Mobile Content Industry Remains Desperate for Viewers

The only thing holding up the explosion of the mobile phone content and advertising business continues to be the lack of interested viewers, panelists bemoaned at the second annual NATPE Mobile conference here.

Under 10%
Currently, 20% of all mobile users have video-enabled cellphones, but less than 10% of that sector has actually used that video access, said David Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp.
"What we have is a good news, bad news situation. The bad news is the low percent of people actually using it, but the good news is that we have all these people with new video opportunities.
All we have to do is get them to start using it."

There are two things that can drive users to mobile content, Mr. Poltrack said:
- short-form creative content related to existing programming - not just YouTube home movies -
- and local content that will deliver a sense of immediacy, such as the news and weather that is already huge among the small mobile video community now.

Sense of urgency
What needs to happen for users to quickly expand from less than one-tenth to one-third of all mobile use is for a major content provider to take the initiative, just as Apple and Verizon paved the way for broadband video
Someone needs to do the same thing for mobile video that 'American Idol' did for text messaging," said Raja Khanna, founder and chief operating officer of QuickPlay Media Inc. "Technology is no longer a hurtle.
The reality is if consumers wanted to do this tomorrow, we would all figure out a way to [provide them with content.] We need to create that urgency."

While technology is no longer a barrier to consumers' entry into the mobile market, deciding on a solid business model is. Video-on-demand works best for news and weather, while a subscription model has paid off thus far for MySpace.
The social networking giant has lured a significant portion of its users to its mobile platform for a $2.95 monthly membership, which, to the target audience, is like buying a ring tone, said John Smetzer, senior VP-general manager of mobile content at Fox Interactive Media. "Consumers are not paying for MySpace, they're paying for the mobility."

Decline of TV?
Since the mobile conference preceded the year's biggest syndicated TV conference by one day, it was important someone address what many worry is the diminishing role of TV in the imminent move to mobile.
Leave it to Gary Carter, chief creative officer of U.K.-based FremantleMedia, to sum it up thusly in his dramatic closing keynote speech: "We should be careful that when we mourn the so-called death of television we are only mourning our own loss of power as a media elite.
We're not living through the death of television for the simple reason that this is not about television.

"Technological development is a story which runs through history, and part of that story is the rise and rise and rise of what we call media," he said.
"This will affect us in a very deep and very profound way."

Source : AdAge

Using 'Double Screen' to Drive TV Viewership

Anyone in media has read a host of articles about convergence, the meeting and merging of TV and online.
While much of the talk has, as ever, been premature, there are signs that consumer behavior is starting to alter and, more importantly, that marketers are responding to it.

In Japan, one trend is known as "double screen," the practice of keeping a PC switched on in the living room as well as the TV. Thus, if the TV fails to appeal, consumers are always ready to surf.
To take advantage of this trend, the Nagoya Broadcasting Network used real time RSS messaging to let surfers know that a program worth watching was about to start.

The key to the campaign was to get consumers to download the special RSS reader onto their desktops. Large posters with CD-ROMs were installed at Nagoya City Subway stations, and 12,000 discs were distributed in seven days.
A further 160,000 CD-ROMs were distributed via Tokai Walker magazine, and announcements on NBN TV shows encouraged consumers to download the reader from the website.
The RSS reader is updated every two seconds so that consumers can not only find out when a program is about to start but also what's happening during programs such as sports broadcasts. Surfers can be notified of goals scored so they can switch on to watch the replay.

NBN wasn't the first company to use RSS to promote its shows, but the broadcaster claims it's the first to disseminate real-time program-content information in addition to program announcements. The approach has paid clear dividends in the ratings, and information is still being sent to the RSS readers.
The RSS reader was part of a range of initiatives that have helped boost ratings for NBN by 2.4% in peak time and 0.8% across the day.

2007 Web Predictions

Après le post du 12 décembre dernier sur le bilan des "Web technology trends of 2006", la même équipe donne ses prévisions sur ce que seront les highlights de 2007

Ca fourmille de repères, mais je vous épargne l'interminable ascenseur via le lien ci-joint...

(ReadWrite/Web)

Personalised adverts on mobile TV

Mobile TV viewers in Norway will be served personalised adverts as part of a two-month trial.

Banner adverts will be sent to mobile phones and tailored to the individual user under the trial by broadcaster NRK, a mobile TV pioneer.

"Advertisers see value in people being interested in certain products in a given context," said Gunnar Garfors, director of development at NRK.

Two TV channels and four radio stations are taking part in the trial.
"Most people who watch mobile TV in Norway do so because
they are bored somewhere, on transport, or waiting," said Mr Garfors.
"You can assume they are near a shop or service which may be relevant."

