With industry analysts counting more than 2 billion mobile devices already in use around the world, a team of industry veterans announced today the launch of a new mobile gaming community. Hovr Inc. (www.hovr.com) begins service with more than 100 titles from over a dozen world-class mobile game publishers, all subsidized via advertising and available to users at no cost. In addition to downloading free games users can join Hovr MobileSpace, a social network in which players interact and compete against each other.
"Ad-supported content is absolutely necessary if there is to be mass adoption of mobile phones as a content delivery platform," said Christine Arrington, senior analyst with Acacia Research Group. "After years of attempts, interactive advertising finally has a chance to succeed because of companies like Hovr, which is solving two critical problems. They address creating a seamless user experience by eliminating extra steps to download and view content, and they are offering far more precise demographic targeting, making their whole solution attractive to both users and advertisers."
By embedding advertising into games and other mobile applications Hovr delivers ad-subsidized content without compromising the user experience. Hovr's AdLogic Platform places dynamic, targeted and interactive advertisements into mobile content giving advertisers an important way to efficiently target ads based on demographic and personal profile information. Hovr directly addresses the desire of advertisers to reach the important demographic of people ages 13-34 by using a new and pervasive medium: the mobile phone.
"Advertisers are looking for new ways to get important product and brand information in front of targeted audiences," said Vipul Sawhney, Hovr's president. "At the same time, consumers want a way to get mobile content without having to pay before trying it. Hovr's technology lets the needs and desires of these two groups form a perfect marriage inside the Hovr community."
On other gaming sites users can typically expect to pay between $5 and $15 – even as much as $50 – to download a single game. By contrast, at Hovr all games are free. Users merely view a quick commercial before the game begins, and may see product placements embedded within the game. Profile information, not shared with entities outside Hovr, allow Hovr's AdLogic platform to dynamically place relevant advertisements in front of people most likely to be interested in that content.
Users can download popular titles such as Underground Racer, Hugo Cannon Cruise and Texas Holdem' from some of the world's most popular mobile game publishers. Hovr has already struck distribution agreements with 15 major game publishers, including Robotube Games, Kiloo and Ozura, and is continually adding new titles to its catalog. Only weeks after activating its beta site, Hovr surpassed 200,000 downloads and Hovr MobileSpace membership now spans over 100 countries.
"Hovr is offering Robotube an innovative new way to make money from our mobile games," said Jason Cirillo, founder of Robotube Games. "Our games can reach a vastly larger audience when they are downloadable for free. Typically game producers are paid per download, but Hovr is paying us based on usage. By earning mobile ad revenue each and every time our games are played, a popular game stands to earn its developer exponentially more money."