GMTV — which promotes itself as ‘Britain’s Biggest Breakfast Show’ — has launched what NewMediaAge describes as the UK’s first commercial Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) that circumvent UK mobile network carriers’ ‘walled gardens’ business models and delivers content directly to mobile phone users.
Thrice weekly, GMTV viewers who register for the service receive messages from GMTV’s Summer Food program. Each MMS message containing four images and the full texts of five different recipes, along with cooking tips and information. Although each messages also contains an ad from GMTV sponsor Carex biopharmaceuticals, it also costs the user 25 pence, billed to the mobile phone. GMTV is using a private company’s MMS services center & servers to send the messages, rather using those of the UK mobile network carriers.
“We’ve launched this to see what interest in MMS and penetration of phones there is in our audience,” GMTV interactive services head Nog Sawdon told NewMediaAge. “Take-up after the first day is already promising.”