Jingle Networks
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| Jingle Networks | |
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 in Burlington, MA |
| Headquarters |  Menlo Park, CA, USA |
| Key people | Josh Kopelman, Chairman George Garrick, President & CEO Scott Kliger, Founder & CTO |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Products | 1-800-FREE411 directory service |
| Website | www.free411.com |
Jingle Networks, Inc. is an American media network offering a free directory assistance service called 1-800-FREE411.
Consumers dial 1-800-FREE411 (1-800-373-3411) from any phone in the United States to use the toll-free service, which allows callers to obtain any residential, business, or government phone number for no charge. Sponsors cover the service cost by playing short advertising messages, about 12 seconds long, customized based on the number the customer is looking up. A consumer using the service to find a vendor may hear an ad from the vendor's competitor, which is more likely to be a national brand such as Domino's Pizza or 1-800-Flowers. Not every call plays an ad.
Like Skype, Jingle Networks aims at attracting customers away from an existing fee-based market. The Wall Street Journal described it as "inspired by the business model of Google".[1]
[edit] Corporate overview
The corporation was formed in 2005, and within one year Jingle Networks has claimed over 3% of the total market for U.S. 411 calls (a $5-$7 billion market).[1] As of November 2006, over 100 million calls to 1-800-FREE411 had been placed with more than 4 million customers using the service monthly.[2] Customers who do not use a free service typically pay $1 to $2 to place each 411 call.
On October 23, 2006, Jingle Networks announced that it raised $30 million in third round financing from Goldman Sachs and Hearst Corporation. Also on that date, Jingle Network's CEO volunteered on Talkcrunch that his company loses on average 5 cents for every call they process.[3]
[edit] Competitors
Other numbers offering free directory assistance include 1-800-411-SAVE (1-800-411-7283) and 1-877-520-FIND (1-877-520-3463). In December of 2006, AT&T announced a controlled trial of free directory assistance in three markets under the number 1-800-YellowPages (1-800-935-5697) [4]. There are also several services that offer free 411 information using text messaging. Google offers such a service with their Google Mobile site.
