Tango Channels is a new way to push updates and content to consumers

Mobile messaging app Tango is boosting its multimedia presence and potential to make money after it introduced content-rich ‘channels’ to itsiOS and Android apps. Channels are basically portals for brands to post messages or multimedia content to Tango users, who can follow specific channels if they want the content to appear in their newsfeed, and also recommend them to their friends. An update adding the feature actually rolled out last week, but now Tango has fleshed out the six main channel categories — entertainment, news, sport, lifestyle, humor and music — with content from Spotify, AOL, Dailymotion and other launch partners. The idea behind channels — which is similar to the feature of the same name in BBM — is to keep users inside the app and more engaged with their friends on the service. Tango was already reminiscent of Asian messaging apps with its gaming platform and personal newsfeed, and adding brands to the mix was inspired by the likes of Line, WeChat and Kakao Talk, Tango CTO Eric Setton told TNW in an interview last week.