TextPride Content Launches to More than 500 Million Users on Viber, Kik, GroupMe and Cubie
New York, NY (PRWEB) March 03, 2014 -- TextPride (http://www.textpride.com), the worldwide leader in mobile branded content, is launching content on four popular mobile messaging apps –Viber, Kik, GroupMe and Cubie. Collectively, the apps represent more than 500 million users worldwide, more than any single platform or messaging app around the globe. Officially licensed content from more than 200 top sports and entertainment brands like the Auburn Tigers, Florida State Seminoles and Wiz Khalifa are available as paid “packs” in dedicated content stores within each app. The packs typically include 24-40 emoji and/or stickers and start at $1.99 per pack.
“Today’s launch provides brands and entertainers a unique opportunity to reach consumers over the rapidly-growing and popular mobile messaging experience,” said Sean O’Brien, co-founder of TextPride. “As each of our partner messaging apps add users at a breakneck pace and see engagement reach new heights, popular and unique content will help differentiate their offerings and provide consumers a new way to interact with their family, friends and rivals over the apps they love.”
According to a report from research firm Ovum in November 2013, the number of messages sent on social messaging apps will grow from 27.5 trillion in 2013 to 71.5 trillion by the end of 2014. Given the current speed of adoption, Ovum expects messaging apps to exceed 2 billion collective users by the end of 2014. Despite the exploding growth of the industry, messaging apps face increasing pressure to generate revenue in order to improve the experience they provide to users and effectively compete with other offerings. According to TextPride, traditional tactics, like mobile banner ads, disrupt the personal feel of the mobile messaging experience and are unlikely to gain widespread adoption, so apps must look towards other opportunities. Branded emoji and stickers present one such opportunity –40 percent of messaging app users incorporate stickers into their messages, and 11 percent buy at least two paid content packs.
“Our favorite brands are everywhere today, from the clothes we wear to what we watch on TV,” continued O’Brien. “Yet, brands are nowhere to be found in the number one way people communicate today –mobile messaging. The difficulty is creating highly-desirable content that feels natural to the experience of mobile messaging, while navigating the nightmarish hurdles of licensing issues like compliance, royalty payments, negotiation and monitoring which create a huge headache for apps and brands. We want to provide brands a compelling, cost-effective way to reach millions on this channel, make the licensing process smooth and painless for messaging apps and provide a central, one-and-done approach for both apps and brands.”
TextPride recently won the Miller Lite “Tap the Future” business competition, judged by ABC’s “Shark Tank” host Daymond John, taking home a $250,000 top prize. To license content with TextPride, partner with TextPride to launch licensed content on your app, or for more information, visit http://www.textpride.com.
About TextPride:
TextPride (http://www.textpride.com) helps mobile messaging apps bring users and the brands they love closer together.
TextPride is the worldwide leader in mobile branded content, having struck over 200 licensing agreements, many of them exclusive, with top sports and entertainment brands like the University of Notre Dame, the Chicago Blackhawks and the US Military Branches. With unique, distinctive and expertly-designed branded stickers and emoticons, TextPride provides messaging apps a new way to attract users and engage with existing ones. TextPride brings deep expertise in navigating the difficult, time-consuming and costly licensing process, offering one point of contact for all legal, payment and quality issues with hundreds of different brands.
Sean O’Brien and Evan Wray started TextPride in 2012 with the vision that brands lacked a presence in mobile messaging. Since then, the firm has raised over $1.3M in investment funding as TextPride continues to provide fans of both entertainment and sports brands a new way to show off and share their passions over the number one way fans communicate today –mobile messaging. The company was the grand prize winner in Miller Lite’s “Tap the Future” business competition, judged by one of the hosts of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” Daymond John.
Dan Tudesco, TextPride, http://blog.smashingideas.com/, +1 (646) 571-0169, [email protected]
Share this article