Mobiles Get Video Streams In Latest Advertiser Push
Mobile phone users on the O² network will soon be able to access the UK’s first free-to-air advertiser funded video channel, broadcast direct to their handsets, screening ad-funded programming and commercials from a consortium of content providers, advertisers.
The channel is being created by O², Warner Brothers, IPC and advertising consultancy Unanimis. Unlike other video content available via mobile network’s content portals, users of the new service on O²’s network will not pay a penny to view the content.
The first content to be screened by O² will be a saucy Motel Girls video feature from IPC’s long-running lad’s magazine Loaded. The feature will be followed by a commercial promoting Warner Brothers’ new biker DVD Torque. The content will streamed to mobiles throughout August, with adverts carried on the service being refreshed twice weekly.
Commenting on the new service, Steve Cleak, director of mobile strategy at Unanimis said: “We saw the existing business models in the mobile video streaming market all relying upon changing consumer behaviour in asking for payment. What is wrong with the established commercial TV model of advertisers benefiting from tapping into viewer interest in programming to connect with an audience?”
He added: “Enlightened advertisers have long attempted to engage consumers in the advertisements themselves by making them entertaining in their own right. The short-bite world of mobile puts even greater emphasis on creativity when engaging the audience. In our business model, advertisements must not only be involving but also compliment the content/feature in order to maximise viewer experience. This is a challenge that creative directors will relish.”
The battle for advertising supremacy via mobile phones is hotting up. This month will see viral advertising campaigns move from consumers’ e-mail accounts to their mobile phones as Forbidden Technologies launches its FORmobile service. The new technology allows advertisers to distribute video-based viral adverts which can then be passed between viewers’ mobiles for free using bluetooth.
Forbidden Technologies claims to be able to track campaigns spread by ‘viewtoothing’, providing valuable accountability to advertisers. Liz Mackenzie, sales and marketing manager for the mobile specialist, said : “Users can send and receive video and cinema trailers, promotional product videos, light-hearted video clips and even short films to anyone within a 10 metre radius.”
Recent figures from the Mobile Data Association show that the popularity of new mobile technology is growing, with 16.5 million people in the UK now able to send and receive photo messages and e-mail via their mobile phones. However, for mobile video to truly take off a much larger proportion of the public needs to own the latest equipment. According to the MDA, those with cutting-edge mobiles are still in a minority, representing only 34.7% of mobile phone owners (see More Than 16.5 Million Now Use Photo Messaging).
Unanimis: www.unanimis.co.uk
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