Global Mobile Entertainment Market To Top $64 Billion by 2012

THE LATEST REPORT FROM JUNIPER Research is pegging the global mobile entertainment market to top $64 billion in the next four years, driven primarily by music, but with strong growth from games and TV.

UK-based Juniper Research also includes user-generated content, gambling, adult and infotainment content in the mobile entertainment mix, but the most growth is slated to come from music, with revenues rising to $17.5 billion in 2012. The 94% growth from 2007 will be fueled by the increased availability of full-track download and streaming music services.

Mobile games usage will actually surpass music in terms of revenue growth, surging by 220% to reach nearly $16 billion in the next four years. The spike will mostly stem from rapid growth in the development of casual games. Meanwhile, growth in global revenues from mobile TV will be driven by the launch of multiple mobile broadcast networks in both developed and emerging markets, to the tune of almost $12 billion.

"With revenues from voice services declining and messaging revenues flatlining, last year finally saw a number of more sophisticated entertainment services begin to fulfill their potential and redress the balance," said report author and Juniper analyst Dr. Windsor Holden. "With more widespread penetration of 3G handsets--or entertainment-focused 2.5G handsets like the iPhone--there is likely to be a much greater surge in both the adoption and overall usage in rich media services."

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EMI Music's Partnership with SendMe Expands Mobile Company's Offerings

EMI MUSIC AND MOBILE MUSIC company SendMe, Inc. enter into a strategic agreement today that gives SendMeMobile.com members access to EMI's full catalog of mobile content, including 4,000 new ringtones.

Russell Klein, co-founder and CEO of SendMe, said the addition of EMI's catalog to SendMeMobile.com builds on the company's promise to give members "the broadest premium content out there."

EMI Music's record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin. EMI artists that are now available at SendMeMobile.com include 30 Seconds to Mars, A Fine Frenzy, Lily Allen, Corinne Bailey Rae, Belinda, Beastie Boys, Dierks Bentley, Chemical Brothers, The B-52's, Coldplay, Daft Punk, Norah Jones, Lenny Kravitz, J. Holiday, Dean Martin, Bob Seger, Frank Sinatra, Joss Stone, The Rolling Stones, K.T. Tunstall and Keith Urban.

SendMe's other content partners include Universal, Glu, Telcogames, Sony Pictures and The Orchard. Members have access to games and music. SendMe's built-in community allows members to create and share their favorites with friends and family on-the-go.

"SendMe is another innovative way for us to strengthen the bond between our artists and fans," said Lauren Berkowitz, senior vice president, digital for EMI Music North America, in a statement.

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Amp'd content team to live on with Clearwire?

Amp'd's virtual network may be dead and gone (not really, it got acquired; you know what we mean), but the MVNO had arguably one of the better exclusive content packages out there. Ironically, we've heard that Amp'd ultimately spent only a very small fraction of its once-$400 million fortune on the content itself, but hey, maybe they spent that money somewhat wisely. Anyhoo, it seems Peter Adderton and his jolly gang have been shopping themselves around as a one-stop-shop package deal of content, and fixed wireless provider Clearwire may be getting ready to bite. Details are slim at this point, but the synergy is pretty obvious: the former Amp'd crew can concentrate on what it does best -- produce entertaining content -- and let Clearwire worry about the infrastructure. Lil' Bush wouldn't look half bad over WiMAX, yeah?

Link to Engadget Article

Alltel Wireless Grabs MTV Networks Video Content

US-based wireless network Alltel has now finalized a content relationship with MTV Networks, according to deal terms disclosed Thursday. The Viacom-owned MTV is delivering a number of goodies to Alltel, including mobile-based videos, WAP sites, and games revolving around its MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Spike TV, and VH1 properties. Compatible Alltel handhelds will enjoy mobile-friendly clips from Comedy Central's "South Park," "The Hills," and Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants," among others.

The deal provides lots of content for Alltel, and a nice content jumpstart for an emerging format. "As the wireless phone continues to evolve
into a mobile entertainment device, Alltel is committed to providing the
latest and most compelling content available," said Wade McGill, senior vice president of wireless product management for Alltel. The MTV Networks content will be blended into an existing, premium data offering from Alltel called Axcess, a service that also includes news, sports, GPS, texting, and music-related content like XM Satellite Radio, ringtones, and ringbacks. Alltel has roughly 12 million subscribers.

