Ringaza Ringtone Scams on CBS
For those of you who don't follow Shoemoney's blog, he put up an article today titled Ringtone Scams Exposed on CBS Evening News Tonight. Apparently, CBS is attempting to make people aware of sites charging for "free" ringtones from sites like Ringaza. You can read more on the story here. It's titled Ringing Up Big Charges For "Free" Tones.
What will be most interesting to see is the impact this will have on the ring tone industry as a whole. My guess is that it will have a slight dip for a while and then pick right back up on its steady decline.
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Nah i doubt this will even put a dent in the industry at all. It might stop noobs from promoting ringtones which is good but a CBS report isnt gonna do squat to anything lol.
Not to mention for stuff like google theres new polices for avoiding stuff like this, its harder to get conversions sure but ringtones have been here for years and years and there not gonna go away anytime soon.
February 23rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
@will: I don’t think they’re going away by any stretch. I just think people will think not once, not twice, but thrice now when visiting sites like these. Overall, there will be little to no impact felt by the affiliates though. Apparently, Ringaza has its own licensed (?) ring tones for sale.
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
heh i doubt kids watch CBS for there reports. And if there parents tell them… well they wont listen like always.
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Ya, it will probably drive search volume way up for 2 days while the older people watching CBS go try to learn what a “ringtone” is, with no conversions, then it will fall right back to its previous declining levels.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
@will: Actually, the funny part about the preview for the show was the young girl that was like “these requests just kept showing up on my phone” or something like that. Like she had nothing to do with it. They magically appeared on her phone. So yeah, you’re probably right.
@Monty: Perhaps. Or perhaps nothing will happen at all. :]
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:22 am
Thank you for the info