Rumors of Mobile Media Death (or Failed Birth) Are Exaggerated

By Adam McIwaine

EU Editor

Critics of mobile video services and cell phone-based mobile media are quick to point out that initial demand for these services and a subscriber’s willingness to pay for them is less than strong.

However, wireless service providers seem to be making money from these offerings, and forecasts for the future of mobile media are pink, if not rosy.

Service provider revenue from mobile video services increased 317% to almost $200 million worldwide from 2005 to 2006, says market researcher Infonetics Research in a new report, entitled "Mobile Video Devices, Services, and Subscribers." And those figures are expected to triple this year, which means there is profit in mobile pictures.

The report also points out an increase in the number of worldwide mobile video subscribers by more than 300% between 2005 and 2006, and forecasts 46 million mobile-watching mavens by 2010. Pushing acceptance and demand are such things as new and more powerful handsets, and the continued migration to all-digital networks (and subsequent death of analog).

Other findings detailed in the report:

- Competition among service providers will keep subscription prices lower in the long term, but revenue will be bolstered by a spike in on-demand mobile viewing (especially related to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing;

- Asia Pacific will be the regional stronghold of mobile video subscribers through at least 2010, with 57% of the world total in 2006, followed by European countries (31%) and North America (10%);

- The number of mobile video handsets sold worldwide nearly doubled from 2005 to 2006 (including video-capable handsets not necessarily tied to a specific mobile video service)

Okay, the critics may point to the relatively low percentage figures in North America to validate their claim of a lukewarm reception for mobile media. But, this may be because people are being charged right out of the gate for these services in NA, while Japan and Asian based companies have just about given them away for nothing.

We think the demand in North America will skyrocket as the content offerings improve and specific communities of users build affinities for particular content types. This sends a pretty clear message to those involved in content creation and distribution today to get their acts together and stop slicing and dicing existing television, film and Internet content and start making some fresh made for mobile material.

You can get more on the Infonetics report at their Web site (www.infonetics.com), although we’d also love to hear your thoughts via this Web log.

You Say Potato, I Say Mobile…

One factor that may be driving more people to wireless and mobile devices for news and information is an insatiable desire for more and more content – at least that’s what a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project indicates.

According to the report, released this week, increasingly-available communications technologies – wireless and wired – has led to more reliance on the Internet, mobile systems and social networking sites as pools of content.

The report noted that 85 percent of adults in the U.S. use the Internet or cell phones to access content, send messages and participate in social networking activities. These people desktop computers, laptops, digital cameras, video cameras, Web cams, iPods or other MP3 players, cell phones and PDA/smartphones on a daily basis. Eight percent of these people admit relying on stationary and mobile tools to keep in touch, do their jobs, or just kick back and watch the latest mobile media feed.

Roughly 10 percent of the people polled regularly use their cell phones for communication, Internet surfing and video viewing. However, about 8% prefer their networking to be tethered and do not care for wireless devices or slow communications infrastructures to get their daily fix of information and connectivity.

The study included responses from 4,001 adults, aged 18 and older, which were surveyed via telephone last year (although it is not stated if any of these phones were mobile.

The burning question: Who was that single individual who pushed the respondent count over 4,000, and why did Pew stop there? If you are out there, send us a message (via a mobile deice, of course!)

Is Mobile Media Making Enough Forward Motion?

By Adam McIlwaine

EU Editor

Last year, approximately $421 million was spent on mobile phone advertising, according to a report by eMarketer, a market research company that tracks such things. This compares with roughly $48 billion spent in television advertising last year, says another reputable source.

In an article that appears in a recent New York Times*, experts are quoted as saying this is a bit disappointing and may signal that advertisers are not ready for small screen positioning. Hollywood types also say that it will be years before the enthusiasm for small screen productions catches up with mass-market consumption.

While some pundits may view this article and others like it as an indicator that mobile media is not growing if not be leaps and bounds then at least steadily, we believe that the industry is making strong gains and may even be ahead of plans in terms of audience and mobile advertising activities.

Sure, there are some roadblocks ahead, not the least of which is the installed based of mobile devices that are capable of adequately hosting short films, clips and mobile advertising. This same article goes on to quote market researcher The Yankee Group as stating that the number of mobile video viewers in the United States is "about 5 million, 10 times more than in 2004 but still a small fraction of the 195 million mobile phone subscribers nationwide."

The introduction of newer and more multimedia-capable wireless devices should help eliminate the hardware disparity - especially the availability next month of Apple's iPhone (although we caution Apple and wireless Carrier Cingular - the first to carry the device - not to price it too out of range of your average prime demographic user!).

Also, we believe there will be a host of other new devices coming whose form will meet their intended function, and may port a larger screen offering a more comfortable viewing platform. Mobile viewing devices are already available from Archos and Nokia, and these can easily be adapted by adding cellular chips and soon high-speed and high-bandwidth WiMAX technology (reportedly available from Sprint in early 2008).

The use of widespread use of mobile media and mobile media-capable devices is very dependent on the application of content and software and its relevance to each and every mobile user. This means that people who travel will make wide use of travel-related mobile video and services, and news junkies will subscribe to real-time news feeds. The trick is to relate this stuff to what a person is doing at the moment and where they are, and not suspend their lives to watch it. It is all about lifestyle and work style enhancement.

In terms of mobile advertising, nearly every major ad company has already launched or planned to launch a mobile and digital effort. Smaller mobile advertising companies are also popping up every day and have developed very successful 'buzz' and affinity marketing campaigns that go right to the heart of mobile users.

Financial instiututions have also caught onto the value of mobility, and are deploying mobile money applications, video training and other content that appeals to the penny-pincher in al of us.

So, to those that are quick to say that mobile media is not growing fast enough, we say the problem is not growth but how you are measuring it. What is needed is a new yardstick and not old and outdated measurement algorithms.



*http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/business/media/07cell.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin