August 26, 2008
'Obama text' reached 2.9 million, cost $290,000
According to Nielsen Mobile, Barack Obama sent a total of 2.9 million text messages announcing his choice of ice President, reports News.com.
If a carrier charged him 10 cents for each one, according to Nielsen's numbers, his bill would've been $290,000.
The VP message was sent in the late hours of Friday night and is, by many accounts, the single largest mobile marketing event in the U.S. to date," a release from Nielsen read.
"While much has been said of the timing and the scoop by news outlets, Obama's V.P. text-message still ranks as one of the most important text messages even sent and one of the most successful brand engagements using mobile media," Nielsen's report read, adding that an estimated 116 million American use text messaging actively."
UPDATE Comment from Andrew Dumont, VP of Business Development at text messaging company Tatango, on the estimated price the Obama campaign paid for sending out it's VP annoucement by SMS.
"If Obama really did pay five to ten cents per message to send out his VP SMS, the price is outrageous. a text messaging company called Tatango, that offers unlimited shortcode messaging to an unlimited number of contacts for only $29.95/month. With that being said, Obama's "$290,000Text Message" could have been reduced to "Obama's Thirty-Dollar Text Message."
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