Verizon offers customers free data with new model designed to steer them towards ads
Verizon is to start testing a new data model where companies can pay to sponsor a user’s data in order to have their content or ads viewed.
Verizon
The program is called FreeBee Data 360 and will allow Verizon customers to browse a webpage or use an app without affecting their data allotment.
This is made possible by content providers paying a per-gigabyte fee to Verizon in order to give consumers access to all or part of its website or app. The service is currently in beta mode and could roll out as early as this week however no content providers have been announced as of yet.
Verizon are also planning a second model which will take a more directed-content approach. Verizon said that “content providers can sponsor specific consumer actions on a per-click basis, free of data charges for subscribers — including mobile video clips, audio streaming, and app downloads."
This means that content providers can pay for specific taps, such as a promotional video or app download, something which could prove useful for news organisations looking to push downloads of its app.
The pay-per-click offering has yet to kick-off. A limited beta program with about 1,000 test subscribers launched on January 25 with a number of companies already signed up to test pay-per-click include AOL, Gameday, and Hearst Magazines.
Verizon’s model follows similar moves to its competitors. AT&T introduced sponsored content two years ago although it only has six sponsored data providers, the majority of which are advertisers. T-Mobile meanwhile adopted a slightly different approach with its Binge On program which offers unlimited streaming for a number of popular music and video services.