IT-Review

Index Corporation to Provide SMS-TV Services to Over 30 Countries Around the World

The Company's Leading Position in the Field and Expansion in the Americas, Europe and Asia will Ultimately be Achieved through Strengthened Ties with TV Stations Worldwide

Index Corporation announced that it has decided to invest in Yarosa Entertainment B.V., an SMS-TV application and solution provider. By utilizing Yarosa's technological know-how and content assets, Index Corp. will promote TV-interactive contents and special television events for mobile phones.

In Europe, content-related services utilizing Short Message Service (SMS) are becoming increasingly widespread. In particular, a TV-interactive service "SMS-TV" is recently experiencing rapid growth. With SMS codes indicated on TV screens, the service allows viewers to participate directly in the programming and purchase contents via mobile phones. For example, using SMS, viewers can submit answers to quiz shows, play real-time interactive games on the screen, cast votes in selection programs and receive other TV-interactive content services.

The introduction of SMS-TV is seen as a relevant and reliable financial source. Since it provides a new means to deal in mobile contents and generates further benefits by raising viewer ratings, the service is actively promoted by TV stations internationally.

According to McKinsey's report, in 2003, approximately 900 million SMS messages were exchanged through TV related services in Europe. The European SMS market generated more than 400 million euros in 2003, which is expected to grow to 750 million euros in 2004.(a)

Index Corp., having seen the great potential of TV-interactive contents through the success of Index Group companies engaged in the business, such as 123 Multimedia (Toulouse, France), Index Europe (Paris, France) and Mobliss (Seattle, US), has made the investment in Yarosa to strengthen its business in this field.

Possessing SMS-TV game formats which are indispensable to TV-interactive content services, and extremely sophisticated SMS/MMS processing technologies, Yarosa has attained top-level achievement in its field of business. The company offers its services to countries around the world, including England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Ukraine, the Middle East, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, South America, and Russia.

With Yarosa joining the Index Group of companies, Index Corp. will further strengthen its TV-interactive mobile content offerings and share its know-how and technologies related to TV-interactive services. By doing so, Index Corp. aims to achieve the world's leading position in the field.

Source: press release

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