The Simpsons. King of the Hill. The X-Files. Aliens. Predator. Ice Age. 24. The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
“There’s a lot of stuff that can be used for wireless,” said Jim Beddows, vice president of wireless entertainment for 20th Century Fox’s licensing and merchandizing division.
Beddows’ job at Fox is to browse the company’s vast media holdings and pick properties-be it Homer Simpson or the interstellar predator from “Predator”-that wireless users would pay to get on their mobile phones. Beddows’ position is essentially at the top of the content food chain and gives him a unique perspective on the wireless industry.
“My responsibility is global,” he said. “What I focus on is driving business that generates revenues.”
Beddows is the head of a handful of Fox employees whose job is to sell Fox media properties and characters to wireless users. Beddows joined Fox in August 2002, and his position in the company highlights both the potential in the wireless content industry as well as the obstacles.
Fox’s wireless strategy, which Beddows helped to formulate, is to license out its media properties to third-party content providers. Such content providers have the skills and technology to design quality games, ring tones and other offerings, and then to sell it through wireless carriers to end users. The goal of such licensing is to generate revenues-not just to advertise an upcoming movie or TV show, which is the motive behind much of the current spate of branded wireless content. However, advertising can be a positive side effect, Beddows said.
“The opportunity is to do both,” he said.
Fox’s licensing approach highlights several issues within the wireless industry. First, Beddows said, licensing is a low-cost way to test out a new medium. The strategy minimizes the company’s risk while giving it insights into the business. Beddows said Fox has no plans today to do its own in-house content development, a potentially expensive task. However, the fact that Fox created a position for vice president of wireless entertainment emphasizes the potential of the wireless market.
Other media companies have taken different tracks. Sony Corp. has created a variety of wireless divisions including those dealing with gaming and music, and the company does much of its development in-house. Others, such as Time Warners’ movie division and video-game company Electronic Arts, use the same licensing strategy as Fox.
So far, Fox has managed to cash in on the potential of wireless. Beddows said Fox’s wireless revenues came in ahead of company expectations last year, although he declined to provide specifics. Further, he said the company is getting ready to embark on several major new content efforts.
“The thing about Fox properties is that they’re global, edgy and fit right in the wireless space,” he said.
Indeed, Fox has already launched a major content push behind its popular “Simpsons” animated TV show. The company teamed with video-game company THQ Inc. to develop a range of “Simpsons” content, and is selling it through European giant Vodafone Group plc. THQ, which began investigating wireless early on in 1999, decided to develop its wireless content in-house. Fox also has licensed out its “Aliens” brand to gaming company Sorrent Inc. and its “Ice Age” animated move to Mobile Scope.
As head of Fox’s wireless efforts, Beddows must investigate nearly every style of wireless content, from WAP to Java. Beddows said Fox has little interest in WAP as a content platform, and is more interested in Java, BREW, text messaging and ring tones as sources of revenues. Beddows said premium text-messaging campaigns are especially interesting as a source of new revenues. In the future, Beddows hinted that Fox would look to voice ringers as a new platform for distribution. Voice ringers allow users to replace the standard “ring” that callers hear with others sounds, including music and voices.
“We would like to be on the most popular platforms,” he said.
Beddows said future Fox efforts would likely include its “X-Files,” “King of the Hill” or “Family Guy” properties.
“There are a lot of content offerings we’re planning on in the near term,” he said.
