AT&T Wireless Services Inc. announced it recorded a total of 13.5 million text message votes cast during the past season of reality TV show “American Idol.” The carrier said the number is up from last season’s total of 7.5 million text message votes-a sign that U.S. users are keen on text messaging services.
“Our sponsorship of ‘American Idol’ is the seminal event that got mainstream America text messaging,” said Andre Dahan, president of the carrier’s Mobile Multimedia Services. “Over the past year, more and more television shows have incorporated an element of text messaging into their programming-and the entertainment industry isn’t alone in its desire to capitalize on this growing trend. Our success with ‘American Idol’ underscores our goal of making texting as common as talking on wireless phones.”
AT&T Wireless said more than 40 percent of all “Idol” voting participants had never even sent a text message before.
A variety of other efforts have followed in the wake of AT&T Wireless’ success with “American Idol.”
Virgin Mobile announced its *MTV users will be able to cast the only votes in the MTV Movie Awards’ best cameo category. The winner will be announced during the MTV News’ Movie Awards pre-show June 10.
Separately, messaging company Mobliss announced it will conduct a text-messaging promotion campaign for the U.S. Air Force. The promotion, which launches May 29, will involve a trivia game called Air Force Snap Decisions.
Finally, Cingular Wireless recently jumped into the reality TV show game by allowing its subscribers to vote for the outcome of the recent “Survivor” season finale.
