Aniboom partners with content distributors to expand reach

By Giselle Abramovich

May 6, 2008

Content boom

Animation network Aniboom has partnered with leading mobile entertainment distributors to broaden the reach of its content.

Aniboom content is now available through MobiTV, Thumbplay, Buongiorno, Cellfish, Jamster and Player X. Aniboom has also launched a call-to-action for creators to develop animated content for the mobile platform at Aniboom.com alongside an online program to enable them to garner a higher success rate selling their creations.

“The strategy is that we have a huge catalog of state-of-the-art animated video content and it is great for mobile and we can use it to generate revenue for us and the creators,” said Jonas Gerber, senior vice president of business development at Aniboom, San Francisco. “We are in unique position where we generate 400 to 500 new videos a month and this isn’t user generated content. It’s coming from professional animators all over the world.

“When is comes to mobile, we are trying to drive repeat visitors,” he said. “Our mobile distribution infrastructure is a critical component of our new media laboratory. We trying to monetize and at the same time we are using our distribution infrastructure as a huge focus group of millions of people and we are letting them decide who the best animators are. We use the wisdom of the crowd.”

MobiTV, which offers subscribers almost 50 cable and broadcast channels, plans to leverage Aniboom’s  offering to launch a new animation channel.

Thumbplay, a mobile entertainment destination, will be offering Aniboom content via download over the air to more than 2,000 supported handsets across all major U.S. wireless carriers.

Buongiorno will enable distribution of Aniboom-branded animated content through its relationship with more than 100 carriers worldwide and through the blinkogold.com digital store.

Cellfish France, a provider of mobile content and services, offers Aniboom content for download via its direct-to-consumer brand KKO-Mobile and via operators and constructors portals.

Jamster, provider of mobile entertainment, has selected Aniboom content packages for download via its direct to consumer portals that reach 1 billion consumers around the globe.

Player X, a mobile media company, is streaming Aniboom targeted content packages into its mobile TV channels geekTV and Zapper TV.

“With these partnerships, there are a variety of economic models,” Mr. Gerber said. “With the ad-supported models, like MobiTV, the ad inventory is shared between us. They are selling the ads and just sharing the revenue with us.”