TMZ Goes Wireless Via An Ad-Supported, Cross-Carrier Mobile Web Site, With AT&T As The Inaugural On-Deck Mobile Partner
(March 27, 2008 – Burbank, CA) – TMZ – the number one entertainment news destination on the Internet – is expanding into the mobile space as TMZ goes wireless via an advertiser-supported, cross-carrier, stand-alone mobile web site that will put the most popular aspects of TMZ.com (including rich content such as video) on mobile devices nationwide. TMZ has teamed with Quattro Wireless to build and power a mobile web site – or WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) site – that debuts today, March 27. The site launches with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s (SPHE) “Walk Hard” as presenting sponsor. TMZ will also be launching an on-deck mobile web site with AT&T as the inaugural on-deck mobile partner in Q2 2008.
The announcement was made today by Bruce Rosenblum, President, Warner Bros. Television Group, and Brett Bouttier, Senior Vice President, Digital, Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG). TMZ.com is a joint venture between WBTVG’s Telepictures Productions and AOL.
“The mobile platform is a natural fit for TMZ, and this deal further extends the reach of this game-changing brand. There is an insatiable consumer appetite for the breaking entertainment news that TMZ is famous for delivering, so having a presence on mobile plays perfectly into the behavior of TMZ's core 18–34 demo,” said Bouttier. “TMZ is now officially a three-screen brand; this is key to building on our success and provides great value to our advertiser partners.”
The TMZ mobile web site will bring all of the hallmark features of TMZ.com – including breaking celebrity news, real-time news headlines and instant access to developing stories – to the mobile web and make them available to users around-the-clock, on-demand, for free. Designed to take full advantage of mobile’s real-time and multimedia platforms, the TMZ mobile web site will allow fans to sign up for free (ad-supported) TMZ breaking news alerts powered by Quattro that will arrive via text message, browse recent news headlines and updated photo galleries, participate in mobile polls, watch dozens of videos and check out advance previews of stories that will air in the daily “TMZ” television program. The TMZ mobile site will also be promoted on TMZ.com and other partner sites. Additionally, TMZ.com will be rolling out a site-wide send to mobile widget.
Users can access the TMZ’s mobile website by simply typing TMZ.com into their web-enabled mobile phone or by texting TMZ to (52662) to get the link sent to their phone.
The TMZ mobile site will be free to users and fully supported by advertising, with ad inventory being sold and served in a 50/50 split by Platform-A’s Third Screen Media, a company in AOL’s advertising network, and Quattro Wireless. SPHE will serve as the presenting sponsor for the launch of the site to promote the April 8 two-disc unrated DVD and Blu-ray High Def release of the Judd Apatow-produced comedy “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” starring John C. Reilly. The TMZ mobile site will feature an exclusive clip from the DVD.
With the launch of the mobile web site, developed for TMZ by Quattro Wireless – an industry leader in bringing content creators, advertisers and wireless operators together to cultivate opportunities in the mobile web space – consumers can now take TMZ with them wherever they go. The most-trafficked entertainment news site in the U.S. – with close to 11 million unique visitors each month, according to comScore/Media Metrix – TMZ.com will now offer mobile phone users the best of its content anytime and anywhere, as it breaks, for free. TMZ will be accessible to all mobile customers with a web-enabled phone, including Apple’s iPhone.
About TMZ.com and “TMZ”
Named by Time Magazine as one of the “25 sites we can’t live without” and called “enormously influential” by The New York Times, TMZ.com is the number one entertainment news destination on the Internet. A joint venture between Telepictures Productions and AOL, TMZ.com is consistently credited with breaking the biggest stories dominating the entertainment news landscape, TMZ.com is one of the most cited entertainment news sources in the world, utilized by thousands of global newsgathering organizations and setting the national agenda for what is the entertainment news. Building off the success of the web site, the “TMZ” television program launched in fall 2007 and is the first daily entertainment news show to cover Hollywood as it really is … and celebrities as they really are. The series is the highest-rated new first-run syndicated program of this television season and is produced by Harvey Levin Productions, Inc., and paraMedia, inc., in association with Telepictures Productions. The executive producers are Harvey Levin and Jim Paratore. “TMZ” is distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
About Warner Bros. Television Group
The Warner Bros. Television Group oversees the entire portfolio of Warner Bros. television businesses, including worldwide production, traditional and digital distribution and broadcasting. WBTVG is committed to creating, producing and distributing content across all traditional, emerging digital and future platforms in the evolving entertainment and media landscape. In the traditional television arena, WBTVG produces primetime, first-run, cable and animation series which are distributed worldwide. WBTVG is also an innovative leader in developing new business models for the evolving digital television marketplace, including ad-supported video-on-demand as well as broadband and wireless destinations featuring original content produced by WBTVG. The Group provides unmatched digital media sales opportunities tailored to clients seeking multiplatform campaigns across broadcast, cable, broadband and wireless outlets. Warner Bros. Entertainment is also a partner with CBS in The CW Television Network.
About Third Screen Media
Third Screen Media (TSM) is a software and services company dedicated to enabling advertising on mobile devices. Third Screen Media created the TSM|Network - the largest single-source mobile ad network and MADX, the only web-based, mobile ad management and delivery platform that connects agencies, publishers and mobile carriers on a common platform. Customers and partners, including many of the world’s largest marketers, advertising agencies and media companies rely on Third Screen Media’s products and services to manage and optimize mobile advertising campaigns. Third Screen Media is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL’s Advertising.com. Visit Third Screen Media online at www.thirdscreenmedia.com or on your wireless device at tsm.mobi.
About Quattro Wireless
Quattro Wireless brings publishers, advertisers, and wireless operators together to embrace the mobile Web. The company matches global advertisers with its network of exclusive publisher inventory. Quattro Wireless designs, develops and hosts mobile Web sites to extend content and brand recognition to the mobile channel as well as provides the tools, through the GetMobile™ platform, for advertisers and publishers who prefer to take that task in-house. Regardless of the approach, the result is device-optimized, dynamic mobile Web sites and mobile advertisements that provide a superior user experience and high advertising yield. Quattro Wireless was founded in 2006 by proven mobile pioneers and is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more information, please visit http://www.quattrowireless.com. # # #