Mobile Industry News round up.
A little catch up on some of the stories you might have missed brought to you by GoMo News.
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that “More and More, Advertisers view it as as a sell phone”. 255 Million Americans have cell phones and according to research firm eMarketer worldwide spending on mobile advertising totalled $2.7 billion last year and is expected to hit $4.6 billion in 2008, rising to $19.1 billion by 2012.
In contrast, Internet advertising in America alone will reach $25.9 billion this year they forecast. Message-based marketing, where consumers may be strolling by a billboard or watching a television commercial that encourages them to text a code to a number to receive a coupon or enter a sweepstakes is the largest by far for mobile phones and will reach $4.2 billion in 2008.
• Airvoice Infocomm have introduced their mobile advertising platform to India. This solution actually offers subscribers the option to earn money for every advert they listen to. According to Izone Airforce also offer the end user to select the type of advertisements they want to hear, the time they want to hear them and an option to skip the ad. As for revenue share, it gets split three ways between Airvoice, the TSP and the subscriber. India has over 250 million mobile subscribers and is on target to reach government targets of 650 million in 2012.
• Mobile TV is struggling in Asia according to Media Partners Asia. Despite more than 17 million mobile TV users at the end of 2007, the market is being constrained by regulatory and commercial barriers. Business models have to have a mixture of free and paid services which are identified as necessary for profitability and growth.
• Elsewhere Pocketpicks.co.uk are reporting that Nokia are claiming that the future of mobile TV is in turmoil. Nokia’s Niklas Savander said recently “We have seen that there are multiple segments who are not interested in the broadcasting, but rather in downloads. Rollout is slower than we anticipated a couple of years ago.” Also talking at the Mobile TV world Summit Miguel Blockstand from Ericsson argued according to ITP.net that the drive for mobile broadband by telcos has inhibited a significant push for mobile TV services. He suggests that telcos should include mobile TV services as part of a flat rate data pricing plan - a strategy that is growing in popularity in North America and Europe - telcos could lure new mobile TV subscribers.
• Also on the mobile TV front, MTV have conceded that they are not turning a profit for the broadcaster. Speaking to ITP.net Dan Whiley, commercial vice president of digital media at MTV International, said “We have great content that people want, but how do we turn that into cash?” he mused. He also appealed for telco executives to develop new content delivery and pricing strategies, adding that only five percent of 3G subscribers in Europe regularly use mobile TV services. But interestingly he added that MTV make more cash in four months of iTunes downloads in the UK than it did for all the video on demand with all its mobile operators across Europe..yikes!
• Mobile coupons seem to be finally to be invested in by advertisers according to the New York Times. JupiterResearch asked consumers which types of mobile coupon offers would interest them most. 15% said restaurants and stores they select. 14% said local business followed by 13% for drinks, 11% for Event tickets and 10% for CD and DVD’s. I know of a service running a similar idea in the UK and I hope to have an interview with them and their developers soon.
Related News:
Leave a Comment