Mobile video continues to make headlines as a sexy, next-generation offering for wireless users. But content providers are beginning to look to the venerable business model of advertising-supported content to fuel broadcasts for wireless subscribers. The Fox Broadcasting Co. joined the crush of broadcasters offering commercial-supported content this week, launching a series of made-for-mobile episodes based on the show “Prison Break.” The News Corp. subsidiary is teaming with Toyota to produce 26 short videos that are set to be released every few days for subscribers of Sprint Nextel Corp.’s Power Vision service.
Each episode will be preceded by a 10-second video clip from advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi LA hawking the carmaker’s wares, and Toyota vehicles will be prominently featured throughout the programs. The cross-platform promotion, which coincides with the launch of the new Yaris Liftback and Sedan models, also will be carried out on the company’s Web site as well as its TV channels.
“It complements the (TV) show in the storyline, in its look and feel and the creative input process,” said Mitch Feinman, vice president of digital content for Fox Mobile Entertainment. “I think people who know the show will feel very much in line with that.”
The allure of ad-supported video is obvious for content providers and carriers, which can tap an entirely new revenue source as they bring 3G services to market. But whether consumers will tolerate watching commercials on their handsets-and how much they’ll expect to save by doing so-is far from clear.
Fox’s new offering will air on Sprint Nextel TV’s Channel 20, which is included in the carrier’s $15-a-month Power Vision data package. Other video content providers in the package include The Weather Channel, NBC and the Discovery Channel. Feinman predicted subscribers will warm to the Toyota advertisements despite the fact that nearly all Sprint TV broadcasts are commercial-free.
“I think if (they’re) done in the right way, absolutely, consumers will accept (them),” he said. “I’m not concerned about that at all.”
Fox joins a handful of other content providers that are stepping gingerly onto the ad-supported mobile video playground. EMI, the world’s largest independent record company, recently teamed with mobile marketer Rhythm NewMedia to deliver free music videos to wireless users during trials in several U.S. markets. Users choose a video from an EMI artist, and the video clip is streamed and packaged with targeted commercial messages.
MSNBC.com earlier this month teamed with Action Engine Corp. to launch a direct-to-consumer news service incorporating video and banner marketing messages. The programming is supported entirely by Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile and Embedded Devices Division, which is the exclusive advertising sponsor, and is being offered free to users with Windows Mobile-enabled devices. Broadcasts for Java- and BREW-powered handsets are in the works.
The companies said they plan to solicit consumer feedback to determine both the efficacy of mobile marketing strategies and consumers’ willingness to accept such efforts.
“The goal of this program is to deliver the MSNBC.com experience without penalizing consumers with yet another subscription fee,” said Catherine Captain, the company’s vice president of marketing. “The consumer research we collect from this beta launch will give us valuable insight on how to effectively migrate advertising-supported content from computer to mobile device.”
Such concerns are behind an effort from the Mobile Marketing Association to create guidelines for advertisements on mobile video. The industry association recently created a committee of representatives from Fox, MobiTV, Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless and other companies to establish best practices for mobile marketers and their carrier partners. The committee is also charged with developing standards for video ads and determining the best ways to measure the effectiveness of commercials.
Analysts predict wireless ads will grow to support the spectrum of applications and content offerings. And like traditional television, mobile video services could be tiered, presenting users with a choice of ad-supported video offerings or premium channels that are free of commercials.
Mobile marketers and wireless operators already are trying to gauge how best to approach consumers via wireless video without driving them away from 3G services. Even Fox’s Feinman concedes there likely will be missteps in the early days of mobile video ads.
“We may need to do some experimenting about the right way” to market through mobile television, Feinman said. “I’m not saying we’re going to get it right out of the gate.”
