The channel will initially feature a Warner Brothers' commercial promoting the 'Fast and Furious'-style biker movie, 'Torque', now out on DVD and starring Ice Cube, streamed to mobiles immediately after a racy 'Motel Girls' video feature from IPC lads' mag Loaded throughout July and August.
According to Unanimis, unlike other video content available on the O2 Active portal, users of the new model will not pay a penny to view the video content. Ads will be refreshed eight times over the month-long campaign to heighten user migration and involvement.
Steve Cleak, director of mobile strategy at Unanimis, said: "We saw the existing business models in the mobile video streaming market all relying upon changing consumer behaviour in asking for payment. What is wrong with the established commercial TV model of advertisers benefiting from tapping into viewer interest in programming to connect with an audience?"
Cleak said that the "short-bite" world of mobile put even greater emphasis on creativity when engaging the audience and helped advertisers do what they had long sought to and engage consumers in the ads themselves.
"In our business model, advertisements must not only be involving but also complement the content or feature in order to maximise viewer experience. This is a challenge that creative directors will relish," Cleak said.
The channel should allow Loaded parent IPC to expand its revenue base while adding to marketing support of the magazine and Warner will be able to target the hard-to-reach audience the 'Torque' campaign is aimed.
The 'Torque' campaign is running throughout July and August with the intention to air the Loaded channel continuously from September and to expand the offering to a number of channel genres by the year end.
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