I’ve always struggled with the marriage of Mobile and TV. In the height of the hyperbole and hype back in 2004, I wrote
I tend to favour the TV/video model of short, made-for-mobile clips (say, 5 minutes tops). Or programmes specifically designed to be viewed like that - maybe like the typical news/magazine programme today. But TV that hasn’t been reformatted for the mobile viewing experience? And priced as a premium service? Nah…
Which seems to be pretty much what’s played out - so far at least. In fact, the short YouTube style video seems to be a dark horse of growth in mobile right now. Watch this space.
So it comes as no real surprise to me that investors are beginning to pull out, according to this Red Herring article, at least. It’s not just that there’s no real consumer uptake to speak of - 1.2 million worldwide on dedicated networks two years after launch - but that the business case just doesn’t stack up for stand-alone ventures. Whoops.
Naturally, the bulls and incumbents will start to talk about the Trough of Disillusionment in the Hype Cycle and other such stuff. But, I’ll stick with my 2004 stance and say that there’s just no real demand for beaming TV straight to the mobile. In fact, even CBS have recognised that and at the recent MMA conference outlined the features of their dedicated mobile TV channel. Of course, lots of content is shared, but the presentation, time of day shown and newscasters are all completely different. No surprises that mobile needs a dedicated format, just as terrestrial TV did in its day over radio.
I still maintain though, that the real media winner on mobile will be audio - and Podcasts in particular. And on the day the good old BBC announced hundreds of more of their Podcasts are coming to market and in the week that little (but remarkably successful) Aussie outfit The Podcast Network announced that they’d signed up the great John Cleese, no less, it makes Cameron Reilly look really rather visionary and all the VC’s who have turned him down over the last couple of years rather myopic.
And remember, Podcasts haven’t even nearly got going yet and won’t reach their zenith until we can easily upload them to our phones every morning for on-the-move consumption during the day. All we’re really waiting for is more storage on more phones (1 - 3 years) and stand back and watch the boom.
Don’t tell Cam I said that he’s visionary though, it’ll go to his head. He’ll be having enough trouble hanging on to his ego as all those VC’s come back and start courting him.
I was one of the lucky one to trial mobile TV for one of the UK mobile phone operator. At the begining i was quite happy but what i saw was same program were repeated all the time and each of the packages from SKY were costing £5 month totaling £15 Month. This is poor value for the money and I will not recommand to anyone. If it was £5 for all three packages, then it will be worth it. Three packages are:
1. News and Sport
2. Entertainment
3. Music.
Hi Russell,
You write:
And remember, Podcasts haven’t even nearly got going yet and won’t reach their zenith until we can easily upload them to our phones every morning for on-the-move consumption during the day. All we’re really waiting for is more storage on more phones (1 - 3 years) and stand back and watch the boom.
Totally agree.
If you have a 3G Phone and a flatrate, I recommend consuming podcasts via mobile by entering the Podcast RSS (mp3, 3gp) on http://feed2mobile.kaywa.com
If the RSS Feed uses enclosures as it should, we will show the podcast.
Example: http://feed2mobile.kaywa.com/202182953
As simple as it can get:) or if you have any suggestions how we could even make it better, let me know.
This is one thing the iPhone has completely changed for me. I synched podcasts to my ipod video from itunes but hardly ever listened to them. I never carry my ipod around. Within weeks of switching to the iPhone I was listening to podcasts in the car, when walking for coffee or meetings, spare moments. The space for audio podcasts is actually pretty small and itunes manages them well.
I also subscribed to several video podcasts and have watched only 1 or 2 of them. I don’t ride a train and have no opportunity to watch video.
Mobile audio is it for many folks. The rise of satellite radio supports that too.
Ironically I have had several smart pones before this that were capable of doing this if I jumped through several hoops. I just was not incented too and never did it. It is all about usability and not pure features.
Anyway, didn’t mean this to be another iPhone is great post
I love podcasts as much as the next person and think you’re right that with increased usability, podcasting will become bigger. But I disagree that podcasts are going to be bigger than mobile TV.
Podcasts will be more instantly successful because they don’t need to adapt at all to cross from Internet Radio to Ipod to Iphone. No change is required on the part of the programmer- the technology merely assists in the usability.
But TV on a smaller screen is a different issue. You are correct that much of what we see on TV will be less interesting on a tiny screen, but loads of people (7.5 million South Koreans alone) don’t seem to care.
And TV producers will adapt their product. Perhaps shooting more close-ups when shooting scenes, or editing so that the visual experience is better on a small screen. And soon, we’ll probably have larger flip-out screens on phones anyway.(http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=526&doc_id=136215)
So, like I said - I think you’re right that podcasts will be more immediately successful but once phones and the TV industry learn how to use the new technology and consumers get the ease of use that you have experience with podcasts on the Iphone, mobile TV will take off.