The TV and radio stations are streamed to the phones over a 3G phone network and are "near-live with a few seconds' delay.
Mobile TV is a growing market that is yet to hit the mainstream partly because of cost and partly because of competing mobile TV standards.

Unlike other "live TV services" on the market, the NRK trial is streaming video rather than broadcasting it.

According to research firm eMarketer there are 44.5 million 3G subscribers worldwide who watch mobile TV on their phone. Their report predicts the number will double each year, reaching 520.9 million by 2009.

The number of subscribers who pay for premium video services and watch them on their phone will go from six million worldwide to 121.5 million by 2009, it predicts.
Adverts from 20 different companies are targeted to the viewers, depending on the information given to NRK when they signed up for the trial.

Mr Garfors said: "We know lots about the viewers; we have their phone numbers, their name, sex and where they live.
"We can also determine their presumed interests when we see what they watch or listen to and what times they do it.
And we know where they are geographically because of positioning technology.
"When we put this all together we have a fair amount of relevant information which can give them more relevant advertising material."

While the trial is a "proof of concept", Mr Garfors said future developments could see adverts sent to phones dependent on the precise location of the viewer.

Target demographic

For example, companies could have adverts sent to viewers matching their target demographic who happen to be waiting for a bus close to shops where their products are on sale.

People taking part in the trial download a small computer program - a Java application - onto their phones.
The application is also used to change channels on the phone as well as to give viewers the chance to vote interactively during programmes, and send audio and video messages.

"You can also watch or listen to on demand programmes."
Norway is pioneering mobile TV and radio, said Mr Garfors.
"It's beyond the early adopters. Most phones are 3G and they all have built in video players. It's quite popular."

Cost continues to be a barrier for many people, however, as mobile operators charge customers for the data - in this case video or audio - that is downloaded on to their phones.
Mr Garfors said: "One of the problems is that the operators have different price systems. It's still assumed to be quite expensive."

But the introduction of flat rate subscription services - for about £3 a month - could open the floodgates to more viewers.

Mr Garfors said NRK was pioneering mobile TV because of changing viewing habits among the younger generation.
He said: "We are losing out on younger viewers and listeners when it comes to traditional TV and radio.
"On the mobile platform they are big users. If we are just going to continue to do traditional TV and radio, who knows who long we will be in business?"

(BBCNews)

Les habitudes de jeu mobile en pleine mutation

Vous m'excuserez, mais comme vous l'avez constaté, il y a un problème de post que je n'arrive pas à résoudre pour le moment : un monstrueux carré gris vient parasiter le texte ...je continue tant bien que mal, et ça disparaîtra, inch 'allah !

Selon une nouvelle enquête Nokia, les joueurs sur téléphone mobile recherchent une expérience mobile de prochaine génération qui réponde à leurs besoins pour découvrir, partager et jouer facilement à des jeux mobiles divertissants et de grande qualité. Cette étude révèle que ces utilisateurs jouent fréquemment à des jeux mobiles à raison de 28 minutes par session en moyenne. Ils privilégient les graphismes perfectionnés, préfèrent essayer les jeux avant de les acheter et intègrent de plus en plus les communautés dans leur expérience globale du jeu mobile.

Jouer plus, plus longtemps

Les joueurs interrogés jouent souvent à des titres mobiles, une écrasante majorité (80 %) déclarant jouer au moins une fois par semaine et 34 % quotidiennement. La durée moyenne d'une session est de 28 minutes, avec un temps de jeu supérieur à la moyenne en Inde (39 minutes), aux États-Unis (31 minutes) et en Thaïlande (29 minutes).

Les jeux sur téléphone mobile sont pratiquement autant joués en déplacement (61 %) qu'à domicile (62 %). De même, les joueurs sur téléphone mobile occupent ainsi leurs périodes d'inactivité, 56 % préférant jouer pendant les temps d'attente.

L'appel de la prochaine génération

Près des deux tiers (63 %) des personnes interrogées ont préféré l'expérience plus riche offerte par la gamme de jeux mobiles de prochaine génération Nokia par rapport aux produits Java 2D et Java 3D existants, surtout après avoir essayé les jeux.

La bonne jouabilité (83 %), la possibilité de rejouer (79 %) et le style de jeu (78 %) sont des facteurs déterminants lors de l'achat de jeux mobiles. La qualité graphique (84 %) et la possibilité d'utiliser le téléphone à d'autres fins pendant le téléchargement (78 %) se distinguent comme les principaux avantages des jeux mobiles de prochaine génération Nokia.

