Discovery Communications Inc., parent company of the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet, has a history of launching free mobile applications to engage its television audiences, but it is increasingly turning to paid mobile games to drive revenue.

The company has launched Discovery Channel Cannon Challenge 2 for Apple?s iPhone, iPod touch and iPad for $2.99 per download. The sequel to the original Cannon Challenge game encourages viral spread by letting gamers share their scores with friends and family via Facebook and Twitter.

?Cannon Challenge I for iPhone and the Web version of the game already has an established fan base of more than 4 million players, so we wanted to build on that momentum but also expand the Cannon Challenge franchise by offering a more engaging and immersive experience for the fans,? said Ari Tiktin, director of digital media operations at Discovery Communications, Silver Spring, MD.

?We are leveraging the ever-growing popularity of military games and also took advantage of the great features like game center and retina display that are on new mobile platforms like iPhone 4 and iPad,? he said.

To create the mobile game, Discovery Communications partnered with Inhance Digital, the original Discovery Channel Cannon Challenge iPhone application developer.

Discovery Communications, which claims to be the No. 1 nonfiction media company, has launched MythBusters applications for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad to extend the show?s reach (see story).

In October, the Discovery Channel ran rich-media ad creative promoting its ?Storm Chasers? TV show across various publishers? iPhone applications, including WeatherBug, Pandora, Flixster, Variety and TV.com (see story).

The brand's other mobile applications include Discovery News, HowStuffWorks.com and WhizzBall.

Consumers can enter promotions and opt-in to receive daily SMS news and updates from Discovery.

Discovery has various ad-supported mobile Web sites. The mobile portal to all networks is at http://m.discovery.com.

The Discovery Channel mobile site is at http://m.discoverychannel.com, TLC is at http://m.tlc.com, Animal Planet is at http://m.animalplanet.com, Planet Green is at http://m.planetgreen.com, Discovery Health is at http://m.discoveryhealth.com and Pet Finder is at http://m.petfinder.com.

Cannon Challenge 2
With so many free, ad-supported mobile offerings, from SMS and the mobile Web to show-specific applications, paid mobile gaming represents a new and potentially lucrative content area for Discovery.

?The target demographic is casual and mobile gamers ages 14-40-plus, the majority male,? Mr. Tiktin said.

?We're cross-promoting the game from our other apps and about to launch house ads on our digital properties, press, social media,? he said. ?We're also working with Military Channel to run game trailers on-air.?

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