Go2 Media gets on deck with Verizon

Mobile media company Go2 Media today announced that Verizon Wireless has included Go2’s local content in Verizon Mobile Web 2.0 portal. Subscribers will now be able to access the Go2 Media search and directory services directly from the “local” category on the portal screen.

Go2’s service allows users to quickly locate the nearest destination of their choice and have the option to receive localized information on their mobile handset. By selecting Go2 on a Verizon phone, a subscriber can search for locations ranging from the closest restaurants, dry cleaners and manicurists to theatres showing a particular movie. Go2 Media also offers one-touch calling and turn-by-turn driving directions, as well as the ability to receive updated local information via SMS or text messages.

Go2 Media was formed in October from the merger of Go2 and 80108 Media. Go2 was originally founded in 1999, and 80108 Media in 2007. According to the company, since 2001, it has delivered more than one billion WAP page views of local content, and every month, mobile phone users access Go2 Media more than two million times. Nielsen Mobile ranks Go2 Media as one of the top 20 mobile websites in the U.S. in terms of monthly unique users.

Lee Hancock, Go2’s founder, told Telephony last week that Go2 Media is the only company in the top 20 whose traffic does not come primarily from the online space. The company’s business model, unique in itself, has experienced continued growth as it sees more and more repeat business from its advertisers, which include Purina, Acura, Nikon and AOL to name a few.

“There’s really not a lot of good companies out there trying to do this highly hyper-local integration of WAP with messaging, purely advertising-driven, purely mobile focused,” he said.

Hancock added that Go2 Media believes that services should be free or nearly free and that advertisers would be willing to pay for the service, much like a Yellow Pages model. Up until the last year or so, the company had been met with resistance from carriers who reluctant to offer mobile advertising. Now, as the market has garnered increasing attention, carrier support has become a primary driver in the company’s success.

“We really work with the carriers to A, make the user experience great, and B, deliver a product,” Hancock said. “Advertising is part of that product that is consistent with what the carriers want and need.”

That being said, one challenge Hancock identified was overcoming market fragmentation in terms of writing separate codes for each different device. “There are a lot of different presentation layers we have to deal with,” he said. “It’s a lot of work to do mobile and do it right.”

Financial details of the Verizon partnership were not released.