The economics of mobile programming
Oct 6, 2009 4:53 PM, By Carolyn Schuk
But many TV programmers offering repurposed content are also making money because they avoid most program production costs. Of all U.S. mobile programmers earning more than $3 million in mobile video in 2008, only three — GoTV, MobiTV and Viva Vision — don’t have established cable or broadcast TV businesses.
Exclusive-to-mobile content is a route some programmers are experimenting with, Kagan reports. Because it lacks the day-one profitability of familiar repurposed content, some mobile start-ups will be looking for venture capital to explore this avenue. A hybrid option is re-editing or repackaging that content to better fit the teenier mobile video screen, by using more close shots and brightening the video.
Across a range of business models that vary depending on whether the deal is with a carrier (on-deck), an aggregator or via a programmer’s mobile WAP or HTML Web site (off-deck), the cable TV hybrid model of affiliate fees and advertising-revenue shares dominates. Nonetheless, SNL Kagan’s researchers see small audiences and smaller advertising figures as a driver for the evolution of unique mobile business models.
For instance, Transpera, Rhythm New Media and MyWaves have all recently gained key content partners with a business model that simply splits ad revenue (typically from video prerolls) with content owners. All three services can deliver specific ad-viewing statistics as detailed as Internet advertising provides.
In the future, Kagan says that off-deck services — HTML or WAP sites accessed from the Web — will grow more important as networks open, 4G rolls out and iClones appear.
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