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The three-year deal will see the Finnish wireless entertainment company bring the latest world records to mobile phone users. As well as providing information on current records, the SMS service will also update subscribers with news on new or attempted records as they happen, said Riot.
The service will initially be rolled out in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain, and will be available in Ireland by the end of the year or early 2002. The companies said that they would be embarking on a joint global marketing campaign to promote the service. As part of the deal, users will be able to use the service to play interactive games and participate in quizzes based on Guinness World of Record themes.
In fact, Riot is capitalising on an industry that is expected to offer remarkable revenue potential over the next five years. According to a recent study from Datamonitor, approximately 41 million people in Europe play games on their mobile phones or personal digital assistants. It predicts that by 2006, Europe is expected to have over 150 million wireless gamers and that the combined US, European and Asia Pacific wireless gaming market, which is currently worth approximately USD950 million, will grow to USD17.5 billion.
According to Peter Tyson, games analyst with Datamonitor, these kinds of wireless entertainment tie-ins will become increasingly prevalent. "Sponsored games are going to be very popular, particularly if they are tied into real world marketing campaigns," he told ElectricNews.Net. "For media companies, sponsoring such games allows them to target a young, consumer-oriented demographic and also helps to promote their product through word-of-mouth."
Keywords for icons and ringtones will also be published alongside records in the 2002 edition of the book. Users can then download the tones and icons from the Internet. For instance, the book lists Julia Roberts is the highest paid actress per film in Hollywood -- users could then select "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison as a ringtone. On average, these ringtones and icons will cost STG1.50 each to download.
Founded in February, 2000, Riot Entertainment has signed a number of wireless content deals with media companies including comic book company Marvel and the makers of The Diary of Bridget Jones.
Its biggest revenue generator, however, could be the mobile content it will produce to promote The Lord of The Rings film trilogy. Based on one of the world's best selling fiction series, the trilogy is expected to rival the latest Star Wars movie in terms of hype and cinema audience numbers.
"I view the Lord of the Rings deal as not only a benchmark for the company, but also for the wireless industry because it shows that major film studios are now viewing the wireless arena as a serious marketing channel," Jere Teutari, Riot's marketing manager, told ElectricNews.Net.
Riot Entertainment currently employs 70 people in offices in Helsinki, Singapore, Manila, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Los Angeles. The company declined to discuss its first year revenues, but said it was on target to reach profitability by 2002.
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