Mobile TV must be free
February 28, 2008
Consumer research firm Parks Associates and entertainment technology think tank Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) have released a new study suggesting that content owners should offer more free content on mobile devices in order to aggressively promote movies and programming on traditional media. They say free content is essential to prime the pump for future premium offerings.
Parks notes that less than 10 per cent of Internet users are willing to purchase a digital movie download at current price points. The white paper exhorts Hollywood to use Apple's tactics of offering bargain content in order to sell higher margin products for its own benefit – in this case, to drive consumers to new theatrical releases, TV programming, and eventually made-for-mobile programming, or ‘mobisodes’.
“Many content owners have tried re-purposing TV and movie content on mobile and have largely been disappointed by the revenues on those platforms,” said David Wertheimer, Executive Director of ETC. “While we believe wholeheartedly in ‘Anytime/Anywhere’ availability of content, we also know that these devices, when content is created specifically for them, can create opportunities for marketing and selling content elsewhere, especially now, while consumer habits are just taking shape.”