July Systems Mi™ Channels Program Launches Zoom TV on the Mobile Internet

Mi™ = Mobile Internet | Initiative to Take Mobile Internet to the Mass Audience

Mumbai, March 27, 2009 – July Systems today announced Zoom TV as a partner on its Mi™ Channels mobile internet program. Mi™ – Mobile Internet – Channels is targeted at bringing the mobile internet to a mass user base including India’s non-metro, and regional mobile users. It is an innovative program that allows publishers and advertisers to efficiently reach and engage with Indian consumers countrywide on the mobile internet.

July Systems is a leading mobile media company – a mobile internet pioneer that powers channels for several premium entertainment news, sports, business, and entertainment media companies in India and the United States.

Zoom TV is part of the Times Group and is among India’s leading entertainment television channels with a focus on ‘Bollywood’ entertainment, lifestyle and glamour. Zoom TV’s premium Bollywood content will now be accessible on the mobile internet, for millions of fans across regions.

Mi™ Channels – Mobile Internet for the Indian Mass Market

Free Content

Mobile users in India are used to paying for content – value added services (VAS) such as ringtones, caller tones, and wallpapers They now can consume mobile internet content for free – all they need is a GPRS service, which is available on demand from all providers (including all pre-paid plans), and on nearly all devices.

Rich User Experience

Easy access to rich content on mobile and easy navigation for news, pictures, and video – specifically designed for users that have never used the internet before.

Familiar Media Brands

For the vast majority in India, traditional internet brands are not familiar. Mi Channels brings them their favorite media brands that they encounter on a daily basis – their local language newspaper, magazines, and regional television channels.

Local Language Content

Compelling regional content on mobile in India is scarce. Mi Channels has the cutting edge technology to render such content on mobile devices effectively. To drive adoption, it is critical to have regional/local language content.

Dynamic Real-Time Channel

To bring news and entertainment to the mobile phone, as they happen, editors should be able to react to breaking events, hot topics, and emerging trends. This drives user interest and repeat usage.

‘We welcome Zoom TV on board Mi™ Channels, and with this program we’re taking the mobile internet to a mass audience that so far hasn’t even experienced the web,’ said Yudhishter Gopalkrishna, Director, Sales and Business Development at July Systems. ‘For advertisers and brands, Mi Channels also provides the opportunity to engage with India’s regional audiences, in a language they’re familiar with. Indian advertisers on mobile can now efficiently target consumers across geographies. July Systems will be adding partners from the business, sports, news, entertainment segments on to the program’’

‘Mi™ Channels is an innovative approach to access India’s vast mobile user base including regional consumers, and we’re delighted to be among the earliest partners on board,’ said Sameer Pitalwalla, Head – Digital, Zoom Entertainment Network. ‘Zoom has a tradition of bringing the best in Bollywood for fans on television and the web, and with July’s Mi™ Channels, anyone, anywhere in the country with a mobile phone gets the same quality experience’

Mi™ Channels – What do Publishers Get?

Mobile Internet Studio

Mi Channels has a comprehensive studio available to publish, distribute and manage mobile internet services. Producers are able to comprehensively control their mobile services – update content, and spotlight items for users.
Best Practices

With Mi Channels, publishers benefit from knowledge leadership and guidance from the industry’s pioneer to launch and manage services. July Systems has global experience of nearly a decade on the mobile internet.

Platform

July Systems provides the world’s leading mobile internet platform that enables brands to publish and distribute on mobile, monetize inventory, and manage users. The Mi Platform is robust, and leverages cloud computing to deliver millions of page-views daily. It supports a wide range of devices – smart-phones, content types such as audio, video, images, and applications, and enables publishers to offer a personalized experience for their audience.
Advertising

July’s mobile advertising server empowers publishers to maximize revenue through effective management of multiple ad networks and direct sell ad campaigns from advertisers. The platform is integrated with all major ad networks. Besides extending their reach to the mass Indian audience, advertisers on the mobile internet can also efficiently target regional consumers across geographies in India. The effectiveness is highly measurable with impressions, click-through rates, conversion rates, click-to-call rates and other degrees of interactive measurement.

Regional Language Support

Mi Channels has inbuilt local language support that allows publishers to deliver compelling experiences on mobile to regional consumers. The Indian consumer typically empathizes with a native or regional language. Technology at this time does not allow them to consume such local content easily or regularly – the Mi Channels program facilitates this.

July Systems powers leading brands in India such as NDTV – NDTV Profit, NDTV Cricket Network 18 – IBNLive, Moneycontrol, CricketNext, In.com and HT Media’s Mint – an exclusive partner of the Wall Street Journal.

For more information on July’s Mi Channels, and partnership opportunities, call +91 80 4110 5859 or write yudi {at} julysystems(.)com.

About July Systems | Mi™ = Mobile Internet
July Systems is a leading mobile media company. July Systems’ product suite – the Mi™ Platform – helps brands publish and distribute on the mobile internet, monetize inventory, and personalize services for consumers. It is the industry’s first Mobile 2.0 publishing platform and powers several premium Media, Entertainment, News, and Sports brands. These user-centric mobile internet channels result in significantly increased usage, advertising inventory for publishers, and an engaged opportunity for advertisers.

For consumers, July provides live, personalized, socially networked, interactive and multi-media experiences. July’s Mi™ box services provide personalized notifications for users, and build brand loyalty on mobile. Mi RevCentral is a comprehensive monetization program for mobile portals that comprises the technology platform, management tools and business relationships required to maximize revenues from mobile inventory.

Mi™ Channels is a co-branded program that allows publishers to efficiently reach and engage with Indian consumers countrywide on the mobile internet.

Pioneers in the mobile internet space, July Systems’ multi-domain team have over a decade of experience in building and launching mobile internet products worldwide. July Systems is privately held and operates out of offices in New York, Los Angeles & Bangalore. The Mi Channel Platform powers some of the most popular brands in the world. They include in the United States: CBS Sports, Vh1, Fox Entertainment Group – Fox Mobile, Fox.com, Fox Reality, FX, Speed, National Geographic, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, NBA, NASCAR, PGA Tour, GOLF.com, Indy Racing League, Travel Channel, Travel + Leisure Magazine, Lifetime Network, and in India: NDTV – NDTV Profit, NDTV Cricket Network 18 – IBNLive, Moneycontrol, CricketNext, and HT Media’s Mint – an exclusive partner of the Wall Street Journal.

www.julysystems.com

Media Inquiries:
Venkat Srinivasan
Director, Marketing Communications
July Systems
US: +1 323 319 5119 | IN: +91 80 4110 5859 | venkats {at} julysystems(.)com

About Zoom TV

Zoom TV is part of the Times Group, and was launched in 2004. It is India’s first glamour and entertainment television channel devoted to Bollywood.

Zoom is the channel of choice for audiences in search of lifestyle, glamour and, most importantly, everything related to Bollywood. With its exhaustive and innovative programming, Zoom now connects with over 80 percent of urban Indian households.

Zoom targets the 15-44 age group in the SEC AB set. With its unique content strategy of news and features on Bollywood, the channel has been able to consistently improve its reach, and time spent. It currently occupies an impressive 11th position amongst all channels in terms of GRPs in the six metro markets.

www.Zoomtv.in