AIS launches SingTel's NewsLoop app for Thai smartphones
ADVANCED INFO SERVICE (AIS) yesterday launched the NewsLoop application. Developed by SingTel Idea Factory, a software company in the SingTel Group, the app provides news, entertainment and blogs to smart-phone users free of charge.
The app pays its way through advertising. AIS, as part of the SingTel Group, will take care of NewsLoop’s content and advertising management in Thailand.
Pratthana Leelapanang, AIS senior vice president for digital service, said NewsLoop was a free application that offered news and other information from 500 publishers and blogs, about 60-70 of which were local content providers.
“Users can read all the news from 500 content providers free of charge, but while they are reading, we offer advertising. It is similar to when they read news on a website,” Pratthana said.
He added that this app would benefit all stakeholders: users can read news for free and with ease of access; advertisers can reach a large number of readers; and content providers can monetise their product.
He declined to disclose the advertising rate and percentage of advertising revenue that AIS will share with content providers relative to the number of clicks.
“This app is now available for download at AppStore and PlayStore. It is available for all smart-phone users, not only AIS customers,” he said.
Between 200,000 and 300,000 downloads are expected by the end of this year. Advertising revenue has not yet been targeted. Pratthana said that for communication apps, normally around 80 per cent of the total number of downloads represent active users.
“We see this as an opportunity for the Thai ecosystem. Advertisers can reach their target group effectively, while content providers can monetise their content. We hope this service will encourage Thai businesses to advertise over the mobile platform. But it is too early to forecast how much ad revenue this app will generate.”
Currently, there are about 80 million mobile phones in use in Thailand, including about 30 million mobile Internet users. This number is continuously increasing. AIS has 39 million users, of whom about 13 million are mobile Internet users, which is expected to reach 14 million by the end of this year, he said.
The beauty of this app is that it offers a monetisation opportunity |for bloggers. He said AIS would select the top blogs to add to NewsLoop. It is still open for bloggers to join the app.
NewsLoop is also available in Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. Its content partners include The Nation, Matichon, Thai Rath, Daily News, Voice of America, ASTV Manager and Independent News Network (INN).
