This week's Newsweek has as its cover story the Future of TV. I happened to discuss "3G TV" at the European 3G Services Forum in Barcelona. The Newsweek story runs 36 pages and obviously is intended to cover all relevant issues to the future of TV, not only that of TV on mobile phones. The series of articles is good, and covers much of the same ground we discuss in several chapters of "Dominate" such as channels multiplying, audiences fragmenting, and most critically for the TV industry, the threats to the advertising revenues and even that business model.
So far so good. Where Newsweek disappoints dramatically is the discussion of the fourth screen (Cinema, TV and PC being the first three). The story briefly mentions customised short episodes made formobile phones. And there is an article about a new Korean technology for small screen TV. but the truly dramatic contribution of mobile to TV content AND revenues is barely mentioned in one sentence. I am of course talking about SMS-to-TV.
SMS-to-TV is already one of the largest "Value-Add Service" revenues for the mobile telecoms industry, right behind ringing tones, logos and games. Already a billion-dollar business in ts own right. Endemol, the producer of "Big Brother" earns 25% of its revenues from SMS voting etc. In An Italian SMS dating service on TV generates 5 million Euros per year, while the birthplace of SMS-to-TV has innovated with over 20 separate "shows" and content all based on SMS-to-TV. Starting from the rapidly world-conquering SMS-to-TV chat, to SMS games to the latest, SMS-to-TV Rap. Yes, if you feel you would make the next 50 Cent, Nelly or P. Diddy, then just send your lyrics to the TV screen where the animated digital rapper will perform your rhymes.
Sound implausible? SMS-to-TV is the most profitable TV content of all time. With premium SMS charges anywhere from 5 times to 10 times to even 20 times more than regular SMS text messages, and as 1000 messages come in per hour, 5 hours per night, 365 days a year, on three commercial networks in Finland, YOU do the math.
Because of SMS-to-TV, Finland became the first country where TV industry erned more from mobile revenues than advertising, two years ago. Now we find SMS-to-TV chat appearing everywhere from Belgium to Malaysia.
Coming back to Barcelona. I delivered my "standard story" like I have for years already, that the majority of "TV" services for mobile phones will NOT be our sports, soaps, news etc as we see on the regular TV screens. Most TV content will continue to be consumed on TV screens.
What we will see is a rapid proliferation of unique, "TV-related" content for mobile phones. We bring the familiar TV brands, actors, concepts. but ADAPT them for mobile. That is the future for the fourth screen. The Newsweek journalists would have had dozens of examples from the Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Italy, Philippines, New Zealand, etc and of course tons from Japan, Korea and Finland, had they bothered to dig a bit...
Tomi, fantastic and astute post. I blogged it over at http://www.mobile-weblog/archives/tv_talk_to_the_hand.html.
This was a great catch and something I hadn't thought about before. Now, though, as I see it presented here, I realize that as other sources of reveneue disappear, and as consumers become more used to interacting with media, it is inevitable that this trend will not only continue but grow. I sincerely hope that the networks and programmers always retain some control, though; otherwise a worst-case scenario (as described in my post) could come to pass...Thanks again. Thought provoking, interesting reading.
Posted by: Oliver Starr "Stitch" | July 12, 2005 at 12:02 PM
Hi Stitch,
Welcome to our "Dominate" Blogsite. Am very happy you liked the piece, I'll come over to your blogsite also to post a comment.
That principle of generating unique services and content for the 4th Screen is spreading, and I think it much mimicks earlier media, in their introduction. Like TV, it was originally called visual radio, picture radio etc. This pushed all thinking to start from a radio perspective, and to adapt any radio content to TV. Thus we had the news, sports, drama, comedy and concerts that were already staples of the radio broadcasting industry.
What makes TV unique, things that cannot be communicated via radio, were not known. Today we know that the compelling unique content on TV is seeing the person's expressions, the emotions. This is the hook to reality TV, talk shows, game shows etc. But originally when the BBC launched, its newscasters were under guidelines that they could NOT show their faces when reading the newscasts. The thinking at the time - and coming from a radio mindset - was that the VOICE of the presenter was the "news" and if the TV viewer were to see the anchorperson, then the viewer could be distracted from the seriousness of the news. Funny, with hindsight, that one of TV's strongest attributes was initially suppressed.
We are now experiencing the same kind of expansion to our understanding of what makes mobile video different from broadcast TV (and different from internet video). The mobile phone is our most personal digital device and we always have it with us. It is physically within our reach at all times. That makes it the perfect interaction tool. The mobile phone has a built-in payment mechanism for micropayments, that allows for "easy" service-creation for billable low-value content (extra episodes, bonus materials), and most of all, the mobile phone is our preferred means of other people contacting us, meaning it is the perfect tool for community services. Want your car review programme viewers to share the funny clip of the latest comparison? The mobile phone allows instant sharing of content, and sharing of emotion (just watch me on any given Sunday during a Formula One race).
Dominate !
Tomi Ahonen :-)
Posted by: Tomi Ahonen | July 12, 2005 at 04:49 PM