Goin Mobile..

From The Feature.com Media owners in the UK foresee a bright future.

It’s not just the recent flurry of 3G launches that are behind this expectation, as video over GPRS looks equally attractive. The past year saw MMS appear to emerge as the mobile medium holding the most potential for content providers, however, it’s starting to seem like mobile video could steal a march in grabbing their attention.

One of the most exciting capabilities mobile has opened up for media companies, beyond the obvious revenue opportunities, has been the ability to create true, instant interactivity with its audiences.

Endemol sees mobile video as the ultimate expression of this, letting viewers “video conference with the presenters”, as Cowley puts it, and is hoping to launch the capability as early as January for the newest installation of Celebrity Big Brother.


Of course, the other side to the coin is the supply of mobile video content, at a premium, to consumers.

One of the most interesting developments here recently has been the launch of video short codes.

Credit has to go to MX Telecom for convincing the operators of the concept, which could open up some very exciting opportunities. A number of major content providers have signed up go live with the service, which enables consumers to dial a 5-digit number as a video call to have video content streamed to their phone. The actual experience makes for superb viewing and the discovery mechanic is attractively simple for content owners to market to consumers.