Link to Digital Media News Article

Warner Music Brokers Further Into Chinese Mobile Market

Warner Music Group has now expanded its presence within the Chinese mobile multimedia market, thanks to a partnership with Global Music International. The Beijing-based Global offers mobile content to a client list that includes massive operator China Unicom. The Warner deal focuses on mobile-focused assets like ringtones, ringback tones, and full-track OTAs, according to information disclosed by both parties on Wednesday. "We see this agreement as an important part of our overall strategy to extend our strategic relationships in China, encourage product innovation, find new ways for our artists to connect with their fans, and develop new revenue streams," said Ken Cheung, vice president of New Media and Business Development at Warner Music Asia Pacific.

Incidentally, Warner finalized an agreement with China Unicom in June of last year, though the Global Music International distribution deal broadens access to other Chinese networks. Earlier, Global finalized a similar arrangement with Sony BMG, one that revolves around comparable assets and bolsters the Unicom pact. Elsewhere, both Warner Music and Sony BMG announced a joint venture initiative in January of this year, part of a larger plan to broaden secure delivery platforms within China and other Asian markets.

Link to Digital Media News Article

Calling All Videos

Alex Gurevich loves to log on to YouTube to watch music videos and comedy sketches on breaks from work. But the 24-year-old entrepreneur from San Francisco fretted that he couldn't take the fun with him on his cellphone. Mr. Gurevich assumed that signing up for a mobile video service would require a "superexpensive" phone and more than $20 extra a month in fees.

So he was surprised to find in January a free new mobile video service -- called MyWaves -- that works with his basic Motorola Razr. Now he is glued to it, regularly attempting to amuse his friends with stand-up comedy clips and other videos he has transferred to his phone. "Why would I sign up for another service if I can get this for free?" he says.

MyWaves Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., is one of a flurry of start-ups offering new ways to access Internet videos on cellphones, hoping to overcome barriers that have prevented mobile video from taking off in the past.

For years, cellular carriers including Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. have offered licensed video content for cellphones, such as sports highlights, TV shows and music videos. But these services, which carry monthly subscription fees, offer limited content programmed by the carrier and usually work only on certain phones. Adoption has been slow.

Now, the new services are taking a different approach, allowing users to view a wider array of Internet video clips -- without locking themselves into a subscription and without purchasing a fancier phone. The services each operate slightly differently, but users can view online videos using any standard video-enabled phone. Videos can be wirelessly downloaded to a handset for viewing later, or sometimes streamed over cellular networks to be watched in real time.

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The quality of the content is rarely as crisp as users are accustomed to online, and viewing can be limited by the amount of storage on a phone. But the services are generally free, powered by advertising and independent of particular carriers. Some new offerings say they have attracted nearly a million users and are attracting tens of thousands more a day.

Recently launched MyWaves offers hundreds of thousands of videos from a wide range of sources. Its online library, organized by "channels," includes clips acquired through arrangements with content providers, culled from available podcasts or provided by users themselves. People can access videos through a free application they download to their phones.

New York-based Cellfish Media LLC recently launched a new mobile entertainment site that allows users to transfer videos and other media, such as ringtones, to their phones from their computers. The service offers some 10,000 clips, including user-generated videos; content from partners, including, soon, NBC Universal; music videos; and original Cellfish series, like a soap opera involving sock puppets. Users upload videos to an online account, known as a locker. Then to retrieve the video, they can log into a mobile Web page. The video service is largely free, but some premium content like music videos carries a fee of up to $2.50.

3Guppies Inc. of Seattle doesn't provide content, but rather enables cellphone users to access online videos that they find themselves online. Users can send a video to their phones directly from the page where it resides, by downloading some software to their computers' Internet browser. Or they can upload videos to an online account, prompting the service to send a text message to a cellphone containing a link to the video.

3Guppies -- which doesn't offer streaming -- transmits videos that are available in a variety of popular digital formats. The service doesn't work with content that media companies protect with proprietary software, such as longer-form TV shows and movies.

The Small Screen

These new services are part of a broad sweep of mobile companies trying to get consumers to translate their fanaticism for online video watching to smaller screens. Popular video sites such as Google Inc.'s YouTube have been branching into mobile by creating condensed mobile Web sites and preloading versions of their services on popular handsets like Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Carriers such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. have also been wooing customers with services that offer features like live TV.

