Wizzard Media (NYSE Amex: WZE), the world’s largest podcasting network announced today the acquisition of the exclusive distribution rights to six iPhone Apps. These Apps are currently for sale through Apple’s App Store for use on iPhones and the iPod Touch including: Blue Attack, OmNomNom, Sudoku Unlimited, TouchScan, Blue Defense and Sudoku Classic.
Based on current sales figures, Wizzard estimates these Apps will generate over $228,000 in annual revenues, after the standard deduction of Apple’s 30%, for the Company before any increased sales from marketing the Apps via the Wizzard Podcast Network to iPhone and iPod Touch users. Through advertising and marketing by Wizzard’s thousands of podcast producers to their highly engaged audience of iPhone and iPod users, Wizzard believes sales could be significantly higher on an annual basis. The Company plans to continue to acquire the rights for up to 100 already launched and approved iPhone Apps to provide podcast producers with a continuous stream of fresh, paid advertising for their episodic shows, app developers with increased sales revenues and provide for profitable App sales for Wizzard. Piper Jaffray’s Financial Analyst, Gene Munster, is projecting total App Store revenue of $780 million in 2009 for Apple.
“The Apple App Store has been an incredible success since its launch last year and we believe iTunes is the greatest digital media sales channel in the world. We know through our podcast distribution statistics that they attract a tremendous amount of media consumers,” says Chris Spencer, Wizzard Media CEO. “The simplicity of a consumer hearing about a great App from their favorite podcast and being able to pause the podcast, click to the App store and buy, all on their iPhone, makes us believe that this could be a great success for podcasters app developers and for Wizzard. The fact that they don’t have to enter credit card information and the low cost price of the Apps make this a compelling offer to consumers.”
This announcement is the first step in Wizzard’s expanded monetization plan for its podcasting network of 20,000 producers and their 18 million viewers and listeners, approximately 70% of whom use iTunes to subscribe to and download their favorite podcasts. The plan, launched in mid-March, has already resulted in the closing of the afore mentioned Apps and Wizzard is in negotiation with 20 Apps for acquisition with a growing pipeline of interested App developers who see the value of marketing Apps via podcasts. Wizzard believes this step will put it closer to its goal of profitability and will be announcing the next step in its network monetization plan in approximately 30 days.
“As more people move towards the mobile consumption of podcasts on the iPhone and iPod Touch, Wizzard sees new revenue opportunities opening up for its podcasting business using Apple’s App Store micropayment system,” says Dave Mansueto, co- founder of podcasting goliath Liberated Syndication (a Wizzard Media company). “By creating a continuous revenue stream for podcast producers and App developers through the marketing of iPhone Apps via podcasts, we believe Wizzard is strengthening its market leading position in the podcast industry and will continue to be the service of choice for monetizing podcast inventory for media companies, large and small.”
To learn more or purchase the Apps discussed above please visit: http://www.wizzardsoftware.com/featured_apps.php
About Wizzard Media (a division of Wizzard Software):
Wizzard Media provides publishing and distribution services to podcasters and monetization services for podcasters. Wizzard Media is the industry's leading podcasting network with an unprecedented 1.2 billion download requests in 2008. Podcasts are a means for independent and professional content creators to publish audio and video shows for the world to enjoy over the Internet or on mp3 players, such as the Apple iPod®, iPhone® and the Microsoft Zune®. Podcasting is a relatively new phenomenon, but Wizzard Media collectively broadcasts millions of podcast downloads per day through media aggregators like Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Zune Marketplace. For more information, please visit www.wizzardsoftware.com/media_v2.php. Wizzard Media is a division of Wizzard Software, a leader in speech technology distribution and development.
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