Essayez avant d'acheter

Lorsqu'ils ont la possibilité d'essayer un jeu avant de l'acheter, la plupart (43 %) préfèrerait essayer deux à trois jeux par semaine plutôt qu'un seul (21 %). Au terme de l'essai, la majorité (65 %) préfèrerait payer directement la version complète du jeu plutôt qu'un abonnement (27 %).

Lorsqu'il s'agit de se procurer les jeux, la distribution via Internet (ou OTI, over-the-internet) est presque aussi populaire (34 %) que la distribution par liaison radio (ou OTA, over-the-air) (45 %).

Connecter, se défier et partager

La généralisation des jeux à l'échelle planétaire témoigne du fait que les clients souhaitent voir la connexion des personnes, au sein d'une équipe ou en tant qu'adversaires, occuper une place plus forte dans leur expérience de jeu mobile. Dans le monde, 45 % définissent le mode multijoueur sur leur téléphone mobile au moins une fois par mois. Ce phénomène est particulièrement fort en Inde, où plus de la moitié (56 %) jouent au moins une fois par semaine et un quart chaque jour.

Les joueurs ne cherchent pas seulement à vaincre leurs adversaires ; ils souhaitent également partager des démos avec leurs amis (62 %). Par ailleurs, une vaste majorité (79 %) essaierait des jeux envoyés par des amis.

Selon Jaakko Kaidesoja, Directeur de la division Jeux et multimédia chez Nokia, « les conclusions de cette enquête confirment le fait que les clients sont à la recherche d'une expérience de jeu mobile de prochaine génération répondant à leurs besoins dans ce domaine. Ils exigent des graphismes d'exception, un contenu d'exception et une jouabilité d'exception... nous les avons entendus. L'an prochain, nous avons l'intention de leur offrir des expériences de jeu mobile de pointe incluant des jeux esthétiques, passionnants et interconnectés, faciles à trouver, à gérer et à jouer. »

« La solution Web 2.0 a vu le développement d'une nouvelle utilisation d'Internet, plus investie ; avec la prochaine génération de jeu mobile, nous sommes sur le point de provoquer la même évolution », ajoute Kaidesoja. « Depuis les débuts de N-Gage Arena, Nokia a pris en compte l'importance des communautés et du jeu en tant que lien social aux yeux des clients. Nous développons nos stratégies de communautés en ligne pour faire bénéficier des millions d'utilisateurs d'appareils mobiles dans le monde d'une expérience de jeu interconnectée et conviviale. »

Méthodologie : Nokia a chargé Nielsen Entertainment de réaliser cette enquête dans six pays. 1 800 participants ont été interrogés pendant une heure en Allemagne, en Chine, en Espagne, aux États-Unis, en Inde et en Thaïlande.

(InternetActu, Agence Française pour le Jeu Vidéo)

Times Sq. Ads Spread Via Tourists’ Cameras

Advertisers have long been drawn to Times Square as a valuable place to reach consumers, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for space on billboards and blazing video screens.

But recently they have discovered that down on the ground, new technology has given low cost, face-to-face marketing campaigns something of a cutting edge as consumers spread their messages on the Internet.

Take the recent display of public toilets set up by Charmin bathroom tissue: Used by thousands in Times Square and viewed by 7,400 Web users on one site alone. Or Nascar’s recent display of racecars; videos of the event have been viewed on YouTube more than 1,800 times. More than 60 people wrote about the event on their blogs and 60 more spread the word — and pictures — on the Flickr Web site.

“The great thing about the digital world is you can capture these events,” said Christian McMahan, brand director for Smirnoff Ice, owned by Diageo. “People can see them whether they were there that day or 3,000 miles away.”

As a result of the growing popularity of consumer-generated pictures, videos and e-mail messages on Internet sites like YouTube and Myspace, advertisers are getting consumers to essentially do their jobs for them.

When Target, the discount store operator, suspended the magician David Blaine above Times Square for two days during the week of Thanksgiving, videos shot by viewers were posted on YouTube and viewed more than 19,300 times.

“Times Square is becoming, in a way, a publishing platform,” said Peter Stabler, director of communication strategy for Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, an advertising agency that is part of the Omnicom Group. “What happens in Times Square is no longer strictly the province of location. You can experience things that are happening there, even if you’re not there.”

On sites like YouTube, Flickr and MySpace, an army of tourists and residents are spreading advertisers’ messages well beyond Manhattan, using their cell phones and video cameras as they walk through the marketing crossroads of the world.

Consumer brand companies are taking advantage of that by hosting elaborate events, fully aware that those events are great fodder for footage. Hosting events in Times Square, advertisers said, is like buying product placement in a TV show or a movie — except the cameras are held by consumers and the placement is on the Internet.

