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Dublin Ireland and London, UK
Friday 19th April, 2006
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Blockbuster sports events like this summer' s
in Germany draw an audience of billions. How
can the mobile industry capitalise on the opportunity
they present for content and services? As companies
look forward to what they will have to cope with
in the future, the tournament marks the start
of a new chapter in mobile content. The event,
the biggest of its kind, bas become the focal
point fora slew of new mobile sports services.
"All the efforts operators have made over
the last three years to promote mobile data and
convince us that the mobile phone is also an entertainment
device are coming together. The will mark the
fruition of those efforts,"says Paul Bristow, MD of sports content technology company Tre.
While operators and other mobile players gear
up to launch services, the jury is out on what
will score and what will fail, although most agree
that in the case of top-notch sports events a
broad, bundled content offer tins every time.
With this in mind, Yahoo! and have expanded their
relationship to offer exclusive content and services
directly to users' mobiles. The two already have
an exclusive, multi-year agreement to produce, market and operate the official site of the, fifaworldcup.com.
For the first time users will be able to download
Matchcast, a application that will allow them
to follow the match in real time. To reach the
biggest possible audience of mobile users, Yahoo!
has chosen to deliver and MMS content such as
tourname' t ringtones, games, wallpapers and
commentary. The service is constantly updated
with new information and offers as the match unfolds.
"We've taken a pragmatic approach and focused
on what the user needs, "says Christian
Lindholm, Yahoo! VP of global mobile products.
"They need to know the score, they want
to have the highlights and they expect to access
details such as whos playing, what happened in
other games and what happened at the last Cup"in his opinion delivering mobile video doesn'
t yet make sense as it effectively bars too many
users with low-end phones. Such issues around
the packaging of the
content are clearly important, but it' s also
problematic because many sports rights holders
have yet
to understand the benefits of bundling, contends
Graeme Oxby, marketing director at mobile
operator 3. He believes sports companies would
do well to learn from their peers in the entertainment
industries.
In addition to a broad sports offering that runs
the gamut from alerts to mobile TV, 3 is encouraging
user-generated content. The operator recently
expanded its St eMeTV channel to include a sports
category. SeeMeTV is the first mobile service
that allows users to showcase mini-movies they
make with their phones. "It' s about capturing
the excitement of big sports events as well as
the events themselves,"says Oxby. "The big events, Wimbledon and the World Cup,
are social calendar events. We have to capture
not just the pure sport action but offer services
that capture the stories, the controversies and
the tabloid-esque element of it all. "
Kick-start for content
No sports property will be as widely distributed, and generate as much revenue, as the World
Cup According to findings by the Wireless World
Forum, a global research organisation, the World
Cup has the potential to generate an extra $8.5bn
(4,88bn) for the mobile industry. While companies
like 3 race to develop new types of content, the
most promising areas could be rather more prosaic. Some predict that the will be a major showcase
for mobile video and mobile TV vi: 3G, but the
Wireless World Forum believes that 85 %% of the
extra revenues will corne from messaging services
used to provide match updates, alerts or quick
communication. The remaining 15%% will corne
from
nonmessaging data services, with betting and
music capturing the largest share of this extra
reve; ue. This cornes as welcome news for providers
who failed to acquire expensive rights to transmit
video or TV over mobile. "There' s not
much chance for a small independent mobile content
company to promote official content, "says
Terry, of MobVision, a company that produces,
licenses and delivers mobile content to more than
100 countries. "there' s still a huge opportunity
for an independent company to make substantial
revenues from the "
For one, there' s a lot of mileage left in campaigns
and alerts, wallpapers, video clips, logos,
animations, ringtones, gambling and other such
content. "There' s also the opportunity
to
combine football content with other content perceived
to be of interest to that audience, such
as beer and girls, "says. "This
