Content was tiny portion of Amp’d budget

Despite the widely recognized success of Amp’d Mobile Inc.’s large portfolio of original content, a source at the company has told RCR Wireless News that less than 1% of the company’s $360 million total budget was spent on such endeavors.
This revelation, which comes as the failed MVNO faces complete shutdown this week, indicates that very little priority was placed on original entertainment programming even as executives tried to highlight the category as something that set it apart from other players. Amp’d spent additional money on content and entertainment deals that went beyond in-house produced content, but still an inconsequential $3 million was spent in an area that delivered the company its highest accolades.
The irony now is that analysts generally view Amp’d Mobile’s content holdings among its greatest assets awaiting the auction block, despite the relatively low investment the MVNO put into the division. However, since the contracts for Amp’d Mobile’s original content are tied to per-user fees and other formulas pulled from typical carrier-involved obligations, the economics of the current agreements would only translate to another carrier, not an aggregator of content or a mobile entertainment provider.
The company’s assets, according to bankruptcy court filings, include its inventory of handsets and accessories, equipment from its state-of-the-art production studio, office equipment and copyrighted content. The court filings list more than 117 episodes of original copyrighted material available for sale, all pulled from 13 separate shows or special segments.
The content includes 16 episodes of “Venice Beach,” seven episodes of “Lil’ Hollywood,” seven episodes of “Lil’ Bush,” eight episodes of “Iron Lunch Lady,” 35 episodes of “Hot Dish,” five episodes of “Fashion Sense,” nine episodes of “DoggyStyle,” 16 episodes of “Bush: Stinky or Sweet,” and 10 episodes of “Gold Diggers,” among others. A hearing on the sale of all or some of Amp’d Mobile’s assets is scheduled for Aug. 1.
Amp’d proved that content can differentiate in mobile with an industry-leading content ARPU of about $25-$30 per month among paying customers, but it failed in areas such as billing, customer care and operations, according to the source who only spoke to RCR Wireless News on condition of anonymity.
This follows a growing industry-wide sentiment that operators will be hard pressed to achieve success around content alone. Still, many recognize Amp’d Mobile for its industry-leading programming lineup and see value in a like-minded blueprint going forward.
The Amp’d content team made its mark right out of the gates as it brought on veteran producers, actors, directors and other proven Hollywood talent to create more than 20 original shows like “Lil’ Bush,” which Amp’d last year sold to Comedy Central. “Lil’ Bush” has now gained notable success on its new TV outlet.
Big Hollywood studios and networks are now heavily recruiting the Amp’d team as established media looks to further expand its sphere of influence in mobile.