Satirical news publication The Onion is making audio content from its Onion Radio Network available on mobile devices.

The Onion tapped Lexy to mobilize the audio content. Per the deal, a Lexy subscription button will be integrated into the Onion Radio News Web page.

"We focus on audio because there are many hours every day when our eyes are occupied but our ears are not," said Tony Levitan, cofounder of Lexy.com, San Francisco.

"The key is to provide a platform where media companies like the Onion can distribute audio content to consumers in a much more convenient way," he said.

Lexy is an audio content distribution service that is ad-supported, meaning that it is free for the consumer, other than carrier charges for minutes used. It is device- and carrier-independent, meaning that partners can potentially reach 100 percent of the mobile phone market.

"Our vision for Lexy coincides with carriers' movement to flat-rate pricing, which on the Internet was the primary catalyst for Web 2.0," Mr. Levitan said. "The same thing is happening in the mobile space as both regional and major carriers have announced flat-rate pricing plans.

"Flat-rate's not there yet, it's still too expensive, but prices are coming down, and we're positioning for that," he said.

The Lexy portal lets consumers listen to the Onion Radio News daily broadcast and share it with their friends, while also providing The Onion with an opportunity to sell ads to advertisers interested in targeting its mobile audience.

Similar to iTunes' distribution button and RSS feeds, Lexy updates each subscriber's playlist with the latest Onion Radio News broadcast.

However, unlike traditional RSS readers, Lexy subscribers can access this audio programming on their mobile phones, not just on their PCs, and share individual broadcasts with friends from handset to handset.

Lexy offers a range of mobile content, including CNN News Update, Front Page from The New York Times, the Associated Press, 60 Second Science, WTF comedy, NPR's This American Life and Car Talk, ESPN's Pardon the Interruption and various language-skills podcasts. Lexy also provides the capability to share and discuss audio content with others.

Lexy offers content in a variety of categories: What's Hot, News, Humor, Entertainment, Sports, Film & Music, Learning, Biz & Tech and Mind & Body.

Using Lexy's patent-pending phone-to-phone audio content sharing platform, consumers can share audio content with friends and leave a voice message to accompany it. The friend then gets a text saying, for example, "Tony has shared an Onion program with you through Lexy. Call 415-692-4933 to listen. It's free." If the friend calls Lexy, he will hear the Onion program and Tony's personal message. Lexy then asks "Would you like to subscribe to this program?"

"While we can't release the exact numbers at this time, when someone receives a recommendation, their propensity to say 'yes' to subscription is double what we projected in our business plan," Mr. Levitan said.

Consumers subscribe by entering their name, email address and phone number. They will then get a daily alert, either via email or SMS, with a number to access Onion Radio News mobile audio content. Lexy also has recommendation engine that takes into account consumers' preferences and listening habits.

"No one has been able to this in mobile yet, this is first platform of its kind," Mr. Levitan said.

Lexy's focus is on "quikcasts," audio clips between 30 seconds and 2 minutes available on demand.

"Consumers have told us that they don't think hour-long or 40 minute podcasts are appropriate for mobile phones or iPod, so we provide shorter-form podcasts of up to six or seven minutes at most."

While the focus is on the mobile experience, Lexy content, including ORN, is also available on Lexy's Web site, which features longer-form content.

Lexy is currently ad-supported, with most advertising consisting of audio bumpers between five and seven seconds long. To build up its customer base, Lexy is not yet putting ads into the system, although it is allowing its partners such as the Onion to do so.

"Today the focus is on getting ppl in to use it and enjoy it," Mr. Levitan said.
The company is considering launching an ad-free version down the road, which would either be based on a subscription or pay-per-download model.

"Audio ads in podcasts are akin to where banner ads were in 1995, there's very little experimentation," Mr. Levitan said. "We've tested a number of different variants focused on good direct marketing principles taking into consideration that a mobile phone is an interactive device."

Lexy is currently working on promotion with a major hands-free device manufacturer, which will become the first such company to do audio bumper ads for mobile. It could not release the name of that company at press time.

"The Onion appeals to a very broad demographic, college kids and people of both genders who've grown up with the Onion over all these years," Mr. Levitan said. "A million people listen to the ORN each month and a percentage of them will shift to become Lexy subscribers.

"The Onion Radio News was the number-one podcast on iTunes last year, and their interest is in making ORN available for consumers to listen to it however they want," he said. "Before Lexy, no one had a viable mobile audio solution."