There’s a “gold rush” to put video content onto multiple screens ranging from televisions (of course!) to PCs to mobile phones with assorted other devices in between. As with any gold rush, some will strike it rich and others will go bust because things just don’t pan out.
One thing is certain: there’s a public hunger for content, and people will go to any available screen to watch what they want. I see it on the freeway — distracted drivers out there playing with their handheld devices when they should be looking at traffic. (It’s why I try to take the train to work.)
The make-or-break question is how much the public is willing to pay for this video — if anything — and whether advertisers will pay to support it.
I was intrigued recently by news from Qualcomm’s FLO TV, the unofficial/official video source for mobile players like AT&T and Verizon Wireless. FLO is a stockpile of live and recorded—mostly recorded—linear television delivered via Qualcomm’s own dedicated spectrum to video services offered by wireless players. It’s supported by subscriptions AND advertising.
The news that caught my eye was how FLO TV is trying to differentiate by partnering with Rentrak, the same company that tracks advertising usage for cable channels, so that advertisers can understand not only what mobile video viewers are watching but, more importantly, when they’re watching. Mobile is a transient video platform so advertisers want to know minute-by-minute if their wares are being viewed and, as a bonus, by whom. The mobile phone, because it is personal, provides that kind of grainy detail and Rentrak has been hired to sift through the chaff and discover the value for advertisers.
It is one more indication that video, unlike the Web itself, will be a differently plowed field. Unlike newspapers, which wantonly offered up all their content for free hoping to make some return on advertising, only to backpedal from that really bad idea, video content providers want some form of guaranteed payback. Advertisers, too, have become wary of the Web’s blanket approach and want to drill down and find out how much impact their products are getting on a screen beyond normal broadcast television.
Mobile, as the fourth screen (after televisions, laptops and PDAs) has learned from the fourth estate that it’s better to know upfront what pays and what doesn’t. There’s only so much advertising to go around and subscriptions never really pay for anything but the base expenses.
This movement to track and quantify mobile video viewing should serve as a bit of ad-vice for more traditional service providers. There’s no doubt the big screen is the best screen—isn’t that what movie theaters say?—and there is assuredly an entrenched base of advertisers willing to throw dollars at shows that bring in a big audience. But big broadcast audiences are an advertiser’s version of the “All-You-Can-Eat” buffet — you buy the whole thing, but you’re never quite sure how much of it is good for you.
What FLO is doing is giving advertisers more of the information they need to understand what folks are watching and when. It’s not yet to the level of targeted advertising that cable is moving toward — or the targeted, interactive ads that ActiveVideo can deliver — but it’s giving advertisers more of the tools they need to make the best buying decisions.
In the same way that viewers are finding ways to watch what they want, when they want it, advertisers are going to find efficient ways to identify and reach the most valuable audiences. In both cases, it would be prudent for cable and IPTV service providers to find ways to cash in on the gold rush, rather than risk being buried in someone else’s gold mine.