But still the services haven't caught on. Of the nearly seven million users who watch mobile video or TV from their phones every month, the vast majority watch clips sent to them from family or friends, rather than video prepackaged by a carrier, according to research firm M:Metrics Inc. Overall just 3.6% of U.S. cellphone users subscribed to a mobile video service in the first quarter of 2007, up from 1.6% in the year-earlier period, according to market researcher Telephia Inc.

The new services are trying to open up the mobile video market by targeting a broader range of phones -- at a time when more than 70% of new handsets come with a built-in video player. Instead of charging monthly fees, all three plan to start offering mobile advertising, such as small text ads in the bottom of text-messages or sponsored content from brands.

Consumers are also voicing concerns about storage. Higher-end cellphones increasingly come with up to 64 megabytes of memory and slots that can accommodate more. But many new phones still come with just four or so megabytes, which may accommodate only a few several-minute-long clips.

Limits of Streaming

Streaming video, which is viewed in real time rather than downloaded and stored for later, can be an option -- but only in areas where the network speeds are fast enough. "The experience just isn't really there and there is too much lag time," says Ben Bajarin, a digital media analyst for market-research firm Creative Strategies in Campbell, Calif. But he says that consumption of mobile video content will continue to rise, particularly as media companies create more content designed to entertain users for a few minutes at a time.

Many of the new companies envision themselves as technology -- not content -- companies and are starting to enable users to transfer other media to their phone like music and phones in the same way they can transfer video.

"We don't want to be perceived just as a catalog," says Cellfish Media's CEO Fabrice Sergent, who says the company's goal is to become a mobile version of iTunes. "The idea is really to create a seamless experience from the PC to the phone and from the phone to the PC."

Link to Wall Street Journal Article

Atlantic Records Spins Mobile-Based Artist Trading Cards

Most associate trading cards with an earlier era of baseball, though the concept is now being extended into the music world. Just recently, Atlantic Records brokered a pact with Hook Mobile to spin a mobile-based, artist-focused trading card concept. The idea is being wrapped within a larger, SMS-based program that allows fans to purchase, collect, trade and redeem trading cards for prizes. The first participating artist is heavy-selling T.I., a strong personality that could boost the early-stage concept.

Fans can jump into the action by texting "TI" to shortcode 87233 (TRADE), or by registering online at cards.trapmuzik.com. Atlantic is positioning a total of 45 cards, and using the assets to promote the just-released album, T.I. vs. T.I.P. Bigger collectors are eligible for prizes, including a multimedia entertainment system or a phone call from T.I. himself. Additionally, instant-win cards are redeemable for artist posters and t-shirts. The initiative was first disclosed Tuesday.

Link to Digital Music News Article

Sony BMG, Dada Partner On Mobile Network

SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT HAS partnered with Dada, an international entertainment services provider, to create Dada Entertainment--a US-based joint venture that will offer an assortment of premium Web and mobile content across a mobile community.

Massimiliano Pellegrini, Dada USA's current CEO, will head up the joint venture--which will combine content such as ringtones, full-length audio and video tracks, and mobile games with a social networking experience.

Dada Entertainment will derive its revenues mainly from subscriptions and pay-per-download services, as well as from the sale of advertising on its properties.

The venture will also feature community based social advertising solutions like Dada's "friend$" program--a model based on Google's AdSense, which allows users to earn money through sharing of ad revenue that their personal pages generate, and through the community pages containing their content.

While SONY BMG will provide Dada Entertainment with access to its full catalog of music and video content, the company will be open to obtaining content from a variety of media providers, in addition to evaluating strategic partnerships with mobile operators.

"We look forward to working closely with Dada as we set new standards of excellence in off-deck and on-deck mobile services, providing the highest-quality content, innovative new products, and the best possible levels of customer service," said Thomas Hesse, President, Global Digital Business & U.S. Sales, Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

Dada Entertainment's products will be marketed primarily through the Web and mobile off- and on-deck distribution channels. "We think this new model represents a dynamic step forward for entertainment in the mobile and Web 2.0 era," said Paolo Barberis, Founder and Chairman of Dada.

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