Experiential marketing, as the ad industry calls such campaigns, is intended to give people something they can tryout and photograph. Companies are holding such events in cities around the world, but advertisers said Times Square was unparalleled in its reach. People around the world recognize Times Square in photos and videos online and are more likely to view them, marketers said.

Charmin’s bathrooms, which opened on Broadway near West 46th Street on Nov. 20, generated traditional coverage with more than 100 articles published about the fancy toilets. But consumer videos posted on YouTube alone have been viewed more than 7,400 times.

Hundreds of other people each week post photos and videos on their blogs and MySpace pages. One blog post last week, “Der New York Trip Part II”, written in German, shows a young couple posing with the Charmin bear. Charmin is a brand of Procter & Gamble.

Another post about the Charmin toilets last week on a Web design blog wondered, “Could this be too much marketing?” Christian Montoya, the site’s author, videotaped the bathrooms when he visited Times Square on Thanksgiving so that he could post the footage online for his roughly 700 daily readers. Though Mr. Montoya, a senior at Cornell University, said he was skeptical of marketing but thought the Charmin bathrooms were effective.

“It was more than a billboard because you could actually try the product,” Mr. Montoya said.

It is difficult to count exactly how many people pass through Times Square each day, but foot traffic by some measures has nearly doubled. In 1997, the Times Square Business Improvement District counted 8,702 people an hour passing through the most crowded parts of Times Square during the busiest times of year. This year, the Times Square Alliance found that nearly double that amount — about 15,000 people — passed the Virgin Megastore on Broadway during busy hours.

But, advocates of experiential marketing say headcounts in Times Square underestimate the district’s impact. Face-to-face interaction with customers is more powerful than traditional ads, they say.

“What people do is geometrically more powerful than what they are told,” said Brian Collins, chief creative officer of Ogilvy and Mather Brand Innovation Group, a part of the WPP Group. “Feeling something, picking it up in your hands, walking into an environment is a far more powerful brand promise than anything you are simply told through traditional media alone.”

On the day after Thanksgiving, Diageo’s Smirnoff Ice brand held a tongue-in-cheek rally featuring about 30 paid actors as “core protestors.” The theme was “save the mistletoe,” a slogan for a holiday campaign for Smirnoff Ice. Smirnoff estimates that 60,000 people passed by its four-hour rally.

“When you go into an arena that is so iconic like Times Square, people are looking to be entertained,” said Christian McMahan, brand director for Smirnoff Ice. “And they’re looking to be part of it.”

In April, General Electric rented nine digital billboards in Times Square and displayed photos of people passing by. People on the street photographed themselves standing below the billboards when their images appeared. Soon, those images were circulating online.

“It’s much more interactive,” said Judy Hu, the global executive director for advertising and branding at G.E. “You’ve got people who are e-mailing, sending messages, they’re involved with your brand personally as opposed to just viewing it.”

G.E. and other companies that hosted recent events would not divulge their costs, but they said the total came out surprisingly low compared with other forms of marketing.

The mayor’s office said permits to use Times Square areas started at $25,000 but often cost $50,000 or more for a day, and that 112 marketers had paid for permits this year.

The amount of marketers in Times Square has soared this year in large part because three traffic islands there were made available on a regular basis this year for the first time as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s broader initiative to attract more tourists to New York City.

In February, Walt Disney World sent Hans Florine, the X-games gold medal climber, scaling up a billboard to promote Expedition Everest, a new Animal Kingdom park ride. Mickey Mouse was also there, but he stayed on the ground.

In early December, MasterCard carolers sang holiday songs and passed out hot chocolate; street vendors sold coffee in Ann Taylor Loft paper cups; and a Sovereign Bank team rode red Segways passing out shopping bags and subway maps.

But some advertising executives wonder if it might be reaching the saturation point.

“It is now getting to the point,” said Lori Robinson, senior vice president of Hill and Knowlton, the WPP Group agency that helped produce one event, “where there just might be a little too much going on in Times Square.”

(NewYorkTimes)

Pour voir un petit audio slide show

Le gouvernement veut généraliser la télévision sur téléphone mobile

D'ici à la fin de 2007, les parisiens pourront peut-être regarder la télévision sur leur téléphone mobile dans le métro. François Loos, ministre délégué à l'industrie, devait participer, mercredi 6 décembre, à la première démonstration de télévision mobile personnelle dans une rame entre les stations Assemblée nationale et Concorde. Le 8 novembre, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, ministre de la culture avait lui aussi pu regarder la télévision sur un mobile dans les couloirs de la station Concorde.

Pour réaliser ce test, la RATP, l'ensemble des chaînes de télévision et les opérateurs de télécommunications se sont associés avec TDF, principal diffuseur de télévision. Celui-ci a obtenu du Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) une autorisation temporaire d'utilisation de fréquence pour expérimenter la couverture du métro.

