Podcasts to Go - by Bena Roberts of BKI Media

The mobile content market currently resembles guerrilla warfare where everyone is fighting to make money, but no-one is winning the war. Yet the argument that mobile services haven’t delivered and SMS is still the undisputed leader is suffering from battle fatigue. There is no doubt that mobile operators are being forced to rethink their mobile content strategies.
Older directors of mobile portals and multimedia strategies are being replaced by younger, messier individuals who need to tune into youth and inject up to the minute ideas into mobile portals and content.

In the meantime, user generated mobile content has become a household term, while music and gaming on mobile are starting to become trendy. Now mobile podcasts are entering the arena.

Unlike all other mobile content, which is often adapted from the web, mobile podcasting is the only true, new, made for mobile service on the market. Mobile podcasting uses audio and listening is rapidly becoming the killer app of the mobile Internet: in March M:Metrics published research showing that ownership of musicphones (defined as phones that are capable of music storage and playback) is growing rapidly across Western Europe and the US. The UK has the highest penetration of these devices at 40%, while the US lags at 17%.

Mobile podcasts can range from bursts to sustained instalments of audio content and the time is ripe for them to become very hot indeed. The biggest barrier to them becoming a mass market phenomenon, as with so very many other mobile services, is operators’ weak business models. At the moment, the most common way of charging for mobile podcasts is through subscription, which removes all spontaneity and is truly middle-aged. Alltel in the US charges USD 3.99 per month for its mobilecast service and M1 in Singapore charges 5.99 Singapore dollars per month. In keeping with new trends in mobile, operators need to start employing younger and funkier billing and tariff setters too to ape the early successes.

The most impressive uptake of mobile podcasts has been in the US. Vendors such as Mobilcast and UpSnap are stimulating podcast sales via SMS, then enabling customers to listen to them via a phone call or voice mail. This is a simple idea – using traditional audio services as the delivery mechanism – and is especially popular with users stuck in traffic on their way to work. Users pay per minute to listen and the charge is integrated into standard call charges. This is critical as customers use their existing voice minutes as part of a bundle or listen to free podcasts at the weekend as part of an operator package.

In Europe, which has a far higher penetration of musicphones indicating a much greater interest in audio services, operators are already in danger of fudging their mobile podcast services by opting for a streaming data transfer model, which is an untidy, unnecessarily complicated delivery mechanism, inappropriate for mobile podcasting.

The 3 network in the UK falls into this category. It is the first UK-based mobile operator to launch mobile podcasts, as part of its X-Series bundle. Audio is native to mobile. Data (even on 3G) is not. Mobile operators should be using the inherent audio stream to sell and push these new podcasting services.

By bringing data and streaming into the equation, the price of the podcasts rises and the potentially brilliant audio quality deteriorates, moving from hero to zero in one fell swoop. This is because mobile operators eager to secure return on investment (ROI) from podcasts forget about user experience and the fact that the mobile device is already an audio rich media. Or at least that’s one argument.

Another is that the early adopter mobile operators tend to mask the introduction of new data features to encourage competitors to play catch up, then them with an even better service. Certainly 3’s history reveals that it has scored several successes through this strategy.

There are several new players in mobile podcasting who are using more innovative ways of podcasting, which are also being introduced through social networks such as YouTube and Flickr. The arrival of podcast RSS will really herald the benefits of audio on mobile and demonstrate clearly how users can listen to the highlights of their favourite RSS feeds on their mobile phone instantly.

In addition, IM alerts of audio RSS could be set up to ensure that once the service is set up it will be hard for customers to resist. Audio, in the form of mobile podcasts, could be the sticky service mobile operators are desperate for.

There is still an everything to play for and mobile operators need to wake up and grind the beans. Mobile podcasting has huge potential. For these services to deliver on their potential, operators need to action now. Some slick marketing, simple to use services and transparent tariffs are the order of the day.

Podcasting and podcasters have their own community on the Internet and there is no reason why this should not be replicated on mobile. Recently AirG, Boost Mobile and West Coast Customs launched a community based mobile promotion to win a new car which caused mobile traffic to increase three fold and nearly every community member participated. These types of promotions are needed to kick start mobile podcasting.

This means positioning all new mobile services as community services and then watch their popularity spread virally via mobile. The trick is not simply to launch a mobile podcast service, but to bundle it as part of a community offer such as Kink Kommunity or Boost Mobile. This way mobile podcasts can be integrated, paid for features or self-created to gel consumers together. This approach is simpler and new business models can be created using a sponsorship or funding through advertising. Consumers will no longer be restricted to accessing content by subscription only or through data tariffs. Instead they’ll be able to indulge in happy hours or special content subsidised by third parties.