Wireless Carriers Seen Controlling Mobile Video Monetization
LAS VEGAS -- Wireless carriers will have most of the control over mobile video deployments, even as broadcasters develop tools to deliver their signals to mobile and handheld devices, panelists at the NAB convention here said Tues. “I don’t see a device maker going for a broadcast-only deployment and bypass the operators” Lital Marom, SafeNet dir.-digital strategy & development, said: “That’s a very risky move for them.” Besides leverage over device makers, wireless carriers offer a reliable billing environment, she said.
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Marrying broadcast mobile video and carriers makes sense, consultant Roger Pavane said: “It’s inevitable that we're going to see standards-based digital receivers built into wireless devices.” Broadcasters angling for mobile video lack a reliable back channel for interactivity and targeted ads, which carriers can offer that through their networks, he said. And wireless carriers have valuable demographic data on subscribers that 3rd-party mobile video companies can use to target ads, attorney Stephen Gillespie said.
There’s no guarantee the broadcast model will work for mobile video, Mitch Weinraub, Comcast Media Center exec. dir.-products & services, said: “We need to get it in the hands of consumers and show some real activity.” There’s no shortage of systems between MediaFLO, DVB-H and now ATSC- compatible technologies, but neither is it clear how consumers will react to such offerings, he said: “We have to know if mobile broadcasting even works before we get to deciding which one of these schemes we'll pick.”
Digital rights management (DRM) is needed to guard video distributed to mobile devices, Marom said: “The only way you're going to get premium content is if you can assure them their content and their revenue will be protected.” There’s a real risk that video delivered to a mobile device with a PVR will wind up on P2P networks, she said. Along with DRM, conditional access schemes are necessary to keep unauthorized viewers from accessing the programming, she said. It’s more important to developing the right DRM solution than to do a conditional access rollout, Weinraub said: “If you're buying into the fact that there will be an ad-supported model, then conditional access becomes less important.”
The successful mobile video device probably will function like an “always connected iPod,” Weinraub said: “The ability to carry your content with you and refresh your content” is what consumers seek. Targeted advertising is mobile video’s biggest advantage, he said: “In cable, I can target to the household, but I don’t know who is in the living room sitting in front of the TV.” With mobile devices, marketers can know exactly who’s watching. That will change how marketers pay for advertising because each impression is far more valuable, he said: “CPM (cost per thousand impressions) really isn’t a valid measure anymore.”