Mobile startup offers magazine subscriptions via text message
<=”” a=”” class=”” style=”border:0px #000000;width: 180px; height: 135px; margin: 10px; float: left;”> AdAge reports that Boku, a mobile payments company that works with Facebook and Sony, thinks text messaging can help magazine publishers boost their subscription revenue.
If nothing else, it might cut down on the number of subscription notices – otherwise known as ‘blow in’ cards – tucked inside magazines.
The San Francisco-based startup said it’s partnering with UK media owner IPC Media – publisher of titles such as NME, Wallpaper and Horse & Hound – on a mobile-payment system that allows consumers to subscribe to magazines via text message and charge the subscription to their phone bill.
Here’s how it works: Print ads direct would-be subscribers to text a code to a number. They receive a confirmation text in response, directing them to a registration page on a mobile website. The subscription is then charged to the person’s phone bill, or deducted from a prepaid balance.