Mobile TV Needs Time, And Editors

The Next Gen TV conference saw executives from ITV ON, Orange and Freemantle Media saying that mobile TV would need time to develop as a platform before it becomes commercially viable.
Executives from ITV ON, Orange and Freemantle Media today said that to be commercially viable, mobile TV would need time to develop as a platform.
Claire Tavernier, senior vice president of interactive at Fremantle Media, gave special warning against relying on user generated content to fill the gap. “UGC is very different. There’s too much out there. On mobile you need editors that will format it for the platform”, she said, with Deborah Tonroe, head of TV, video sports products and commercial development at Orange adding “that mobile TV services should not follow the model of UGC websites like YouTube. She said: “There is too much content and a lot of it is rubbish. Providing content that has been editorialised is the key. Look at The X Factor and Big Brother – they feature members of the public, but are brilliantly edited by producers to make them interesting.”
Which is true…if you download a video on YouTube and it’s rubbish you just sigh and download another one, but videos on mobile take longer to download and cost more.

Comments have been disabled for this post