opens up the market for creative designers and
studios to come up with lots of content which
is fun while still being on a football theme,
aimed at the young male `lads' market. "
Another hot-selling item will becountryspecific
content, such as flags. "People always
become patriotic during large sporting events, none more so than the, World Cup"says
Jackson. MMS may also experience a rebirth thanks
to the commitment of several TV broadcasters to
transmit footage in high definition. Better-quality
images make for better-quality MMS offers, observes
Michael Roedel, international content manager
for sport at International. "Before, we
had to take the same shots that were broadcast
on TV, "he says. "Today, because the
will be produced in HD,
it' ll be possible to zoom into the picture and
get Gloser to a player shooting for goal, for
example. This will greatly the quality of MMS
services. "
While such services are likely to make a comeback,
hopes are high that the fever-pitch excitement
of fans will also drive a new generation of mobile
TV services. A survey conducted by NOP reveals
that TV is losing out to mobile technology, with
the number people who plan to rely on traditional
TV services for tournament updates down from four
years ago. In addition, of the respondents in
the 15-34 age bracket, more than half want to
receive instant updates on scores on their mobile,
to stay up to date on the games clips of their
team scores. Sensing a business opportunity, operators
are lining up to launch path-breaking live and
nearlive broadcast services. In Switzerland, for
example, Mobile will offer live andfull range
of mobile TV channels, including News, to its
customers. "We get two TV packages from Sky
and populate the third with our own content, such
as the Champions League and Eurosport, "Matthews
explains. A global sponsorship agreement with
the Champions League enables to deliver content
including video highlights packages and goal alerts
from all Champions League matches via Live!. Most
of the operating companies within haven t acquired
the rights for the, preferring to deliver non-rights
content like and MMS alerts and services. A number
of markets are looking to launch services in time
for the event that emphasise and encourage user-generated
content. "The is about passionate fans communicating
their passion for football, "says Matthews.
Open opportunity
There are no hard and fast answers as to what
sports content works best. For Darach Deehan,
of, which streams sport to broadband and mobile
audiences, the answer is simple : short video
clips. They overcome device limitations and technology
shortcomings to deliver an acceptable end-user
experience. Mobile TV is another story. Before
it' s ready for primetime, operators and rights
holders have to deal on the basis of fact rather
than hype, says Deehan.
"Sports content is being bought at probably
inflated prices by mobile operators who want to
leverage to get more people on their networks.
This is hardly a sustainable model. "Ultimately,
mobile TV is about growing the subscriber base.
"The content is just packaged as a sweetener,
"Deehan adds. Such a model disguises the
costs and inflates the benefits. The model also
sweeps some issues under the rug, such as shortcomings
of the streaming technology, industry disagreement
over transmission standards, and a lack of insight
into what customers want and are willing to pay
for. Echoing the opinion of most mobile companies
and industry pundits, Deehan believes a more integrated
package of content would go a long way towards
pleasing fans and raising revenues. "I can
imagine an offer that would, for a monthly fée,
give me access to TV and archive material online,
as well as mobile clips and content. "In
his view, a service must deliver "the content
users need, immediately and on their terms.
About Servecast
Servecast is the leading provider of audio and
video webcasting solutions for the Sports and
Media sectors. Through it's proprietary Media
Studio platform, Servecast provides access to
a fast growing global broadband audience for high
value content such as News and Sport thereby generating
additional revenue streams for content owners.
Servecast is the partner of choice of sports broadcasters
such as BSkyB, At The Races and Setanta Sports
and facilitates the most commercially successful
sports webcasting services in Europe. Servecast
customers include Sky Sports, Liverpool FC, Manchester
United FC, Chelsea FC, Arsenal FC, Rangers FC,
the GAA, At The Races and the England and Wales
Cricket Board.
For more details contact:
Kathrina Gallogly
Marketing and Communications Manager
Servecast Ltd.,
http://www.servecast.com
Phone: +353 (0)1 4748013
Fax: +353 (0)1 4748003
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