En France, la télévision sur mobile existe déjà sur les réseaux haut débit des opérateurs de télécommunications (technologie dite 3G ou UMTS). Pour l'instant, seulement 3,4 millions de Français sont équipés d'un mobile permettant de recevoir ce service et seulement 1 million est actif.

Regarder la télévision sur le réseau UMTS est non seulement coûteux, puisqu'un canal est réservé pour chaque abonné, mais le système saturerait également rapidement si tous les abonnés au téléphone mobile se mettaient à regarder la télévision en même temps. Enfin, la qualité de l'image n'est pas toujours au rendez-vous.

Pour résoudre ces problèmes, une des solutions est la télévision hertzienne en mode "broadcast", c'est-à-dire en continu et en direct. Un tel système permettrait de regarder la télévision, comme chez soi, à n'importe quelle heure et surtout n'importe où.

Des expérimentations ont été lancées par les trois opérateurs, Orange, SFR et Bouygues Telecom. Selon les premiers résultats, les clients "cobayes" regardent la télévision sur leur mobile en moyenne une vingtaine de minutes par jour, à leur domicile, dans les transports et au bureau.

Ils veulent retrouver les mêmes programmes que sur la télévision classique. Enfin, près de 70 % d'entre eux ont déclaré être prêts à souscrire à une offre payante, comprise entre 5 et 10 euros par mois. "Il ne faut donc plus attendre et notre pays doit jouer un rôle moteur dans le développement de la télévision mobile", affirme M. Loos.

Tous les acteurs se sont donnés comme objectif d'être prêts lors de la Coupe du monde de rugby en septembre 2007. Mais cela nécessite de surmonter plusieurs obstacles.

Il faut adopter la loi sur la modernisation de la diffusion audiovisuelle et la télévision du futur : passée au Sénat, celle-ci doit être examinée à l'Assemblée nationale fin janvier.

Il faut aussi se mettre d'accord sur une norme commune, allouer aux opérateurs un réseau de fréquences suffisantes pour faire passer les chaînes de télévision et surtout faire converger les intérêts des diffuseurs, des chaînes de télévision et des opérateurs de télécommunications.

En effet, certains opérateurs sont tentés de développer leurs propres contenus et de faire payer l'offre de télévision, alors que les chaînes de télévisions défendent un modèle gratuit, accessible au plus grand nombre afin d'accroître leurs revenus publicitaires.

Côté norme, un consensus semble se détacher pour le DVB-H, déjà en place en Italie et en Finlande. Celle-ci permet d'avoir une qualité d'image excellente et surtout sans limitation du nombre de spectateurs. Quant aux fréquences, "un réseau devrait être prêt dans une quarantaine de villes d'ici à septembre 2007", indique Janine Langlois-Glandier, présidente du Forum TV mobile.

Reste à savoir qui sera l'opérateur de ce réseau dont le coût est estimé par le cabinet d'études OC & C à 300 millions d'euros sur cinq ans pour couvrir les deux tiers de la population.

"Pour l'instant, tout pousse les opérateurs de diffusion (TDF et Towercast) à ne rien faire tant que les opérateurs mobiles et les chaînes de télévision ne sont pas d'accord", estime les analystes d'OC & C.

D'après leurs prévisions, ce marché devrait attirer 6 millions d'abonnés et générés plus de 500 millions d'euros de revenus (hors revenus publicitaires) dès 2013 et le double en 2017.

(LeMonde.fr)

Ads Migrate to Mobile Handsets

Etat des lieux: c'est sûr, ça vient, mais il faudra être patient; place aux Etudes ... !

After years of resistance, cell phone outfits are working with publishers and partner vendors to try new approaches to selling their space. Mobile advertising is in the early stages of development, and major stakeholders including cellcos, content providers and intermediaries are launching ad-hoc campaigns in a bid to find a way for mobile to fit into the overall advertising landscape.

With its unique advantages of personalization, immediacy and interactivity, the mobile phone has emerged as an attractive advertising tool for brands and advertisers to reach new customers and target audiences. While using mobile as a medium to deliver advertising and marketing messages isn't a new concept, it has been used predominately for SMS-based direct marketing since 2000, and hasn't yet made a significant impact on the world of advertising.

Not until recently, that is. The industry is now seeing mobile advertising generate significant interest among mobile operators, advertisers and ad agencies. Over the past 12 months, after years of resistance, mobile operators are opening their services to advertising, working with publishers and vendor partners to pilot a number of different on-deck approaches - mostly WAP, but other platforms are beginning to emerge in video, downloads and search.

