Crowd Media Holdings Limited announced it has secured mobile network approvals to mass distribute its artificial intelligence-powered Talking Head technology for entertainment applications in the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Arab Emirates. The network approvals were granted by T-Mobile and KPN in The Netherlands, Vodafone in Portugal, and Etisalat in UAE. Crowd will deploy the AI-based product through its Subscription division which provides affiliate networks, media buyers and publishers with apps, games, mobile entertainment, and education services.

The first telco value added products integrating Crowd Media's Talking Head technology will be entertainment applications Bedtime Stories and Astrology VIP. Bedtime Stories converts children's books into audio-visual elements where a user is read the story by a digital avatar generated by Crowd Media's Talking Head platform. When selecting the book they wish to listen to, users can choose between different AI-generated avatars as their storyteller.

In addition to the audio-visual elements, text is also included to assist children with their reading. Astrology VIP is an application that offers daily updates according to user information entered. Astra, a digital avatar, then offers a variety of astrology readings that include horoscopes, Chinese horoscopes, tarot cards, numerology, dream interpretation and planetary alignments.

Users can also use voice commands to interact with Astra. Both products are browser-based applications that can be accessed on any computer or smart device without the need to download any software while users log in with their phone number. Bedtime Stories will launch in Portugal and the UAE in the coming weeks with stories currently being localised into Portuguese and Arabic while Astrology VIP is undergoing localisation into Dutch to be launched in The Netherlands.

Revenue will be generated by Crowd Media's Subscription division as users access Bedtime Stories through a weekly subscription starting from 4.00 per week and Astrology VIP from 2.50 per week. Crowd Media has entered into revenue-sharing agreements with the individual mobile networks whereby Crowd will retain up to 80% of revenue generated from subscriptions. On-time delivery of Bedtime Stories and Astrology VIP marks the first B2B2C revenue generation from the Talking Head platform, in line with Crowd Media's roadmap update released in April 2022.

The launches are made possible by improvements in digital avatar functionality as part of the Crowd Media's plans to commercialise more subscription-based products before the end of CY2022 that also integrate the Talking Head technology.