A couple of posts over at MocoNews this week caught my eye and joined up in my head. The first mentions how a prominent media figure in the UK is starting a company to buy up rights to distribute TV and video to mobiles, even though he’s got no idea what the business model will be — which also seems a roundabout way of saying he’s also got no idea if it’s going to be successful. The second points to an NYT article that says content producers are equally clueless about what will work for mobile video, but that the producers of the “24″ mobisodes found out that wide shots don’t work and that they had to double the size of the bullet holes and use more fake blood.
Two different angles, but the same point: nobody’s got any idea what’s going to work. This shotgun approach, though, doesn’t really seem to be the best way to figure it out, but it seems about on par with the creative thinking that comes out of the entertainment industry these days. There are a few problems here, all stemming from a lack of understanding of how the mobile device fits into people’s personal media landscape.
People’s media devices — TV, computer, DVR, stereo, iPod, phone and so on — all need to be a part of the same pool of content. I listen to music on my computer, stereo, MP3 player. I play DVDs on my TV or on my computer, and TV shows come from my DVR or BitTorrent. The idea that any one of those devices or any of that content are their own islands doesn’t fly.
Modern media is about control. I control what I consume; I control where and when I consume it, and how. Mobile, especially mobile TV and video, has to fit in to this. Video content only accessible on a mobile phone is generally pretty pointless. I want access to my content, not just what somebody decides to give me. This doesn’t give live TV broadcasts a free pass, either. If people are already looking to time- and place- shift “normal” TV, tying them to broadcasters’ schedule on their mobile phone probably won’t work either.
The idea that people will maintain different and separate sets of content for different devices is outdated and outmoded. Everything’s got to work together. The sooner people pushing mobile video and TV realize this, the better off they’ll be.