In the US, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel have launched initiatives to test how consumers react to short video ads on their phones. In Europe, 3 and Orange have begun selling banner ads on their portals to drive users to click on games and video downloads. In Asia, China Mobile and China Unicom recently announced plans to sell advertising space via SMS/MMS, games, IVR and mobile Internet services. Operators like 3 HK and SmarTone-Vodafone are partnering with media agencies and advertisers rolling out mobile advertising campaigns.

Meanwhile, media companies expanding their content to mobile are also keen in tapping the medium as part of their advertising offering to their clients.
Ringo Chan, VP of wireless development at Turner International Asia Pacific, says the company is seeing increased interest in mobile advertising from its clients.
"Every time our advertising sales team at CNN presents a campaign to advertisers, some of them ask: What about mobile?" he says. "Although mobile is now far from a mainstream advertising vehicle, advertisers understand that it's an alternative they could not omit and they have to embrace it."

RICH MEDIA SERVICES

Not surprisingly, the recent buzz over mobile advertising is partly from the fact that mobile services are becoming increasingly content driven.
The increased rollout of 3G and HSDPA, mobile users' growing interest in multimedia content and emerging services like mobile TV and "off-portal" search also open doors to advertisers to exploit the mobile channel for advertising opportunities.
If nothing else, consumers' increased acceptance of mobile advertisements also helps push cellcos and advertisers to explore the business opportunities.
Findings from a recent survey, conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Enpocket, reveal that mobile users are far more accepting of mobile advertising when it is relevant.
The Consumer Mobile Advertising report, conducted with more than 1,200 mobile Internet users across the US, Europe and India, shows that targeted mobile advertising is 50% more acceptable to mobile Internet users than untargeted ads.
Research firm Informa Telecoms & Media predicts that the next 12 months will mark the start of a sharp upturn in mobile advertising spend as the proliferation of cheap, high-quality multimedia handsets and the widespread availability of high-speed mobile networks reaches a critical point. According to Informa Telecoms & Media, worldwide spend on mobile advertising and marketing will reach over $11.35 billion by 2011, affording consumers cheaper mobile content as advertisers come to terms with the medium.

SPONSORSHIP TO DOMINATE

The question, then, is just what sort of advertising format plays best on mobile?

Early evidence and industry research hint that the content-sponsorship model will be a favorite. Gartner predicts sponsorships are most likely to be the dominant format for mobile advertising until 2010.
For one thing, a sponsorship model is straightforward to sell. Also, a major source of optimism is user acceptance - several consumer surveys found that mobile users in general are willing to receive and view adverts in return for free or lower-cost mobile apps. One survey from Informa Telecoms & Media reveals that music, games and mobile TV/video are the most wanted mobile content services mobile users also want for free.

As such, a number of operators and companies have launched different campaigns to test how consumers react to ad-sponsored content.

A typical example is Greystripe, which distributes mobile games for free to consumers with in-game advertising. Michael Chang, CEO and co-founder of Greystripe, says the company has partnered with 29 mobile game publishers and developers, such as Artificial Life in Hong Kong and Handy Games in Germany, to deliver over 200 game titles to mobile users through its gamejump.com WAP portal.
Chang says Greystripe sells advertising space in its game network for $45 CPM (per thousand impressions) with three different forms of adverts - click-to-call, click-to-mobile web and click-to-jump page (to a survey/poll) - and shares the revenue with game publishers. After downloading the game, end-users must view a full-screen ad before and after they play the game.
Chang says the company currently has seven brands placing adverts on its game portal and claims that the average worldwide click-through rate for its ads with actions in GameJump games achieved a remarkable 15%. Greystripe is also working with mobile application publishers to bring to market ad-supported mobile apps such as instant messaging.

While such a model may offer tier-2 and tier-3 publishers (or other apps that get lost in the deck) alternative revenue resources and channel to market, cellcos are also expected to start to test similar model as a means to supplement their largely consumer transactional model - potentially starting in niche application categories such as news, information and consumer search. Verizon Wireless in the US, for example, is testing a program that will open its phones to advertisng through a two-tier payment model (such as $15 for no ads and less for ad-supported content).

Nicky Walton, senior research analyst with Informa Telecoms & Media, predicts that mobile operators will increasingly adopt ad-funded model in the coming few years, as it will help eliminate high charges that are extensively inhibiting take-up.

"At the moment the cheapest game to download over a mobile operator's portal is around $5, which is very expensive," Walton says. "If operators started offering mobile game downloads for free or a reduced cost, even if it doesn't initially increase usage, it's going to increase the likelihood of people trialing different games, because spending $5 to download something you might not like is lot of money.
The ad-funded model would increase the number of mobile users and draw them to the portals."
Walton says music will be another form of popular content that would attract sponsorships, and by 2008 that focus would shift to mobile TV/video.

