MOBILE ADVERTISING: Only six months after launching its free-to-access mobile video offering, 3 UK have announced that more than 25 percent of their subscriber base has registered for the service. This is a serious portion of 3’s users giving it a lot more clout with potential advertisers. The service delivers highly targeted pre and post roll adverts (serviced by Rhythm NewMedia) to more than 1 million subscribers and has already been used by Microsoft, Unilever and Paramount Pictures to name just a few.

The highly targeted advertising is obviously very attractive for brands who seek to engage with mobile users, but 3’s pricing strategy poses some serious questions for the mobile content market and in particular mobile operators. Mobile content uptake to date has been hindered by operators’ high data costs and as a consequence has failed to deliver segments of suitable volume to attract serious advertising spend. Giving subscribers free content certainly overcomes this and opens the mobile advertising market up for innovative campaigns.

MOBILE DATA REVENUE: According to the World Cellular Data Metrics report published by Informa Telecoms & Media, U.S. users deliver the highest global data ARPU for mobile operators. Year-on-year comparisons for 2Q saw U.S. data ARPU jump 43 percent to $8.90 in 2007 which in part can be attributed to strong uptake of all-you-can-eat data bundles and near tripling of 3G subscriptions. As subscriptions increase, so does awareness, uptake and usage of mobile data services and with them revenue and an ever increasing market for mobile advertising. A note of perspective though. The Informa figures also include SMS – which doubled to 93.7 billion in 2Q07 – a medium the U.S. has been slow to embrace due to pricing barriers and termination charges. Most other markets are seeing SMS revenues plateau, and decrease in some cases, which must surely impact their ARPU levels and skew the results.

MOBILE MUSIC: Mobile music experts, Shazam, have increased their end-user traffic by 500 percent equating to a massive 1.5 million calls per week. This came to us via Mobile Entertainment and is on the back of an announcement detailing new tie-ups with All Media Guide (AMG) and LyricFind that will improve end user information on over 4 million tracks. Users can identify songs by holding their phone to music for 5 to 10 seconds and Shazam’s recognition wizardry does the rest, giving the user the opportunity to purchase the track immediately. Average monthly levels following these agreements are set to quadruple according to some forecasts.

CONTENT SALES: No stats yet – but soon the mobile industry will have access to all the numbers it needs to turn mobile content retail into a viable business. The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), a global trade association representing all participants in the mobile entertainment value chain, will today take the wraps off a new initiative – backed by operators and content providers including Sony Pictures Television International, Vodafone and Orange – to establish industry-wide best practise guidelines for mobile content reporting.

Uniformity and accuracy of figures are sorely needed if the industry is to succeed going forward. Knowing exactly who is using what content is critical intelligence that allows companies to better target users and focus investment in new content. Without it they might as well toss a coin. As Patrick Parodi, Global Chair of MEF, aptly put it: “The mobile entertainment industry is now estimated to generate $25 billion annually. To take the industry to the next level globally, it is vital that operators, aggregators and media rights holders work with MEF to accurately and consistently report on the uses and usage of this growing media. Using data effectively across the value chain will provide a full picture of the market and help ensure its future growth.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content, Mobile Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.