Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

CED Magazine recently reported that viewers of MobiTV, a mobile content delivery provider, "moved from watching 30-second television ads to taking action to learn more about the products and offers through click-to-dial invitations, deep links to WAP sites, advertiser-branded channels and more." Ok, that's good. But perhaps more interesting:

Aside from mobile advertising data, the study also found that 43 percent of parent users use the MobiTV service to entertain their kids while traveling in vehicles, while 85 percent of the users said they watched more TV at home after signing up for MobiTV’s service.

Two trends worth noting here:

• Cell phones are the new pacifiers. Parents are entertainin kids with mobile TV in the car. They no longer have to buy those pimped out minivans or special portable DVD players. Just hand back the handset.

• Mobile TV boosts the boob tube. It's intuitive to think that an new, alternate platform would poach from the original, but the two mediums seem to be complimentary. Clips, previews and extras are presumably "teasing" viewers enough to tune in at home. This is good news for everyone.

Yes, mobile TV still has a ways to go. As reported in Mobile Marketer, a recent survey of American mobile phone users from Synovate showed that cost was the largest barrier to adoption. However, poor image quality and slow speed were close behind in the rankings. Brands could help lower the pricepoint (and will), but the user experience issues need to be fixed first. What company wants their product or name associated with poor, slow quality?

The technology will get there soon enough, thanks to 3G network adoption and the steady march of innovation. And if you build it, they (the consumers) will come. According to ABI Research, the number of mobile content subscribers is expected to grow to 462 million worldwide over the next five years. IDC estimates the U.S. audience for mobile video at more than 25 million by 2011. And Juniper predicts that mobile entertainment revenues will jump from $20 billion to $65 billion over the same period.

When the scale and quality are there and brands are ready to climb aboard, planners and marketers should take notice of the trends above. Integrated content will be essential, with a mobile strategy that ties into the entire campaign (especially with web and broadcast TV) from the outset.

In terms of audience, the phone will be a key way to reach kids. From a developmental perspective, this "handing back" habit (from the front seat to the kids in the back) will certainly spur the "mobilizing" of the very youngest generation. They will be holding a cell phone from the moment they reach the grasping stage. Will handsets soon come with built-in rattles?