A new study by KIT digital found that more than 80 percent of the marketing and advertising executives surveyed have yet to use mobile video capabilities.

More than 125 executives were surveyed and more than 60 percent of them said that they think mobile video content distribution is important to their business. However, only 16 percent of them make use of mobile video.

?Even though the United States? mobile technology market is 12 months behind Europe and Asia in terms of bandwidth and applications, the majority of marketers do realize the value and growing necessity of mobile technology as a component of their marketing and sales efforts,? said Arnd Fröhlich, global head of mobile services and innovation at KIT digital, Cologne, Germany.

?As mobile video capabilities increase, I fully anticipate that the proliferation of mobile video applications will increase as well,? he said.

KIT digital is a global provider of on-demand, Internet-protocol-based video-asset-management services.

Understanding mobile video
The survey was conducted during a KIT digital-sponsored webinar called Emergence of the 3rd Screen: Trends in Mobile Internet and Video.  More than 500 senior marketing executives from multinational corporations and leading marketing and advertising firms participated.

Mr. Fröhlich said that the most surprising finding was the disconnect displayed by the overwhelming majority of marketers.

?Over 60 percent see mobile video as an important tool to grow their businesses, but they lack a plan and appropriate budget to integrate video into their sales and marketing process,? Mr. Fröhlich said.

Mr. Fröhlich said that firms currently spend millions of dollars in traditional advertising and to implement a successful video campaign would cost a fraction of their overall ad-spend.

Mr. Fröhlich said that he anticipates 2011 marketing budgets will look a lot different than the 2010 market budgets, to account for the implementation of mobile video technology.

Participants were also asked about how they intend to integrate the mobile Internet into their corporate video content distribution and more than one-third said that they have concrete plans to make use of a mobile distribution platform for their video assets.

Thirty-eight percent said that they plan to make use of mobile distribution platforms within the next 12 or so months, while 11 percent said they know they need to add mobile distribution but are unsure of a timetable.

Less than 2 percent of respondents said they are currently investing more than $500,000 per year internally in mobile distribution services, and more than 44 percent of people polled said that they are spending less than $250,000 per year internally on mobile video platforms.

According to KIT digital, the key to any successful campaign is the content.

Mr. Fröhlich said that marketers must begin understanding what will be most interesting as consumed through a mobile device with video capability.

?Texting coupons or streaming traditional ads is not the most effective use of this technology,? Mr. Fröhlich said. ?The content must be remarkable to capture the consumer's attention, as well as intelligent in order to successfully engage viewers and maximize impact.?