American Idol Fans Shatter Previous Year's Text Messaging Records

AT&T ( NYSE: T) said following the "American Idol" finale this week, the company generated 78 million text messages during the season, shattering its previous record of 64.5 million. AT&T further tried to capitalize on the show's popularity by adding other mobile components. For instance, last week during the hometown visits, the final three contestants learned of the producer's choice via text message on their Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone. In addition to voting, AT&T subscribers could participate in American Idol-themed trivia, sweepstakes and chats. It seems that "American Idol" is the perfect medium to cross-sell mobile and TV. Jupiter analyst Juile Ask wrote in her blog that as she "watched the finale, I was beginning to think that the judges and Ryan Seacrest were getting paid for each mention of Nokia ( NYSE: NOK) ... or they had some quota to fill. In any case, there are few examples out there of three-screen marketing - TV, cellphones and the PC - this one was well done in that it drove consumers to all three medium with purpose." Release.

In a poll on AT&T's website, it also asked about the role text messages played in the show:

-- 51 percent said they text more frequently during the "American Idol" season than other times of the year.-- 43 percent said they discuss "American Idol" with others via text messaging while they watch the show.-- 22 percent said they learned to text message by voting for their favorite Idol contestant.

Fanboy stuff, from the actual fanboy, Rafat: from the press release:?"By texting their votes this season, AT&T's wireless customers helped crown a new "American Idol" champion, David Cook, and made it possible for AT&T to capture a new text messaging milestone for television's No. 1 show."

Staci adds: Meanwhile, the winner of Saturday night's Eurovision song contest could be in doubt (insert punchline here) because of the reliance on text messaging. The BBC has banned text voting as unreliable but most participating countries will vote that way. As the Guardianpoints out, each country chooses its own voting method. The Europe-wide system is run by Digame, the company that handles voting forGerman IdolandBig Brother.

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