The Third Screen, Clicks.
By Tom Burgess, CEO, Third Screen Media

As the mobile industry gains momentum and new participants and technologies join the scene, it’s time to take a moment, take stock of the present and look to the future to see what the rest of 2006 will bring.  The inaugural installment of Hold the Phone, Third Screen Media’s bi-monthly column for The Messenger, features six predictions for the mobile advertising industry in 2006.  While some prognostications will sound loudly and others may vibrate consistently over time, they all ring the bell, announcing the market is open for business.

Take a look around and you’ll see it’s a world transformed.  Carriers, content providers and advertisers are dealing with a new landscape where opportunity abounds.  Hundreds of millions of handsets—many equipped with the latest technological advances—signal the convergence of voice, text, data, video and entertainment. There’s no denying the scale of the phenomenon or the size of the market; it’s immense and growing exponentially.

Technology has enabled the millions of mobile subscribers to be on-demand consumers, with access to sports, weather, news and other data conveniently located on their handsets.  Mobile content has a broad demographic appeal, attracting a wide range of affluent male and female subscribers.  Advertisers seeking access to these highly desirable demographic segments are aggressively exploring mobile media as the newest, most personal channel for reaching consumers.  And, with the advent of the Internet and the mobile phone and the subsequent explosion of their use, there’s a new, more direct way for publishers to reach the many sets of eyes and ears that have wandered from their customer base. 
Prediction 1:    Clicking with Consumers
From the initial mobile ad trials—campaigns in their alpha and beta stages, rolled out to select groups of subscribers—all signs point to a positive response from consumers to non-intrusive ads on their handsets.  Beginning with newspapers and magazines and now with the Internet, consumers expect advertising, whether a conscious decision or not, as a tradeoff for the content they receive.  From reduced subscription costs for a monthly magazine to rich, extensive online content entirely subsidized, advertising plays an important role in the delivery of the information we deem worthy of our time and eyes.  The mobile platform will be no different as advertising campaigns that synch with personalized content become commonplace.

Prediction 2:    No static at all
We’ve said that mobile subscribers will be receptive to advertising, but this doesn’t open the door for every brand—big and small—to create an ad deluge, swamping customers with useless offers and undirected messages. This would be disastrous, both for the carrier who values their customers, and the customers themselves, who would turn away from a technology they have grown to depend on.  We believe that mobile advertising will herald a wave of relevant, offer-based, on-demand opportunities and value to the subscriber experience. For example, you’re just down the street from a coffee shop that’s now offering discounts on their new java blends.  Because you opted to receive customized local offers, with a click on your handset, a coupon appears for a free cup.  Hang a right at the next light, have your coupon scanned at the counter, and through the wonders of mobile advertising you’ve got your free caffeine fix for the morning commute.

Prediction 3:    Breathe easy
We’re NOW consumers, so we like what we want, when we want it, and no other medium has helped us feed our appetite for information like the mobile handset.  As new revenue models that bode well for publishers create new opportunities, we’ll soon feed our mobile minds with even more information.  From sports and weather to news and entertainment, publishers are eager to catch the attention of customers who have long since gone digital in a world where some still speak analog.  The mobile platform will provide a needed breath of fresh air for those publishers suffocating from shrinking revenue streams as traditional mediums face subscriber exodus.

Prediction 4:    ReveNEW
With the carrier playing an ever greater role in enabling mobile advertising through its willingness to allow ads on their decks, new revenue models that do not yet exist will come into play, offering opportunities for every willing player in the marketplace.  As carriers open up their decks, the top brands will take advantage of the new found medium for reaching a targeted audience, and carriers stand to benefit.  Content providers, offering valuable, individualized services to mobile customers, will also profit, as more advertising avenues will open.  Consumers will ultimately gain the most from these advances, as advertising will help to subsidize subscription fees, opening up a world of content on their mobile devices.

Prediction 5:    All hands on deck?
It’s pretty clear that the best way to get premium content to the biggest audience is to be accessible via a carrier’s deck.  This creates an interesting business tension between the carriers as keepers of the deck and the publishers as lords of the content.  Who will be the pioneering carrier that will not only be the first to open the flood gates but develop a workable business model that let’s them co-exist with publishers?  Our prediction:  the carrier that moves first will set the standard for the other carriers and realize the greatest potential upside.

Prediction 6:    Meeting expectations
As mobile advertising heralds a new era in enabling technologies, new technology and service providers will enter the fray and existing ones will seek to take advantage of the momentum.  To provide an efficient and effective experience for consumers and the market makers, new providers will need to support all of the major mobile media types  that early adopters have grown to expect on the handset; including WAP, video,  MMS, and downloadable content.  As with any new market opportunity, meeting and exceeding expectations will be critical to success for all concerned.

So, when 2007 rolls around and we once again look to the future, we’ll also be able to look back on 2006 and remember that this was the year when everything…clicked.  From carriers and enabling technologies to publishers, advertisers and subscribers, the entire market is open for business and business will be good. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />