Rating: Ringback tone providers believe that Off Deck content will make RBTs huge
Ringback tones have been hugely successful in Korea, amongst other places, but have failed to properly take off in the West. Music and video content provider LiveWire Mobile, and the ringback tone service from Comverse, Fun Dial, believe that this is because ringbacks in America and Europe are mostly provided by carriers. They also believe that with proper off-deck support, ringbacks could be the next truly huge hit of the mobile internet market.
Why will Ringback tones be so successful?
Meidad Sharon, AVP Marketing of Fun Dial predicts that ringbacks will achieve 16% market pentration by 2010… by which point it will have long overtaken ringtones. Why is Fun Dial so confident?
Because, says Fun Dial, ringback tones offer good opportunities across the board. From users, through operators to producers (mostly music labels) RBTs offer desired services.
For users, it’s yet another channel for self expression, which is just as easy to activate as customisable ringtones. Importantly, because ringbacks are accessed on the network, there’s no need to download them. This cuts out the chance of delivery failure, which can be a problem for Off Deck operators.
For operators the main advantages are again because RBTs are stored on the network. There are no handset limitations (any model handset can access a network), and the network service is impossible to bypass. Also, because users can’t download the tone they have to rent them, generating reliable monthly revenue.
For labels, they offer another channel for marketing popular stars. Once again, the fact that they’re stored on network is important, because it cuts down on problems with piracy. Users can’t simply download the tone and send it to a friend.
Why is Off Deck the best place for RBTs?
John Orlando, VP of Marketing, LiveWire Mobile made the point that when Ringback tones were launched in Korea in 2002, they were delivered through 20 off-deck content providers. Twelve months later, RBTs had achieved 30% market penetration. This model was not copied in the west, and the majority of RBT providing has been done on-deck. LiveWire believes this is a large contributing factor to their comparatively low take-up rates. So why would Off Deck providers fare any better?
The answer is because of their high numbers, regional coverage and creativity. Users accessing off deck RBT’s are far more likely to encounter material that’s relevant to them on a local level. They would have more freedom of choice.
Meidad Sharon was happy to go even further, claiming that ringback tones will be the next off-deck growth engine.
What we think?
“The plumbing is in place, let the fun begin”, was John Orlando’s comment on why now is the best time to get involved. Five years ago, when ringbacks first arrived on the western market, there was little to no infrastructure to support them. Carriers have been developing that structure ever since, but there’s been barely any take up.
A consortium of like-minded off-deck providers could make a killer deal with an operator to really open up the ringback tone platform. If they can get organised enough to guarantee smooth service and educate the consumers about ringbacks, then there’s no reason they shouldn’t become a multi-million subscriber service in the west as well as the east.
