Video Ringtones are an Untapped Opportunity - Report
Tying video to the success of ringtones promises to breathe fresh life into the ringtone market, but operators and handset manufacturers have been slow to wake up to the market potential, concludes a new report from visiongain.
Music videos, TV and movie clips will drive the video ringtones market, as will user generated content. However, visiongain warns that a concerted effort is required on the part of mobile operators and handset vendors to take the next step, or they risk losing revenues to third-party providers, much in the same way they did with audio-only ringtones.
"Video ringtones are a natural progression of today's lucrative ringtones market. They have proven successful in Japan and Korea, where video clips of pop stars and celebrities announcing a call are very popular. However, while limited deployments have been made in both North America and Europe, a lack of marketing and little consumer awareness are amongst the challenges faced in making video ringtones a success," says visiongain analyst and the report's lead author Adam Walkden.
"The lack of handsets capable of playing video ringtones is also a hugely significant barrier to the uptake of such services outside of Japan and Korea. The majority of handsets in Europe capable of playing video ringtones are Symbian based and yet only 5% of global handset sales in H1 2006 used this operating system. In addition, such handsets often miss the main target demographic for videotones - teens and young adults," says Walkden.
"Currently, end-users often have to download an application to enable video clips to be played as a ringtone, yet many are unaware of such applications. The Palm Treo 700w and 750v are good examples of handsets with pre-installed applications to enable video clips to be converted into ringtones, however such handsets are aimed at the high-end market. The availability of mass-market handsets with embedded applications is essential to drive uptake," Walkden concludes."
Posted to the site on 9th October 2006
