3UK has done a feal with Sony BMG to enable customers to watch free music videos on their phones. The service, which is provided by Rhythm New Media, will expand the Ad-funded video inventory, launched in March last year.
SonyBMG has artists such as Alicia Keys, Mark Ronson, and the Tings Tings in their catalogue, and end-users will see adverts of up to 20 seconds before and after each song. The Ads are targeted according to the age and gender of the customer.
Stat-wise, as we have mentioned before, 3UK is an interesting fish – it has ~4 million UK customers, and apparently 1.4 million of those use its video services. Additionally, 3 is the second largest retailer of paid-for digital music after iTunes (in the UK)!
I don’t mind Ads myself – but I wonder if 40 seconds of Ads over the course of a 240 second video could be considered intrusive? Presumably if you didn’t like the Ad at the end of the video you could end playback? Any 3UK users out there with practical experience?
[Via: Guardian.co.uk]