• by Sheree R. Curry , February 21, 2006

Black Entertainment Television made its move into the mobile market last December, with downloadable ringtones for $1.99 to $2.99 a pop. The ringtones are promoted on about 50 percent of BET's music videos via 10- to 30-second pop-ups. The network expected to add news alerts and dating services by the end of the first quarter 2006.

Tapping into the $10 billion mobile content industry is a smart move for the Viacom-owned cable network, given that African-Americans account for more than 25 percent of all spending on text messaging and ringtones. In fact, 37 percent of African-American cell phone owners download a ringtone in a given month, compared to 26 percent for the general population. And 48 percent of these owners use text messaging in any given month, versus 29 percent for the national average, reports Toronto-based market research firm Solutions Research Group.

"While both texting and ringtones are growing fast, the market is not anywhere near saturation," says SRG President Kaan Yigit. "BET is in a great position."