American Idol a Hit with AT&T Services

By Contributor Wireless and Mobile News on May 25, 2009 11:04 AM

AT&T reported that more than 78 million text messagescrossed its network as fans interacted with American Idol -- the highest total for any season and more than double the 78 million messages AT&T reported last year.

97 million votes were cast last Tuesday night. From that 97 million, were the 78 million generated from text messages through votes, trivia contests, and other SMS content.

Text message traffic counted in the tally includes not only text votes but also other ways fans interact with the show via text, such as answering weekly trivia questions, opting in to receive voting number reminders, submitting questions to AT&T-hosted chat sessions with outgoing contestants, and participating in AT&T's sweepstakes.

More than twice as many AT&T customers played weekly Idol Trivia via text this season versus last.

The number of AT&T customers who opted in to receive voting number reminders--a weekly text message listing all of the IDOLs and their voting numbers--was 70 percent higher than last season; fans who opted in for vote number reminders this season sent nearly twice as many text votes than did the overall voting population.

IDOL contestants lit up AT&T's ringtone leaderboard this year. At one point during the week of May 10, AMERICAN IDOL tones comprised 15 of the top 100 ringtones.

The AT&T $1,000,000 Idol Sweepstakes was also a hit with IDOL fans. Kori Hoesel from Friendswood, Texas, received the grand prize--a trip to attend AMERICAN IDOL Finale festivities with her daughter and the opportunity to take home a cash prize up to $1 million. At the Finale festivities, Hoesel was presented with a choice of Samsung Propel phones from former IDOL contestants Carly Smithson, Kimberley Locke, Chikezie Eze, Chris Richardson, Melinda Doolittle, Diana DeGarmo, LaKisha Jones, Paris Bennett, Bo Bice, Hayley Scarnato, Vonzell Solomon, Blake Lewis and Mikalah Gordon. The Samsung Propel is one of the full-keyboard phones in AT&T's top-selling line of quick messaging phones designed with texters in mind. Each phone had been assigned a cash value, and Hoesel took home $50,000 as a result of her pick. More than 191,000 AT&T customers entered the sweepstakes.