Hello! to offer celebrity gossip to mobiles

by Hayley Pinkerfield, Revolution UK 09-Oct-07, 09:00

LONDON - Hellomagazine.com is launching celebrity news via mobile, and has appointed Incentivated to provide content to readers' phones.

Hellomagazine.com readers will be invited to sign up for content, including celebrity news and photos, on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis. Content will be supplied via premium rate SMS and MMS. In the second phase of the campaign, Hello! plans to build a mobile site featuring downloadable video content.

There are also plans to advertise the service on mobile operators' portals, where Hello! claims that exclusive mobile content will differentiate it from the competition.

Following its 2001 launch, hellomagazine.com now receives more than one million unique users each month. Its readers spend an average of £37 per month on mobile bills; 118 per cent more than the national average of £17 (Source:Ofcom).

Hellomagazine.com editor, Verity Smart, said: "The Hello! mobile offer represents yet another opportunity to keep our readers up to date on celebrity news and is a natural extension to the web site presence."

Jonathon Bass, MD at Incentivated, added: "Hellomagazine.com boasts a loyal, upmarket and mobile savvy audience - in the advertiser's sweetspot."

Hello! made its first foray into e-commerce in June, aiming to boost revenue by selling goods direct following a deal with fashion store Yoox.com.