City AM Launches Direct To Mobile Phone News Service
City AM, London’s free business newspaper, has launched CITY M, a bite-sized news service that is delivered direct to mobile phones.
The move is a first for a daily paper and provides advertisers with a new platform in the shape of banner ads and pop-ups, which could potentially be personalised for the user.
At 6pm, users of CITY M will be sent short afternoon bulletins of the day’s top City AM stories. CITY M will have four sections – breaking news, sport, lifestyle and The Capitalist, with each section featuring five stories. At the bottom of each story a user will find links to other relevant and useful content.
The CITY M “Mobizine” costs 5p on average and once on the phone can be read again without a network connection, such as on the bus or the Underground. The technology differs to WAP as it does not require an online connection, as the content is stored on the phone.
Managing director of City AM, Lawson Muncaster, said: “We provide City AM readers news every morning and now, with the launch of CITY M, readers can get the latest news every evening on their way home in a fast, accessible way, direct to their phones.
“CITY M is an additional service which enhances and complements the CITY PM podcast in the afternoon. Keeping up with the latest technology reflects the forward-thinking attitudes of City AM and also provides our advertisers another platform through which to reach consumers.”
At the beginning of this year, the paper announced the launch of a free afternoon podcast (see City AM Targets Commuters With Afternoon Podcast), and this summer it announced that it would boost its circulation (see City AM Set To Distribute 100,000 Copies Per Day).
Chief executive of Refresh Mobile, the company behind the technology, Scott Beaumont said: “This is the start of a new era of publishing; mobile is the most ubiquitous and personalised medium yet. Mobizines are all about quick and easy bite-sized information for people to graze on, hence its perfect for the City AM readers to get their evening fix on the commute home.”
City AM: 020 7015 1200 www.cityam.co.uk