• March 3, 2008

Rhythm NewMedia has partnered with Verizon Wireless to provide ad-supported videos on the LG Voyager smartphone called Rhythm Videos.

The two- to three-minute videos carry 15-second pre-roll ads and span comedy, sports, lifestyle and celebrity news categories. Content providers include AccuWeather, the Fight Network and Men7.

Rhythm has previously provided a white-label video service to European-based carriers including T-Mobile, Vodafone and Hutchison 3. Advertisers on those offerings included Microsoft, Pepsi, Nissan and BMW. Rhythm plans to introduce advertising on the Verizon service gradually to avoid alienating users who are not accustomed to ads on mobile video.

--Mark Walsh