mocoNews - Verizon Launches Business Ringback Tones; BMI Predicts US Ringback Tones To Be $235 Million In 2009

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has launched a service dubbed Business Ringback Tones, which as you might imagine lets organizations replace the generic ring that people hear when they call them with a customized message. It's a good idea?you might object to hearing an ad if you call your mother, but you can't really complain if it happens when you call McDonalds. Verizon has some seasoned advertising veterans for scriptwriting and experienced voiceover artists to create the 30-second custom tones (for $300 per tone), which the company can put on the lines of its employees?and can rotate five active messages so callers hear different ones each time they call. The business can assign different tones to different sets of employees, and let them know of changes to the tone profile via SMS; if the employee doesn't have a business line they can be invited to participate. The tones cost $1.99 per line, and to use the service businesses need 50 or more corporate lines in service. (release)

In a similar vein, performing rights organization BMI is predicting strong growth for ringback tones as music moves away from a product-based environment to a service-based environment. It predicts that sales for ringback tones will surpass $235 million in the US this year, an increase of 15 percent from its estimate of $205 million in 2008, and 68 percent over the 2007 estimate of $140 million. BMI estimates that more than 10 million subsribers in the US are signed up for ringback tone services, and the penetration rate is about 4 percent across the board (it ranges between 2 percent and 9 percent, depending on the carrier). (release)

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