A new ad-funded video marketing campaign for Sony BraviaTV targeted at Reliance GSM WAP customers in India, resulted in 301,000 downloads in the first 10 days. The free mobile video service was launched last month by 3rd Space - a global provider of mobile entertainment and marketing services for brand advertisers – with Reliance Communications, India's leading integrated telecommunications company with over 92 million subscribers.

Key Points

*Advertising funded model points to the future of video on mobile; *free mobile video launched on R World, the Reliance owned WAP portal focusing on 5 million GSM   WAP users; *the portal was promoted through WAP Banners followed by an sms campaign in addition to links promoted on Mobile internet pages; * 30,000 people a day see Sony BraviaTV mobile ad;  *fashion and Bollywood videos prove a hit with Indian mobile users.

Reliance Communications launched the mobile marketing campaign with Sony during the October Diwali celebrations in India, sending 700,000 SMS text messages to a cross-section of its mobile subscriber-base over ten days. The result was an unprecedented 43% conversion rate with some 30,000 recipients per day following the embedded text link to browse the Reliance mobile internet site and download an average of two free videos.

The videos, between 2 and 3.5 minutes long and featuring international fashion shows along with Bollywood concerts and film clips, were all pre-rolled by a 15 second advertisement for Sony BraviaTV.

3rd Space provided the mobile content and advertising support that enabled Reliance to deliver these popular videos free of charge to its mobile customers and free of integration and deployment costs. The text messages were sent to Reliance customers with WAP- enabled handsets and data plans, and the 3rd Space platform automatically optimised video delivery to a total of 558 different phones, making sure that everyone got outstanding video quality.

“The introduction of our ad-funded service with 3rd Space has proven the viability of future mobile marketing campaigns, bringing together popular video content and major advertising brands in India,” said Mr. Krishna Durbha, Head of Value Added Services at Reliance Communications.

“Whilst many have been sceptical about the ad-funded model on mobile, the initial conversion rate achieved with Reliance is unique in terms of magnitude and response and supports our belief that ad-funded is the future for rich multimedia delivery,” said Warwick Hill, CEO of 3rd Space. “It is clear that consumers want content for free on their mobiles – whether they don’t want to pay or simply can’t afford to pay – while brands are eager to find the best way to target millions of mobile users.”

"India is a very dynamic mobile marketplace and we are delighted to be partnering with Reliance Communications to pioneer innovation in the mobile video and advertising space. We are already talking to many more leading content providers and advertisers, as well as other global network operators,” added Hill. For a profile of Warwick Hill, please visit http://uk.linkedin.com/in/warwickhill