New revenue opportunity for mobile TV

The frontier of mobile television is set to change, following a deal between Vodafone and Australian Idol producer Fremantle Media. Previously mobile television was accessed on a subscription basis where programs were generally linked with one mobile provider meaning content was only available to customers of that provider.

However in an article in the Australian on Sep 11 2008, Simon Canning reported on the deal between Vodafone and Fremantle Media. This new relationship will see mobile content being provided free to the audience with the cost being absorbed by advertisers on the mobile site. In another first, this content will be accessible to people on all mobile phone carriers, however Vodafone customers would not have to pay data charges.

Vodafone believe that the Idol target audience matches their own customer demographic with the collaboration between the two brands benefiting both.

It has previously been debated ‘which business model will ultimately prevail – subscription based or ad-supported?’ (Goetzel 2007). Mobile TV is a growing media form and may have up to 210 million viewers by 2011, earning $11.7 billion worldwide (Saleh 2008). Clearly, people are willing to pay for mobile entertainment.

Although the subscription process currently used with mobile TV is clearly working, perhaps free access to mobile sites for consumers will help this industry grow faster. With programs such as Australian Idol, advertisers have the opportunity to reach a very specific demographic. Free access will only increase the number of people on the Idol site, looking at contestant profiles, viewing on-demand performances and noticing the Nova FM ad in the corner.

Whether this new revenue opportunity is successful will remain to be seen. Vodafone and Fremantle’s experiment will be watched closely by many and may provide mobile phone carriers with an alternate form of charging for content.

Article: Aussie idol in mobile trial

Image sources: http://www.yamahamusic.com.au/sponsorship/images/logoAustralianIdol.gif,

http://www.pocketnow.com/html/portal/news/0000005491/NewsImage/vodafone%5B1%5D.gif

References:
Goetzl, D 2007, ‘A lot of little videos: carriers and networks test mobile tv’, Broadcasting & Cable, Nov 12, 2007.
Saleh, B 2008, ‘Standards, content falling into place’, Television Week, vol.27, no.9, p.6.