireless' m.vcast.com and viral video services for AT&T and Alltel. Buzzwire is headquartered in Denver and venture backed by Matrix Partners, Spark Capital and Sequel Venture Partners. For more information, go to www.buzzwire.com.