Cash for content – Wrap up

 

Wow what an awesome evening May was and our biggest turn out yet, over 50 people in attendance from the length and breadth of the mobile eco-system with everyone from start-ups to carriers and all the players in between, a special nod to those that came all the way from Brisbane, we’re flattered!

The Lycette Brothers offered fantastic insight into their mobile content experiences when working with aggregators or as they put it in some instances “Alligators“. Advising that content aggregators certainly have their place and can be beneficial but be always sure to read the fine print and make certain you know where your content will end up once the deal is done. In particular the Lycette Brothers have found that branded content such as their work with Nickelodeon delivered the best results to date but they do have plans to start producing more of their own brand of mobile content as the market grows.

Jim Shomos of Forget the Rules fame was definitely one of our more opinionated speakers and gave the room a look into his experiences for securing funding and working with carriers for both Forget the Rules 1 & 2. In Jim’s case much of his revenue came at the beginning of the process with support from government bodies such as Film Victoria. Jim demonstrated that carriers realise the need for compelling content and that there is an opportunity in the right environment to work alongside them, but be wary
of signing over exclusive rights and don’t expect demand to be created just because you’re on a content portal.

Martin Ince, Manager for interactive data services at Telstra showcased the ways in which carriers help to facilitate the monetisation of content through the basic premium SMS services all the way through to premium video calling on 3G handsets and the potential for Wap Billing in the future. Martin also highlighted the recent reduction in Telstra’s off deck casual browsing rates for NextG subscribers down from $15 per mb to $2 per mb, this is a fantastic reduction and should incentivise many advertisers and content producer to start seriously considering mobile as a viable channel.

Our panel discussion as always proved to be lively and informative with questions focused on the future premium billing serivces such as Wap Billing and the ways in which advertisers considering branded mobile content could expect a return on their investment.

What’s clear from this event is monetisation is on everyone’s lips but the off deck models aren’t quite there yet, content producers are still going to have to work with and alongside carriers and aggregators to get original content out there and realise a decent return. The demand for mobile content is high and there is a great opportunity for advertisers to leverage the right format to reach their target audience but in mobile at least for now content producers are going to have to work hard to get their orginal content noticed.

We would like to give a special thank-you to all of our panelists, Jim Shomos, Martin Ince and John and Mark Lycette, thanks guys, great presentations and lots of deep insight. An an extra special thankyou to our food sponsor for the evening, INA Solutions who provide comprehensive online backup services for SOHO and SME customers.

This event has cemented Mobile Monday Melbourne as the place to be if you’re in mobile and we’re only going to get bigger from here on in, boy do we have some surprises in store!

See you all June 2nd for our mobile TV extravaganza!