BUILDING THE AUDIENCE

While there is little doubt about mobile's potential as a powerful advertising tool, industry players and market watchers agree that it's still very early for mobile advertising, and it will only grow into an established advertising channel after a number of issues have been resolved.

The adoption of mobile advertising is closely tied to the successful of mobile content services such as video, games and music. However, mobile has yet to attract a dedicated advertising budget despite the establishment of a couple of mobile ad networks in the past 12 months, says Gartner analyst Daren Siddall.

Advertisers at this stage, he says, are cautious about allocating budgets to the mobile channel chiefly because there is not yet an audience for advertisers to reach.

"Consumption of mobile content is very small, around the 10% mark, while the penetration of 3G subscribers at most is in the low single digits in most countries. Watching live TV or video, meanwhile, is a relatively new phenomenon and will remain a niche application for some time, which means that the potential reach for advertisers will be too low to attract widespread interest," Siddall says.

Therefore, he notes, the industry at the moment is facing a classic "chicken and egg" situation: advertisers won't commit budget to the mobile channel until they see there is audience to reach. Content providers and mobile operators, which realize that advertising will be an enabler for mobile content, conversely, are worrying whether or not they can generate enough impressions for advertisers and enough revenues to compensate changing their business model from pay-to-use to ad-sponsored.

Ricky Ow, general manager at Sony Pictures Entertainment Networks, who oversees AXN and Animax TV channels in Asia and orchestrates AXN Mobile, agrees that an established audience is vital to lure advertisers. Consequently, Sony Pictures' priority for now is getting viewers and the AXN brand out there in the mobile market.
"With viewers there will be proof of evidence of data which we can sell more intelligently to advertisers," Ow says, adding that AXN is currently is working with a few handset makers for ad sponsorship on mobile, but it's too early to offer details.

MEASUREMENT AND METRICS

Mobile advertising's nascent status also means that the delivery format is still in development, as is any standard to guide that development.
Another issue is that there is little in the way of transparency or metrics available to measure the effectiveness of mobile adverts. There isn't even any agreement as to what those metrics should be.
Measurement technique used in online advertising - such as click-through rates, impressions, cost-per-sale and cost-per-thousands - can be applied in the mobile environment, but they can't provide concrete details like whether the mobile user is clicking through on the Internet via the mobile phone.

For the mobile advertising market to move from test and niche levels to becoming part of the mainstream buying process, analysts say the industry must provide more visibility into the medium, including the establishment of reliable measurement and metrics for advertisers to measure the effectiveness of mobile adverts.

Ow of Sony Pictures agrees: "I think those questions have to be answered first before we see the influx of advertising on the mobile channel. This is not just for us, this is for everybody."
But such issues are not expected to be resolved soon, as a value chain for mobile advertising has yet to be established, Gartner's Siddall says.

"The advertising value chain is highly fragmented, involving advertisers, ad agencies, media agencies, media content owners and others in the delivery of ads to consumers," he says. "Throwing mobile into the mix adds even more complexity, with the addition of network operators, mobile marketing specialists, messaging or WAP gateway providers, and perhaps mobile application developers."

He adds that, given the lack of a single voice evangelizing the medium, migration of spend to the mobile channel is expected to be slow over the next five years.

That said, in the next year or two we'll be seeing a lot of experiments carried out by each stakeholder in the industry as they try to form standards and some level of understanding of what will work on mobile and the kind of format consumers will find acceptable.

"It's really about finding its way and its role in this overall advertising landscape," he says. "And that at the moment is not certain."

BusinessWeekOnline (Provided by Telecom Asia—Copyright: © 2006 Questex Media Group, Inc.)

Upward Mobility : Ultrafast networks and whizzy features are about to turn your cellphone into—well, your right arm

Park Hyun-A is someone you might want to watch.

A 21-year-old student at Korea University in Seoul, she'd like to be a marketing executive for a telecom or fashion company someday and enjoys playing matchmaker for friends looking for the perfect mate.
But what's really intriguing is the way Park uses her Samsung mobile phone. Each day she waves it over a reader at a turnstile in the train station to pay her fare.
Then, during the long ride to school, she flips open the screen and rotates it 90 degrees to watch satellite tv.
On the same screen, Park pages through an e-book version of Joachim de Posada's Don't Eat the Marshmallow...Yet!: The Secret to Sweet Success in Work and Life. She sends an average of 66 text messages a day, snaps pictures of cute guys and sends them to friends, and plays an online game in which she runs a virtual fruit store. "I can hardly think of my life without my handset," Park says.

