Report: Mobile text drives World Cup revenues

A new report from Visiongain on the World Cup says it will be
established content, such as text-based services that will generate the
most significant revenue on mobile devices, not video services.

The study, “World Cup 2006: Scoring with mobile content and services,”
found that the one-month long tournament will generate $6.35 billion in
revenue for mobile companies, with text-based services and downloads,
such as ringtones and logos, the most significant. After these
services, the study found that gambling and gaming would be the next
most profitable World Cup-related content. The industry will also look
to generate revenue through interactive video messaging, video clips
and even blogging services.

“The telecoms industry has the potential to generate significant
revenue from the 2006 World Cup,” comments report author Adam Walkden.
“However, operators aiming to utilise the tournament’s popularity to
push mobile TV at the expense of more traditional services will miss
out. The key revenue generators will be tried and tested text services,
ringtones and logos.”

Backing announcements by industry players at the CeBIT Trade Fair
in Hanover, the report is pessimistic about the World Cup’s chances of
creating demand for Mobile TV. “The tournament will be good for
promoting mobile TV but, with competing digital standards and the fact
that the technology is not quite ready yet, we do not forecast
significant growth of the service as a result of the World Cup. The
technology for mobile broadcasting is not mature enough to attract
significant numbers and the problems inherent with football over 3G
video streaming mean we will not see a sudden demand for the service,”
adds Walkden.

Operators and vendors will push 3G technologies at the World Cup
in an attempt to increase subscriber interest. They will also use it as
an opportunity to test other new services, such as mobile blogging.

The social nature of the World Cup lends itself well to
user-generated content, with the event presenting a perfect opportunity
for operators to promote “user communities”, which are in this case
tied to a particular national team. Gambling and gaming services will
be pushed at the tournament, particularly in Europe where 3G operators
are still looking to repay the vast sums spent on licences.

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