Power to the people, ICE 07 panels exhort

Even before Time Magazine collectively named all of us Man of the Year for 2006, the "you" media space was becoming a much-analyzed landscape for executives working within the online and mobile mediums. Delegates at last month's ICE 07 conference in Toronto explored how tethered and mobile technologies are enabling average people to log into real and virtual worlds, and what role broadcasters, carriers and producers play into this evolution. More stories from ICE 07MMOGs for tots and 'tweens: paying for the next big thingCoppola scion offers insight, humour at ICE 07Conventional media urged to change channels at ICE 07Throughout the summit, attendees collectively tipped their virtual hats to Stephen Colbert, who has been credited with the bridging the gap between user-generated content and the entertainment industry. In his series, The Colbert Report, the comedian launched a popular green-screen challenge with his audience, tasking the public to create original backdrops and after-effects based on footage of Colbert.Raja Khanna, chief creative officer and co-founder of Toronto's QuickPlay Media Inc., said Colbert illustrates how a lot of digital content is driven by major media brands. In fact, CBS Research in the US released a report on digital media consumption at the Consumer Electronics Show in January that links digital media's success to primetime television. Khanna asked, since this suggests the digital entertainment industry would not exist without television, who then owns the public's mindshare with mobile entertainment?Aaron Brown, director of retail product marketing at Waterloo ON's Research in Motion Ltd., said this battle between the pieces of the value chain - carriers, TV networks, TV series and content providers - hasn't been won just yet. However, it's clear the relationship viewers have with television is different from the one they have with mobile phones.Brown argued the billions of dollars invested in television content that's then repurposed for the mobile phone doesn't take into consideration the way people live with their phones. "It's not about watching a 90-minute movie on the phone, it's about the two minutes while you're in line," he argued, adding the piece of the value chain that is first to understand the relationship a person has with the cell phone will win out.Trevor Doerksen, CEO and co-founder of Calgary's MoboVivo Inc., a content provider for mobile devices such as laptops, portable game systems and iPods, argued the industry is now recognizing this relationship with a handheld, and that means repurposed-for-mobile programming does not make sense."Musicians didn't change their music when we changed over to listening to songs on small headphones," Doerksen said, adding long-form programming has its space on handhelds: "The pause button fits into a lot of different situations."That overarching struggle between short- and long-form programming is something the digital media industry needs to resolve in order to overcome the business' biggest hurdle, according to Doerksen: carriers giving away free cell phones with mobile packages. He argued most of those freebies are cheaper models that don't offer the video and audio capabilities of the more expensive sets, and are therefore hindering progress in Canada.In Europe, Khanna noted, off-deck programming is further ahead because manufacturers sell more cell phones directly to the consumer rather through carriers. Under this scenario, the user is more likely to purchase a higher-end phone that encourages the consumer to explore entertainment options rather than work within the carrier's offerings.This walled garden distribution model is a challenge faced by independent developers of mobile content in North America. For content to be seen and downloaded, creators first need to be represented by a publisher who can get the product on a carrier's deck. This isn't a simple task, as a mobile carrier could offer, for example, about 300 different games and clips.Additionally, if a title is not featured in the top 10 scroll-downs, it won't be seen. And since the marketing budgets to promote mobile games or shorts are abysmal at best, it's a case of out-of-sight, out-of-mind for consumers.Direct-to-consumer distribution models are starting to pop-up, however, such as MuchMusic's mobile title offerings. Scott Smith, CEO of Acrnum, a Toronto-based numeric access portal for mobile and PC gaming, said more corporations are looking to go off the carrier deck. "They can't get into the value chain and they want more control over the relationship with the consumer," he said.But with off-deck moving slowly into the business plans of both indie and big name content distributors and creators, the challenge of making mobile entertainment that will translate onto the different screens of many different phone brands grows. Neil Clawser, CEO of Cascada Mobile, a Toronto-based company offering a peer-to-peer mobile distribution model, warned carriers can also block access to off-deck content. "If you ask them why, their reasoning is they've built billions to build the network and they don't want to take this risk," he said.Internet and mobile carriers are also looking to invest billions of dollars into another network: user-to-user, or social networking. Big-name corporations looking to reach new audiences are buying up social networking sites - for example, News Corp. owns MySpace, Yahoo Inc. now controls Flickr and Google Inc. bought YouTube.At a panel looking at the business of social media, execs suggested customers will continue to direct the next online success, and Brian Seth Hurst, CEO at Santa Monica CA's The Opportunity Management Company, said the current slate of social media sites may be doomed by commercialization, and that true innovation happens when things develop naturally.David Crow, VP of business development at Toronto-based Radiant Core, a Web design and development company, said he sees users of social networks increasingly defined by interest rather than geography. Indeed, niche is the big catch phrase of social networking 2.0.McLean Mashingaidze-Greaves, CEO and founder of Vancouver's The Nimble Company told the delegates that top investors are carefully watching sites such as MySpace as an indicator of the rise of next-generation social networking. Signs such as the increased number of inactive subscriptions on MySpace likely herald a shift away from early-stage core brands such as MySpace and into more interest-specific communities.Nigel Newton, VP of the Toronto-based print and online publisher Youth Culture Group, said the biggest trend emerging is that people feel more comfortable exchanging personal information within a small online group, even to people they've never met face-to-face. "There will be a community trend towards environments that work like hamlets, while MySpace and Facebook are the cities," he said.While naturally developing online relationships will branch off into new environments that are yet to be explored commercially, RIM's Brown said the cell phone will capture more of the public's mindset. He said the future of the mobile will be a device that works more like a remote control, and it will act as a secretary to help in every part of our lives. "Good wireless devices should allow you to communicate easier and better."But where does entertainment fit into a device that's primarily viewed as a communication and productivity tool? By 2015, the consumer-led model seen online via social network building will reach the mobile phone, according to the CEO of Oakville ON-based Movidity Inc., Mauro Lollo.Lollo predicts the advertising-based business model will be reinvented, and that half of the current links in the value chain will disappear. "By then, it will be about consumer empowerment: almost-free and on demand where they can create and share their own media, and create their own value chain between their group of friends," he said.

Power to the people, ICE 07 panels exhort

News | 04/05/2007 6:07 pm EDT

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