User-generated content is finding an audience in mobile. But it appears the early successes in the space may have more to do with connecting with others and less to do with the content itself.
MySpace and Facebook are leveraging valuable deck space to extend their offerings to mobile users, according to figures released last week from M:Metrics. The market research firm found that MySpace, which has deals with AT&T Mobility, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Helio L.L.C., attracted about 3.7 million U.S. wireless users in June; Facebook, which is available through AT&T Mobility and Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C., lured 2 million mobile Americans.
YouTube, which has been less accessible to wireless subscribers thanks to exclusive deals with Verizon Wireless, drew 900,000 U.S. consumers to its mobile Internet service.
Lucrative market potential
The well-known Internet giants are hoping to use their high profiles to establish a lead against pure-play startups in the early days of mobile community-building. And analysts generally agree that the space is poised to be one of the most lucrative in wireless: a report from Juniper Networks released last week predicts revenues from mobile user-generated content will rise tenfold during the next five years, reaching nearly $6 billion by 2012.
Roughly half of that sum will be driven by social networking, however, according to Juniper.
“For an increasingly wide audience, social networking sites have become an indispensable part of the digital lifestyle,” said M:Metrics analyst Mark Donovan. “Nearly every online social networking site has added the ability to connect to these communities with a mobile phone, allowing people to access profiles and share content while they’re on the go.”
Mobile uptake is expected to mirror usage of the fixed-line Internet, where the ability to interact with others has proven crucial in user-generated content-at least, in every case but one. YouTube has found an audience of online viewers with a combination of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and repurposed broadcast footage, but the amount of interaction on the site is generally limited to posting clips and commenting on the footage of others. Meanwhile, communities like MySpace and Facebook have thrived by serving as a kind of virtual lounge where users can advertise themselves, exchange messages with friends and meet like-minded members.
Going pro
Meanwhile, online destinations such as ManiaTV, a Denver-based Internet broadcaster, is surrendering to YouTube and dumping its user-generated videos, trying instead to lure viewers with professionally produced content. Video clips with higher production values have been key to the success of MyDamnChannel.com and FunnyorDie. com, which is backed by comedian Will Farrell. ManiaTV programming includes shows from former MTV celebrity Tom Green and David Navarro of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
And many of YouTube’s most popular videos are professionally produced clips rather than grainy, amateur-grade clips. The Obama Girl series is a highly polished, choreographed offering, and LonelyGirl15, who captured the imagination of teenage Web surfers, turned out to be the brainchild of “professional amateur” Greg Goodfried.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that supply seems to be outpacing demand in the online world of user-generated content, as there seem to be nearly as many suppliers as there are consumers. A recent piece from eMarketer titled, “Are enough people recording their cats?” found that the number of people who create Web-based content will increase from 70 million this year to 95 million by 2011. Meanwhile, the predicted number of consumers of user-generated content will reach 254 million by 2011, up from 128 million last year.
Those figures represent a substantial opportunity, of course, as audience growth is expected to outpace supply by a substantial clip. But if the early lessons from Webbased digital content hold true, mobile subscribers will need a better reason to tune in than just to watch a clip of your nephew falling off a pony.
“In terms of the social networking side, we think it’s going to become very valuable
for a number of reasons,” according to Dr. Windsor Holden, who authored the Juniper Research report. “The main one being that if you look at the way social networking is taking off in the fixed space, in a very short time, it’s become very popular among a younger demographic. We believe that mobile will become an extension of this.”
