Go2 launches mobile site for Oscars

By Giselle Abramovich

February 22, 2008

Eighty and mobile

And the Oscar goes to… mobile!

Mobile media company go2 Media has created go2 ’08 Oscars, a mobile Web site focused on this year’s 80th Annual Academy Awards ceremony. Visitors to http://oscars.go2.com can view photographs and art from nominated pictures, access red-carpet coverage of the show and participate in exclusive user-generated content through mobile polling for nominees in major categories.

“Today’s consumers rely on their mobile devices for news, information and entertainment,” said Lee Hancock, founder of go2.  “Go2 ’08 Oscars fits go2’s continued strategic efforts to supply mobile users with the wide variety of rich and compelling information they seek.

“As with our go2 Elections ’08 channel, go2 ’08 Oscars meets their needs by providing users with up-to-date information about one of the biggest entertainment events of the year, while keeping the site interactive so that they can also participate in relevant real-time polls,” he said.

Go2 offers deck placement, traffic and advertising-supported content.  Nielsen Mobile ranks go2 as one of the top 20 mobile sites in the United States, with mobile phone users accessing go2 more than 2 million times each month.

The go2 Oscars ’08 site uses XHTML and WAP 2.0 apps

The go2 Oscars ’08 site uses XHTML and WAP 2.0 applications and is targeted at Oscar fans ages 18-34. The site has ad slots.

The Academy Awards will be presented Sunday, Feb. 24 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles and televised live by the ABC television network. Jon Stewart, host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central is the emcee.

The Oscars WAP site is one of many event-drive mobile sites that go2 has launched. Examples include go2 Elections and go2 X Games.

“The mobile Web is rapidly developing as an alternative to the fixed/online space,” Mr. Hancock said. “It offers much the same range of content today, though it is subject to the limitations of the device.

“In fact, some users may even find using the mobile Web to be superior since cell phones are such personal devices that are always present and always on, and more sites are now being built with mobile users in mind,” he said.