Greystripe partnership with Opera nets 1.6M downloads

January 17, 2008

Greystripe is banking on the acceptance of ad-supported mobile content

Greystripe and Opera are proving that the ad-supported model works.

Consumers are said to have downloaded 1.6 million games and applications in the two months since the companies partnered to bring free content to mobile phones using Greystripe’s AdWrap Catalog Platform. Opera is a Norwegian online software company with browser and mobile offerings.

“It reaffirms that consumers love free high-quality mobile games and that the mobile browser is an excellent way to find content on the device,” said Michael Chang, CEO of Greystripe, San Francisco.

The most popular games are applications that run the gamut from Tower Bloxx by Digital Chocolate to a mobile instant messaging application for the phone, he said.

Greystripe’s AdWrap Catalog Platform enables mobile Web sites, Internet portals, social communities and mobile applications such as Opera Mini to distribute the company’s catalog of more than 900 mobile games to customers.

Michael Chang is CEO of Greystripe

Increasing brand and product awareness through in-game ads is Greystripe’s goal for marketers.

“We measure these directly through surveying our customers,” Mr. Chang said.

Current in-game advertisers include Coca-Cola, New Line Cinema, RadioShack, Modtones Ringtones and Yahoo oneSearch.

In addition to Opera, Greystripe’s catalog of games and applications are available via 20 other distribution partners, including mobile social communities like Zedge, Buzzcity, Itsmy and TagTag.

The games and applications are compatible with more than 1,000 handset models.

The AdWrap Catalog Platform is a hosted and customizable combination of mobile Web and Internet technologies that can be tailored to the look and feel of any site. For Opera Mini, its homepage now includes a GameJump bookmark that enables users to access Greystripe’s free mobile game portal with one easy click.

Mr. Chang said that marketers can expect more distribution partners in the future.

“Greystripe is building the mobile industry to make 2008 be the year of ad-supported mobile content,” he said.