Mobile video adoption up, M:Metrics exec at NATPE Mobile

By Giselle Abramovich

January 30, 2008

Mark Donovan, M:Metrics

LAS VEGAS – Digital convergence is fueling the growth of the mobile channel, resulting in more attention from consumers and advertisers.

Thus said Mark Donovan, chief marketing officer and senior analyst for Seattle-based mobile measurement firm M:Metrics, at the NATPE Mobile conference earlier this week.

“Mobile is getting major notice in the past few months,” Mr. Donovan told an audience of television executives. “Digital convergence has moved everything into mobile. The mobile phone is personal.”

Personalization is growing as the number of ringtones bought has gone up 19 percent from last year. Mobile game downloads grew 7 percent in the last year.

The mobile music audience is growing as well. The number of songs downloaded to a device grew 15 percent from September to November.

There’s also a steady growth in 3G, defined as “technologies that enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency,” according to online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

One of out of every five mobile phone owners in the United States has a 3G device.

“We see technology – mobile Web is happening, smartphones and 3G – is having an impact,” Mr. Donovan said. “Video has long been hampered in the mobile realm due to poor quality.

“There was really nothing more than slide shows at first,” he said. “Now there’s a solid growth in programmed mobile video, with a 60 percent increase in audience from January 2007 to November. Just shy of 3 million people are watching on-demand video content on mobile.”

Mobile snacking is really popular these days, Mr. Donovan said. An example of mobile snacking is standing at the bus stop watching a little clip on the mobile phone.

“It drives mobile TV and video,” Mr. Donovan said.

He also said that quality and cost have been barriers for video and TV, but that should settle down soon since devices are becoming more sophisticated.

“In the mobile space, everything takes longer than it does on the Internet because there are more moving parts,” Mr. Donovan said.