MUMBAI: Aiming to revive the revenues of the saturated caller ring back tone (CRBT) sector, content aggregator Techzone held a three-month RBT contest which resulted in a 30 per cent hike in revenues with over four lakh downloads.

The contest commenced in November 2012 pan India, and was based on the ring back tones offered to customers of a leading telecom company. While earlier the single track downloads were priced at Rs 15-30, the contest provided various shuffle pack downloads of three songs at Rs 15-30, six songs at Rs 25-30 and 10 songs at Rs 35-40. It also allowed consumers to customize the tracks they want in every pack by choosing from various genres like latest, 90s, evergreen, old, regional and international.

Also aiming to build the activity, social media was largely used to create awareness amongst consumers and an array of prizes worth Rs 35 lakhs were announced for the maximum number of downloads. The contest will culminate in mid January 2013.

Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Techzone MD Naveen Bhandari said, “We aim to offer more songs by targeting the old cost. The market is going from push to pull and now the customer knowledge has increased and with an increased number of downloads per customer, even songs are benefitting. We have also divided the prizes into seven parts for all circles to generate interest. So the prizes range from duster car to iPhone and more for the maximum downloads of the shuffle packs.”

The contest has been receiving a massive response with over four lakh shuffle downloads in the first month which accounts for first time activations, and are stated to grow in the coming months, followed by monthly renewals of the packs. It also led to a 30 per cent rise in revenue growth.

He added, “VAS industry is in a transformation phase, and those who cannot think out of their way and adapt to newer techniques, will soon have to shut down. RBT has great potential to contribute to the revenues of a telecom company when the music (RBT) content is monetized better and the lifecycle of the content is increased. We have worked towards developing a win – win situation for the customers and the telecom company. Our ability to make this possible is because of our vast library of content which amounts to almost 50 per cent of the total RBT content available in India, and our well-built and highly effective promotion channels.”

The number of RBT users largely fall in the age group of 16-24years, giving them the option of choosing customized content over social media resulting in success for the company.

Techzone is all set to move ahead in the space with more techniques and initiatives. They are planning an on-ground activity for post-paid customers, who will receive a leaflet along with their bills making them aware on VAS services and guide them on the same. The pamphlets will also be distributed in different circles like cinema halls and more.

“With the TRAI implementations coming into force, the only way to avoid losses in the future is to come up with newer techniques to monetize on the space. There are many customers who pay for VAS services but don’t use it which results in loss of revenues, so we aim to guide them and create awareness on how to use it,” commented Bhandari.

The aggregator is also planning an initiative titled ‘Music Box’ on the lines of the contest for other operators. With most operators not supporting shuffle capability, the ‘Music Box’ initiative is said to provide similar download packs for various customers.