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How to Monetize Mobile on TV: Experts Speak at NATPE

Produced in association with MEF (Mobile Entertainment Forum) and Impact Mobile, this NATPE panel on The Future of Mobile Monetization on TV: Mobile Promotions, Direct Response & Coupons, was moderated by David Mazur of MasurLaw and included Jim Beddows, chair of MEF Americas, Gary Schwartz, CEO of Impact Mobile, Karl Seelig, the pioneer of ringback tones and CEO of Ring Plus; David Kruis, CEO of Metranome and Matthew Snyder, founder/CEO of the mobile cross-media agency ADObjects.

Beddows spoke about the mission of MEF, a global mobile organization that also has local impact and “reaches everyone in the mobile value chain.” “We can see how different parts of the space evolves,” says Beddows.”The mission is to grow the revenues of the industry across the whole value chain. There have been industry issues crop up that, as an association as a whole, we can pull in our members and publish results.”

Beddows & Snyder

Snyder noted that websites are getting hit by mobile devices every day.  “Is there content available to them?,” asked Snyder. “It’s today, it’s reality. The first thing is that you need a mobile web strategy so it can be seen as it’s accessed. Users are demanding it.”

“The three biggest advantages of mobile is the ability to go local with mobile, with awareness of geography,” said Beddows. “Mobile offers interactivity. You can interact with people. Third, it’s the most emotional device you have, and it’s on you 24/7. That is how it differentiates itself from other devices and what people should focus on.”

Kruis reported that the Red Cross raised $24 million via SMS messages for Haiti already, describing that as “a perfect example of the power of mobile.” “It’s all about impulse,” he said. “I see something, I want something, I want to participate in something. It allows you to do it now. Two clicks is too much in mobile.” We can also engage in a two-way conversation with the consumer, addced Kruis. “That’s the beauty of mobile,” he said. “Unlike a mouse tethered to a PC, this one is tethered to your pocket.”

The most important thing in planning a mobile campaign is to ask what’s in it for the consumer, said Seelig. In a ringback tone campaign, it’s a reduced rate of telephone costs. “The consumer listens to an ad instead of the phone ringing,” he explained. “Then it’s important that the advertisement is relevant to the consumer, so you don’t target him or her with irrelevant information.”

Kruis observed that advertising on the mobile phone is a growth area within advertising networks.” At this point, the CPMs are relatively low,” he said. “I think what’s really of value is post-click conversion. It’s all about what’s beyond the click. Then the CPMs will go up and therefore you can start monetizing your content.”

Beddows said mobile advertising is like the mobile space in general. “We’ve seen evolving  models over the last ten years in content and monetization,” he said. “We’re seeing growing use of mobile phones, and it’s cannibalizing other media forms. What’s a consistent pattern is new announcements about monetization are always overblown, but eventually it comes around. As content owners, you need to be mindful of an array of ways to monetize in the space, whether it’s micro-payments, mobile vouchers, mobile advertising. The space has a lot of promise, but there’s a lot of complexity as well.”

Beddows notes that he likes to take other business models and apply it to new sectors. “When I think of mobile media, you content owners have a cost,” he said. “You want to create a fan base and keep them engaged. That’s a lot like how operators and mobile carriers work. Once you acquire a customer, you want to reduce churn. We’re trying to produce solutions for content owners on what the cost of acquisition of your fan base is and how do you grow it over time.”

Don’t be scared of mobile, said Snyder. “You want to get in at a point in your business that it can connect dots you didn’t have before.  Publish in a mobile channel, get your mobile website up. Or sometimes even an SMS campaign. You have a one-to-one channel, without paper involved. It’s timely, you get high conversion and there are minimal costs to talk to a consumer who’s targeted. And that’s very valuable.”

Kruis spoke about a project he worked on with the TV show Sanctuary, a webisode series that was picked up by the SyFy Channel. “We worked with them to create an app for iPhone and Blackberry,” said Kruis. “On set, they created exclusive 15 to 60 second mobile episodes with the talent, which were later distributed via the mobile app. They promoted the app through the TV show and online. Through our CMS, the video was distributed just before the TV show time. Some of it was how-to, provided clues to an online portal. The fans purchased the application, generating money, and a very high engagement rate with fans. We hope to extend the app for the next season.”

Beddows described how, when he was at FOX, for the show 24, in Finland in 2003, there was a scrolling trivia question. “You’d send in a premium SMS answer and at the end of the series there was a winner who got to fly in and spend time with Kiefer Sutherland,” he said. He also described Orange Wednesdays in the U.K. (Orange is a major carrier in the U.K.). “To encourage reduced churn for Orange, they give two movie tickets for the price of one, which you got through a mobile coupon and redeemed at the movie theater,” he said. “Before this campaign, Wednesday was the slowest night of the week for movie-going and now it’s the second busiest. So mobile can be integrated into other experiences from movies to commerce.”

Some final advice from the panelists: “Don’t make the same mistake content owners did online. Don’t give your content away for free on mobile. Not that it isn’t okay to give away some content on mobile, but you need to develop a mobile strategy.”

“What you do next year in mobile, you should have done last year. It’s not your job to find innovation in mobile, but to find business as usual. You need reach and frequency, so go to people who are in the space.”

“Look for a strategy that involves ubiquity. Make sure you have solid analytics.”

And finally, said Beddows, “If you’re going to get involved with mobile, don’t apply an online model. It’s many times for expensive to move data on mobile. It’s a completely different model. Get involved with mobile by getting involved with an expert in the space. There’s also a first-mover advantage if you can find a space. Mobile video is one example of that.”

Tags: 24, Add new tag, ADObjects, content owners, CPMs, global mobile organization, Impact Mobile, MEF Americas, Metranome, mobile advertising, mobile campaign, mobile coupons, mobile devices, Mobile Entertainment Forum, mobile episodes, mobile interactivity, mobile media, mobile monetization, mobile video, mobile vouchers, mobile web strategy, mobile website, Monetizing Mobile, NATPE, NATPE 2010, original mobile content, Ring Plus, Sanctuary, SMS messages, webisodes

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Advertising/Marketing, Content, Home Feature, Monetizing Mobile.