Alors, demain, tous mobiles ?!!

BusinessWeek.com (l'article complet)

Ringtones and more in Kabul, Afghanistan

Running a tech business in Afghanistan presents unusual problems - and keeps this entrepreneur mighty busy - by Eaton Dunkelberger

I am a former U.S. Marine Corps officer and founder and president of Danebarf, a mobile phone content company in Afghanistan. We serve to increase information access to Afghans using the budding mobile phone market.

After graduating from LBS in April 2006, I arrived in Kabul at an exciting time. It was just when the phone companies here started to look at offering value-added services like Short Message Service (SMS), text alerts, ringtones, and interactive TV products. I started Danebarf (Dari for snowflake) as one of the only mobile phone content companies in Afghanistan, to help bring its people to the technology age

Here's a typical day in my life in Kabul:
4:15 a.m. The morning azan (call to prayer) beckons over the local mosque's loudspeaker. I close the window and go back to sleep but can hear the city begin to bustle.
7 a.m. The electricity is normally on by now, so I walk into the garden and connect to our wireless network to talk to my girlfriend and family on Skype (Kabul is 11.5 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time). I live in a house with two former British Army officers. They live and work here, running a private security company. I rent a room in the back. Most Kabul houses have high walls, wonderful rose gardens, and a friendly doorman.
7:45 a.m. My driver/translator, Nabil, picks me up and we head to a local restaurant, order egg-and-cheese burgers, and begin the one-hour daily Dari lesson at a table in the garden.
9 a.m. Meeting with Naseem. This young Afghan makes our ringtones and owns the only music production studio in Kabul. Naseem's office is on Butcher Street, the stairs to his office nestled between huge cow carcasses buzzing with flies. We sit on the floor, drink soda, and listen to the new tracks he's recording.

I offered Naseem a lucrative revenue sharing agreement in exchange for ringtone production, but as with many Afghans, a bird in the hand is worth three or four in the bush. After years of uncertainty...

Les journées sont courtes, non ?!
(BusinessWeek.com)

Good Morning Vietnam ? Non... Bonjour America !

Cyrille de Lasteyrie a de l'humour et plus encore, en début d'année il a lançé son blog, le buzz a marché à fond, à tel point qu'il bosse avec Canal+ pour qui il produit une série de p'tits programmes pour mobiles, le Télépathe. Sortie tous les mercredi

Pour Bonjour America, on pense à Rocketboom pour le principe (l'actu / la télé / n'importe quel sujets "my way" !) et/mais si la notoriété et les moyens n'ont rien à voir, je dirais peut importent les moyens, seule compte l'idée, et elle est fun !
Rendez vous, tous les vendredi pour les nouvelles aventures de Vinvin, alias Cyrille

France Telecom, 1er opérateur mobile à investir dans le cinéma

Voilà un nouveau signe du grand marché en cours dans la maîtrise de tout ou partie de la chaîne de production et son corollaire dans la chaîne de détention des droits, en attendant le réel affrontement (aura t il lieu ?) que chacun subodore sur le très stratégique mercato des droits de retransmission des plus grands événements sportifs de la planète....

rance Télécom fait un pas de plus vers les contenus. L'opérateur de télécommunications a annoncé, mardi 7 novembre, la création d'une "filiale d'investissement dans les droits cinématographiques français et européens, tant en coproduction qu'en achat de catalogues de droits".
(...)
"L'objectif est de coproduire entre 10 et 15 oeuvres françaises et européennes par an", indique-t-on chez France Télécom. Concrètement, l'opérateur sélectionnera des projets et participera à la coproduction aux côtés de groupes comme Pathé, Gaumont et pourquoi pas TF1 ou Canal+.
(...)
Mais ce nouvel investissement de France Télécom dans la coproduction de films peut aussi être interprété comme une décision politique. L'environnement audiovisuel a été chamboulé avec la fusion TPS/Canal+. France Télécom a beaucoup critiqué cette opération de concentration, dont il craint qu'elle l'exclue, ainsi que les autres opérateurs de télévision par ADSL, de l'accès à certaines chaînes et certains contenus.
(...)
Avec sa nouvelle filiale, l'opérateur veut sécuriser son contenu. Il entend aussi répondre aux multiples critiques de tous les acteurs de la filière : auteurs, producteurs, ayants droits. Et il en profite pour montrer patte blanche au gouvernement, qui a conditionné son feu vert à la fusion à un maintien des obligations de financement du cinéma français par les diffuseurs. L'article 14 du code de l'industrie cinématographique oblige en effet de disposer d'une structure juridique dédiée pour exercer une activité de coproduction.

source : LeMonde.fr du 7/11