Content Discovery: Beyond Search
By Liora Bram, Director of Consumer Applications Marketing
NMS Communications
www.nmscommunications.com

As the saying goes, “Content is king.”  And industry analysts predict continued growth for content sales.  Ovum estimates that wireless consumers will spend US$24B on premium content in 2006¹.

If you’ve bought mobile content in the past, you know that it isn’t always easy.  Today, consumers are browsing operator catalogs via web or WAP browsers.  This can often be time-consuming as it requires clicking through the various content classifications that the operator has designated to find (hopefully!) content of interest.  Some estimates put the number of “clicks” necessary to purchase a single piece of content as high as 16 — assuming the subscriber has a general idea of what they are looking for.  In many cases, it can be even higher.  And if consumers are searching on the operator’s portal, their choices are limited to what is being offered at any given time.

Content retailers alleviate the problem slightly, by offering a larger universe of content that is searchable by anyone with an Internet connection and access to a search engine.  And, these specialized content providers put all of their marketing energy into promoting content, so TV and radio advertisements reach audiences with information about the specific content they are eager to purchase.  By publicizing shortcodes and web addresses that allow consumers to purchase content easily, these content retailers have changed the rules of the game for content purchases and conditioned subscribers to expect the process to be pain-free and quick.

The Advent of Mobile Search
Recently, a number of new companies, as well as familiar brands like Google and Yahoo, have been making quite a bit of noise around the concept of Mobile Search.  This development allows consumers to begin searching the catalogs of both operator portals and the broader universe of content providers to find the content that is of most interest to them.  Using these technologies, they can now type in the name of a particular artist, for example, and receive a list of all available content from that artist, including ringtones, ringbacks, wallpapers, and videos.

Clearly, there’s a real need for the ability to search for information — and content — on the mobile Internet, but even with this capability, the industry is relying on subscribers to go out and find content.  Might there also be an opportunity to deliver it directly to the subscriber, making content purchases an impulse buy?

Content “Served on a Platter”
As handsets, and services, get more sophisticated, there is quite a bit more that can be done on the handset to deliver content of interest.  Operators are already featuring specific services — like ringback, game downloads, music streaming — as icons on 3G handsets.  In the future, we can expect them to highlight suggested content for purchase — based on past behaviors — right on the screen.

Operators know a lot about their customers.  By mining their various databases, they can understand how much individual subscribers spend each month, what types of services they are interested in purchasing, and which genres of content they usually buy.  Why not take that information and alert subscribers to new content they are likely to want?

For 3G services, this could be a “what’s new” icon on the handset.  For everyone else, it could be a clickable icon every time a subscriber signed on to either the WAP or web portal.

Another strategy involves opt-in SMS and MMS alerts about new content of interest.  Subscribers can accept notification of new content and interesting promotions so that they don’t have to go looking for content.  And content providers and operators can enjoy knowing they are keeping their services top-of-mind with customers.

Content Discovery is Complex
Over the next few years, we’re going to be hearing a lot about content discovery.  And it’s going to mean more than just search.  Obviously, search will be an integral part of the mobile Internet’s evolution, but innovative service and content providers aren’t going to just sit back and wait for consumers to find content.  As the mobile channel continues to overtake almost every other medium in terms of global penetration, smart providers are augmenting the mobile search revolution by proactively finding ways to deliver content directly to their consumers.  As marketing and content delivery in the mobile world gets more sophisticated, look for the concept of “content discovery” to encompass a whole host of new delivery models.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Liora Bram may be reached at +44 (0) 7899 916438, or via email at [email protected].

1. Ovum. “Premium Content Forecast.” August 2005.