VH1’s pop-up videos go mobile

The phrase “pop up” typically elicits a collective response of tempered rage-being synonymous with computer spam and otherwise uninvited interruptions-but VH1 Mobile is hoping to take a more positive tact with its new “Pop Up Video To Go” service.
The service, which launched last Monday on all tier-one carriers, aims to connect cellphone users with their favorite recording artists’ music videos on their handsets.
The term “pop up” refers to the short commentary that will play across the screen throughout the videos. VH1 regularly ran a similar offering on television as recent as 2002, which it now hopes can find a new life on the small screen.
Graphic factoids will run across the screen, giving viewers information, trivia and production facts about the video they’re watching.
The service launched with two videos: “Holla Back Girl” by Gwen Stefani and Fall Out Boy’s “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs.” On those videos, viewers will learn that Stefani’s first performance was at her high school’s talent show and that Fall Out Boy was named after a character on “The Simpsons.”
VH1 Mobile plans to launch two videos every week on a dedicated section of the VH1 Mobile deck already embedded in carriers’ video-on-demand offerings, the company said.
“At any given point there will be five videos available,” said Erica Cantwell, director of digital media communications at VH1.
Upcoming installments on the service will feature music videos from Janet Jackson, Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Amy Winehouse, Feist, Marilyn Manson, Black Eyed Peas, Nelly and Rob Zombie.
“There is a real sense that it should be a nice mix of music, across genres,” Cantwell said.
To play better on mobile, the music videos have been re-packaged with pop ups that will remain on the screen for a longer period of time and appear in larger fonts.
“They are all new, made-for mobile pop-up installments,” Cantwell added. Some of the pop ups will even refer to the fact that the viewer is watching the video on his or her cellphone.
The idea of Pop Up Video harks back to the mid ’90s when VH1 premiered the show on television. “It’s something that people just seemed to love,” Cantwell said, of the popularity of the show.