BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is marching ahead with its plans to monetize BBM service, and the company has announced that it has now 1.1 million BBM channels. The Canadian smartphone maker now allows BBM channel owners, as well as advertisers to promote their content as was agreed back in March. Also, the company has announced new partnership to expand its ad sales network.
Monetizing BBM
For those who don’t know, BlackBerry’s BBM channels are community based broadcast groups or forums that serve as a communicating platforms among the group members. The company stated that it will also, “connect BBM channel users with brands and businesses they may be interested in following within the Feeds area of BBM.”
Matthew Talbot, senior vice president of Emerging solutions at BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) said that the company is trying to monetize BBM in a number of ways as the app is not exclusively open for BlackBerry users and is also available on iPhone, Android, and Windows devices. Two key strategies that the company is following are targeted mobile ads and sponsored content.
Talbot, also, explained why BBM is an ideal platform for advertisers. He said that BBM is one of the largest private mobile social networks, and is in a strong position to earn revenue in the mobile messaging market that is expected to surge and become a multi-billions market in the next few quarters.
The executive said that the highly active users of BBM have surged to 90 million monthly active users and present a huge opportunity for the advertisers.
BlackBerry expands sales network
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) reiterated its tight security, and said that the BBM users should not be concerned about it because the personally identifiable information about any BBM user will not be viewable by the channel owners or advertisers. The company also stated about the spot where advertisers would be able to post their ads within the user’s BBM Feeds.
Additionally, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company talked about its deal with the new regional partners for mobile advertising expertise and believes that the new partners will prove significant to “represent BBM in markets” where the company maintains a large as well as loyal user base. The partners that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is talking about are Blyk, who will represent BBM globally while Habari Media will represent the service in South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana.
