CBS and AETN tie-up with Thumbplay
C21Media are reporting that CBS Studio’s Entertainment Tonight and A&E Television Networks (AETN) are stepping up the amount of mobile entertainment content available around their properties following a tie-up with US specialist Thumbplay.
A range of ringtones, wallpaper, games and video clips for mobile phones are being added to the Entertainment Tonight website and those of AETN’s A&E, History and Biography channels.Both Entertainment Tonight and AETN have implemented new tools from Thumbplay aimed specifically at TV content creators, enabling them to roll out mobile entertainment storefronts on programme or channel websites.
The toolkit allows broadcasters to manage their own mobile entertainment stores while also creating new sponsorship inventory on their websites, according to Thumbplay.
“Thumbplay makes it simple for broadcast and cable television content creators to execute profitable mobile strategies with no up-front investment,” said company CEO Are Traasdahl.
“By partnering with Thumbplay, we’ve been able to quickly and easily create and sell relevant show and genre-based mobile content to the fans of our brands and programmes, so they can access our content on the go, wherever they are,” added AETN senior VP of digital media Paul Jelinek.
Thumbplay aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.
Investors include SoftBank Capital, i-HatchVentures, Bain Capital Venture Partners, Silicon Valley Bank.
