First consumer product from Mobile500 Alliance
April 17, 2012
The Mobile500 Alliance, a broadcast consortium comprised of 50 member companies covering 94 per cent of US television households, has detailed the business model and enhanced features for Mobile DTV, including new interactive advertising and an improved user experience that features social media integration with Twitter and closed captioning for the hearing impaired.
The Mobile500 Alliance has created the first end to end solution for live mobile TV that delivers free over-the-air television to mobile devices and allows broadcasters quickly to monetise their investment. According to the Alliance, broadcasting remains uniquely positioned to deliver video to viewers on the go as demand for mobile video continues to grow. The Alliance’s business model incorporates features that appeal to consumers and broadcasters: Interactive advertising; Audience measurement; Conditional access for premium content; Social media integration; Closed captioning; Live viewing; Recording live TV, and Video-on-demand.
“We are keenly focused on delivering broadcast television to consumers when they want it and where they want it,” said Colleen Brown, chair of the Mobile500 Alliance board of directors and president and CEO of Fisher Communications, Inc. “Providing stations with advertising and audience data to evaluate their investment in Mobile DTV is a big step in the overall development of this new broadcast technology.”
Steve Lanzano, president of the Television Bureau of Advertising said, “Consumers spend more time with television than any other medium and they overwhelmingly want the ability to watch live programming on their mobile devices. Advertisers are beginning to see Mobile DTV as the next great marketing opportunity.”
The Alliance suggests the involvement of Rentrak and Nielsen to provide audience measurement data for Mobile DTV is integral to monetising the platform. Cathy Hetzel, corporate president at Rentrak, said that Mobile500 members would be quickly able to monetise viewing of local programming via the mobile platform, with many of them already subscribing to Rentrak’s StationView Essentials service, which enhanced their ability to provide cumulative ratings to advertisers.
Additionally, Mobile500 Alliance will support conditional access by allowing broadcasters to encrypt content delivered over the spectrum. Broadcasters have the flexibility to utilise conditional access only when and if needed, and it is transparent to the user. The addition of conditional access will permit possible integration with other mobile services planned for launch in the US.