Vringo | April 29, 2011 | Press Release
Partnership with Hungama Digital Media Provides Access to a Potential 500 Million Subscribers
NEW YORK, Apr 29, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) —
Vringo, Inc. (NYSE Amex: VRNG), a leading provider of software platforms for mobile video services and video ringtones, today announced that it has launched its video ringtone platform to consumers throughout India, one of the world’s fastest-growing cellular markets with over 750 million users, in partnership with Hungama Digital Media Entertainment (“Hungama”).
Hungama is the largest source of digitally available Bollywood and South-Asian entertainment content in the world. Under its agreement with Hungama, which was formalized and signed in March 2009, Vringo will add premium content from Hungama to its video ringtone content library and will share revenues from such content with Hungama. The Vringo-Hungama service is available to a potential 500 million subscribers on 15 different Indian cellular operators including Reliance, BhartiAirtel and Tata. Vringo will also make available Hungama content through its existing services in the UK, UAE and Malaysia. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Jon Medved, Vringo’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “We have now rolled out our platform in India, the second largest mobile market in the world by number of subscribers. The service is live with 15 operators and features the most popular Bollywood titles and scenes provided by Hungama. We are confident that the Vringo-Hungama service is one that Indian consumers will find compelling.”
Neeraj Roy, Hungama’s CEO said, “We are excited to provide together with Vringo an innovative video ringtone and mobile video service that leverages our powerful content. We believe the service will have mass appeal in India and for lovers of Bollywood content everywhere.”
Vringo’s fully-hosted carrier platform is currently deployed with international partners in seven markets with new launches anticipated in the coming weeks and months. Vringo’s scalable cloud-based distributed application architecture enables the carrier’s subscribers to browse and download mobile videos, set them as video ringtones and instantly share them with friends. In addition to carrier partners, Vringo has content partnerships with major content providers including EMI, T-Pain, Tiesto, Muhammad Ali, Turner, Marvel, Discovery Mobile, RTL, Ingrooves and Agence France-Presse.
About Hungama Digital Media Entertainment
Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. has over 750 employees and offices located in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Dubai, Singapore and the USA.
It is currently the largest aggregator, developer, publisher and distributor of Bollywood and South-Asian entertainment content in the world. With partnerships with over 305 content creators, record labels, studios and broadcasters, Hungama has licensed world-wide exclusive digital rights to over 4 million music and video titles. Hungama serves content to consumers in 42 countries across mobile, internet, IPTV services and has more than 147 partners across the world. Hungama also owns Bollywood Hungama, India’s premier Bollywood and music site, which attracts 9 million unique visitors, across 127 countries, and over 100 million page views each month.
Last year, Hungama also launched India’s premium cross platform digital entertainment store, Hungama.com. Offering full-length music tracks, videos, ringtones, mobile wallpapers and dialogues across categories including Bollywood, Instrumental, Ghazals, Devotional, Indian Regional Music, International music and much more for digital downloads. Hungama.com on Mobile & Facebook has been awarded Three Creative ABBYs at GoaFest 2010, India’s answer to the Cannes Festival.
About Vringo
Vringo (NYSE Amex: VRNG) is a leading provider of software platforms for mobile video services and video ringtones. With its award-winning video ringtone application and other mobile software platforms, Vringo transforms the basic act of making and receiving mobile phone calls into a highly visual, social experience. Vringo’s core mobile application, which is compatible with more than 400 handsets, enables users to create or take video, images and slideshows from virtually anywhere and turn it into their visual call signature. In a first for the mobile industry, Vringo has introduced its patented VringForward technology, which allows users to share video clips with friends with a simple call. Vringo has been heralded by The New York Times as “the next big thing in ringtones” and USA Today said Vringo’s application has “to be seen to be believed.” Vringo has launched its service with various international mobile operators, holds licensing deals with over 40 major content partners and maintains a library of more than 12,000 video ringtones for users in various territories. For more information, visit: http://ir.vringo.com.
