With growing utilization of voice calls and declining average revenue per user (ARPU), mobile video services expects to become the mainstay of the USA mobile operators' 3G services. Booming demand for quality streaming and video download services, secure protection and distribution of intellectual property (IP) rights remain prime concerns for video content owners, providers, and aggregators alike.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan reveals that service revenue in this market totaled US$28.8 million in 2004 and is projected to grow to US$1519.6 million by 2009.
Though content providers may have already assigned rights to established distributors in specific countries and regions, obtaining amendments to existing licensing agreements remains a much complicated process for content aggregators. In some cases, content providers assign exclusive distribution rights to established distributors in these regions, which further complicates the process of introducing video services over mobile networks.
"While the whole rights issue is not a deterrent in itself, the industry can surely benefit from the presence of a single organization that could act as a clearinghouse for mobile video rights clearance," notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Vikrant Gandhi. "This presents an opportunity for organizations to specialize in such clearance."
Along with the need for speedier IP rights clearance, the issue of digital rights management (DRM) is another cause of worry among content aggregators and mobile operators. To ensure larger participation of mobile content providers, the U.S. mobile industry will have to introduce strict DRM controls that address their concern.
Nevertheless, increasingly sophisticated DRM versions are being deployed in the U.S. mobile industry with the predominant DRM specifications coming from Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), a consortium of over 300 companies. Further, a majority of DRM related concerns are addressed when content is streamed over mobile network due to the fact that the content is not actually stored on the handset.
Although mobile video content is not targeted at any particular demographic segment, entertainment-related content still leads in terms of number of offerings. With the introduction of advanced networks, capable handsets, and compelling content, the mobile video industry is expected to witness a greater uptake among a broader demography.
As a step in this direction, multicast networks-led mobile TV services will be offered in the near future. While mobile operators would endeavor to provide streaming services over their own networks as well as multicast services, providing a combination of these services at an acceptable price band is expects to be a challenge.
While having to decide upon the right balance between pricing and the range of content, the U.S. mobile operators should have a data strategy targeted at increasing the average revenue per mega byte (ARMB). Since a large and attractive content portfolio could actually result in lower ARMB, it may be more profitable to offer compelling content, whose variety is determined by ARMB considerations.
"Mobile content aggregators should treat multicast networks as an opportunity and strive to partner with the multicast network operators for developing future multicast content," says Gandhi. "With the imminent launch of high-quality live mobile TV services through digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H) and forward link only (FLO) platforms, revenue from mobile video multicasting services is expects to overtake that from streaming and download services."
Posted to the site on 5th May 2005
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/12762.php